Mary Berry’s Christmas Chocolate Cupcakes are light, fluffy and topped with festive vanilla buttercream. Great for children to help decorate too!
Preheat the oven to 160ºC (fan assisted, 180ºC non fan) and line a cupcake tin with 12 liners and set aside
Add 40g cocoa powder into a bowl and add 4 tbsp boiling water. Mix until it forms a thick paste
Add 3 eggs, 175g margarine, 165g caster sugar, 115g self raising flour and 1 tsp baking powder. Mix until combined
Divide the mix between the cupcake liners. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes until a cocktail stick comes out clean
Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes or so before allowing to cool completely on a wire rack
When the cupcakes have cooled completely, make the buttercream. Beat the 140g softened butter for a minute or so before adding 280g icing sugar and mixing thoroughly
Add 1 tbsp milk and beat until the buttercream is smooth. Add small amounts of food colouring until you have managed to create a tree-like green. If the buttercream is too stiff, add up to 1 tbsp more milk
Spoon the buttercream into a piping bag with a star shaped tip. Starting at the edge of the cupcake, pipe round in a circle and then upwards to create the Christmas Tree look
Add any decorations you like to make it look like a Christmas tree
When making the buttercream, add less milk to start with as if you're like me it will take a while to get the green colour you're looking for. Due to this, the buttercream will probably get mixed quite a lot making it looser.
Nutritional information is given as a guide only and may vary.
Mary Berry's Christmas Chocolate Cupcakes https://www.curlyscooking.co.uk/mary-berrys-chocolate-cupcakes/