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Rudolph cupcakes

By Cassie Best

Get the kids into the kitchen to decorate these individual chocolate sponges with frosting and sweets

Prep:35 mins
Cook:30 mins
Plus cooling

Easy

Nutrition per serving

kcal 494
fat 29g
saturates 17g
carbs 54g
sugars 41g
fibre 2g
protein 5g
salt 0.5g

Ingredients

200g butter, cubed
200g plain chocolate, broken into squares
200g light soft brown sugar
2 large eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
250g self-raising flour
200g plain chocolate, broken into squares
100ml double cream, not fridge-cold
50g icing sugar
12 large milk chocolate buttons (we used Cadbury Dairy Milk Giant Buttons)
24 white chocolate buttons
12 red Smarties
black icing pens
mini pretzels, carefully cut in half horizontally

Method

Get started: Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3. Line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cases. Gently melt the butter, chocolate, sugar and 100ml hot water together in a large saucepan, stirring occasionally. Set aside to cool a little while you weigh the other ingredients.
Make your cakes: Stir the eggs and vanilla into the chocolate mixture. Put the flour in a large mixing bowl, and stir in the chocolate mixture until smooth. Spoon into the cases until just over three-quarters full. Bake on a low shelf in the oven for 20-22 mins. Leave to cool.
Ice the tops: To make the icing, melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of barely simmering water. Once melted, turn off the heat, stir in the double cream, sift in the icing sugar and mix well. When spreadable, top each cake with some icing.
Have fun decorating: Position a milk chocolate button on top of each cake, then 2 white chocolate buttons above it. Use a little icing as glue to stick a red Smartie onto the milk chocolate button for a nose. Then use your icing pens to draw black dots on the white buttons for eyes. Stick 2 pretzel top halves into the top of each cake for antlers, and stick the bottom half of a pretzel under the Smartie for a mouth. These cakes will keep in a sealed container for up to 3 days, but we doubt they’ll last that long!

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