Bon Voyage Cupcakes!
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott/Not Quite Nigella
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Decorating time: 1 hour plus overnight drying time
Makes 6 cupcakes
- 2 cups self raising flour
- 1 cup caster sugar
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 1 cup lemonade (or other fizzy drink, must be fizzy)
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup frozen or fresh berries (I used mulberries)
For whipped chocolate ganache frosting
- 1.5 cups chocolate chips
- 3/4 cup cream
For fondant decoration
- 200g/7ozs. blue fondant
- Yellow and black colouring gel
- Cupcake domes
- 2 fine paintbrushes
- Round cutter
Step 1 - Make the fondant decorations so that they have time to dry. Dust a surface with cornflour/cornstarch and roll out the blue fondant thinly and then cut out using round cutters. Gently place on top of the domes centering them and smoothing the sides. Allow to set hard overnight.
Step 2 - Trace the continents with pencil (you can tailor this to the person's trip by focusing on the countries that they are visiting). I focused on Australia and America because she was going from Sydney to New York. I also included New Zealand because she is originally from there. And there is no longer lead used in lead pencil so don't worry about that.
Step 3 - Using a fine paintbrush, paint the outline in black. Allow to dry completely and then colour in the countries with yellow gel which will turn green. Allow to set completely.
Step 4 - Preheat the oven to 160C/320F and line a cupcake tray with liners. In a large bowl whisk the flour, sugar and sift in the cocoa powder. In a jug whisk the lemonade, oil, vanilla and eggs. Make a well in the dry ingredients and mix in the wet and the berries until just combined. Scoop into the cupcake cases and bake for 25-30 minutes until cooked inside. Cool completely.
Step 5 - Melt the chocolate chips and cream together until smooth and liquid. Refrigerate this until it is firm and then place the mixture into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Whisk for 3-4 minutes until paler and fluffy. Place into a piping bag fitted with a large star tip. Pipe a dab on top of the cupcakes and then use this to attach the domes on top.