49. Valentine's Rose Cupcakes
Not into cookies? No worries, I’ve got the Valentine’s cupcake angle sorted too! Flowers and chocolates are always nice, but why not just combine the two and make these chocolate cupcakes with vanilla buttercream roses?
Makes 12 rose cupcakes
Ingredients
For the cupcakes
170g (6 oz) butter, room temp
140g (5 oz) caster sugar
3 eggs
140g (5 oz) dark chocolate, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract
170g (6 oz) self-raising flour
Pinch of salt
For the buttercream
300g (10.5 oz) butter, room temp
450g (15.75 oz) icing sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1-2 tbsp milk
a few drops red food colouring
Method
Preheat oven to 160C and line a cupcake tray
Cream together the butter and caster sugar for the cupcakes until light and fluffy.
Add in the eggs, melted chocolate and vanilla extract, with a tablespoon of the flour to help it not split.
Mix in the flour and salt, until well combined.
Place a heaped tablespoon of mixture in each cupcake case.
Bake for 25-30 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool to room temperature before icing
Cream the butter for the icing until light and fluffy. Add in the icing sugar in three portions, beating between each, until light and fluffy, then add in the vanilla extract and milk (as much as needed). Keep beating if not light and easily spreadable.
Split half the buttercream into a separate bowl. Colour half with red food colouring until pink. Add a few drops at a time and beat until you get your desired colour.
Prepare a piping bag with a star shaped nozzle. Fill with the pink icing first, and then create a hole down the centre and fill with the remaining white icing.
Pipe from the centre of the cupcake outwards, until you have created a rose. DO NOT twist the cupcake as you pipe, as this will lose the rose effect. Your first couple of roses may be purely pink, depending on how successful the piping filling has gone, but you should get some nice two tone roses in the bouquet!
Give to a loved one, or just to yourself. You deserve flowers.
