Joe

So I totally stole this recipe off of Holly from the Great British Bake Off (Tuesdays at 8, BBC 2).

Except she is crazy and told me to fit 2x as much mixture into 1/2 as many cupcakes. Holly…

Anyway.

Ingredients

For cupcakes:

150g margarine

150g caster sugar

100g self rising flour

3 eggs

1tsp baking powder

60g ground almonds

1tsp milk

90g raspberry jam

For icing:

250g icing sugar

3tsp lemon juice

22 glacé cherries

It’s a good idea to turn the oven to 180 degrees c NOW. Because otherwise you’ll be waiting for ages, and you’ll eat all your mixture before the oven is hot.

Use muffin tins, or silicone cases to hold 22 cupcakes. I prefer to double up the muffin cases, because it’s easier to handle the cupcakes later on.

Now add EVERYTHING ELSE, except the raspberry jam. And mix it all together. (I prefer to fold it into the mixture, to get lots of air into it)

Spoon all the mixture into the separate cases, making sure they are about half full. Don’t overfill (like I did with my first batch) because they don’t bake properly.

Put them in the oven for about 20 minutes, until the tops have turned almost golden (IT’S NOT REAL GOLD, OK, JEEZ). They won’t be very firm (unlike what you’re used to), but when they’ve cooled down, the cupcakes will become a bit more solid.

They should look like this.

CUPCAKES

Now make the icing for the top. Take all the icing sugar, and add the lemon juice. Also water until the mixture is spreadable, but not runny.

The cupcakes should be cool before doing this. Take a teaspoon, or similar object, to remove the centre.

Now add a little raspberry jam to the centre of each cupcake. You can put some of the sponge back on top, before icing, or not. Your choice. (I didn’t, because I ate all the sponge I took out…)

BAM. Photo.

You use ANY jam you like. If you don't like raspberry.

Now take a spoonful of icing, and add a dollop to the centre, right above the jam. Hopefully it will spread across the cupcake on its own, without leaking over the edges