Christmas Wreath Cupcakes
Why not give cakes this Christmas?
Serves: 12
Preparation: 40 minutes + 1 hour setting and cooling and 20 minutes cooking time
Ingredients
- 125g Unsalted Butter, softened
- 175g Caster Sugar
- 3 Eggs
- 175g Self-raising Flour, sieved
- 150g Luxury Mincemeat
To decorate
- Icing Sugar, for dusting
- 250g ready-to-roll White Fondant Icing
- 50g Apricot Jam, melted
- 300g Royal Icing Sugar
- 2 tbsp cold Water
- Green Food Colouring
- Red Sugar Balls
Equipment
- 55 cm round cutter
- disposable piping bag
- small leaf nozzle
Method
- Preheat the oven to 190C/Gas Mark 5.
- Line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper muffin cases.
- Whisk the butter and sugar together with an electric hand whisk or beat with a wooden spoon until pale and creamy.
- Gradually whisk in the eggs until just combined.
- Add the flour and mincemeat and whisk again until combined and fluffy.
- Divide between the paper cases and bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes until golden and risen.
- Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to go cold.
- Lightly dust a clean work surface with a little icing sugar. Roll out the fondant icing until about 3-4 mm thick. Then, using a 5.5 cm round cookie cutter, stamp out 12 circles. You may need to re-roll the icing.
- Brush the tops of the cupcakes with the apricot jam then put a white circle on each, lightly pressing down.
- Whisk the royal icing sugar and water together for 5 minutes until stiff peaks form.
- Add a little green food colouring and continue to whisk until you have the right colour.
- Put the icing into a piping bag with a leaf nozzle.
- Working all the way around the outside edge of each cupcake, pipe in a zigzag motion, slightly overlapping the fondant icing.
- Decorate with red sugar balls and leave to set for 1 hour.
This recipe is from Celebration Cupcakes by Kim Morphew published by Simon & Schuster in 2011.