Ordinary Girl: Gorgeous Rose Swirl Cupcakes- Raspberry and White Chocolate. Look good, taste fab!

Hullo!

It's MacMillan Coffee Morning time and so far I have made Chocolate Chip Cookie Brownie but nothing says coffee morning like a cupcake so let's get started! I am making two types of cupcake for the coffee morning, here is how to make Raspberry and White Chocolate ones! I take inspiration from the most fantabulous cupcake book which I discovered after a lovely friend sent me a recipe from it ^.^ The book is 'Cupcakes from the Primrose Bakery' by Martha Swift and Lisa Thomas and I highly recommend you get it- it's all you'll ever need for cupcake inspiration.

Ingredients:

Cupcakes (makes 12):
110g unsalted butter (at room temperature)
180g caster sugar
2 eggs
125g self raising flour (sifted)
120g plain flour (sifted)
1tsp baking powder
125ml semi-skimmed milk (at room temperature)
1 tsp vanilla EXTRACT (not essence, this does not give as good a flavour as extract does)
4-5 tbsp of seedless raspberry jam

Buttercream (covers 12):
150g unsalted butter
375g icing sugar (sifted)
2 tsp of vanilla EXTRACT (see notes above)
75g white chocolate
Pink food colouring (I use gels)

To Decorate:
Pink buttercream (made with ingredients mentioned above)
8 tbsp of seedless raspberry jam
Fondant leaves (2 for each cupcake)

Method:

Decoration:

Prior to baking (at least the night before) make your fondant leaves. I make 40 just in case some break or I have additional cupcakes. Any left over leaves you have will keep for a while.
Roll out a thin layer of green fondant and use a leave cutter to cut them out.
Place on a sheet of baking paper (sprinkled with a little icing sugar to stop them from sticking) on a tray.
Leave them for at least one night to harden.

Cupcakes:

Line a muffin baking tray tin with your cupcake cases- I line two muffin baking tray tins as I find although the recipe is meant to make 12 cupcakes I can usually get somewhere between 16-18 from the mix. You will have enough buttercream from the ingredients listed above to cover any additional cupcakes.
Pre-heat the oven to 160 degrees celsius.
In a large bowl, measure out your butter and beat it a little with a fork. I find this makes creaming the butter and sugar together easier.
Add the sugar to the butter and put to one side.
Crack the eggs in a small bowl and whisk slightly with a fork and put to one side.
In a separate, medium sized bowl sift the flours and baking powder together and put to one side.
In a jug, measure out the milk and add the vanilla extract to it and put to one side
In a small bowl, measure out the seedless raspberry jam and beat it slightly.
Now all your ingredients are ready they just need combining. It may seems illogical to use all these bowls, particularly when it comes to washing up, but I find this works well in terms of getting your cupcakes in the oven asap once the wet and dry ingredients are mixed. Once the flours/baking powders are wet the raising agents within them are activated so it's best to transfer the batter into the oven asap.
Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (I use an electric hand whisk and this takes about 5 minutes).
Slowly add the egg mixture to the creamed butter and sugar, whisking as you add it.
Add a third of the flour mixture and whisk. Then add a third of the milk and vanilla extract mixture and whisk. Keep doing this until all of the ingredients are combined.
Using a large, metal spoon or a spatula fold in the seedless raspberry jam. Do not mix it entirely, the idea is to have swirls of the jam visible in the batter.
Then pop the batter into your cupcake cases. Some people use spoons, some people use piping bags to get the mixture into the cupcake cases; I use a jug and pour it in! I find this helps me get an even distribution of mix into each cupcake case without to much faffing. Please feel free to fill your cupcake cases whichever way works best for you.
Bake for 25 minutes. Test with a skewer to ensure they are baked, when removed the skewer should come out clean. If it doesn't bake for a further 5 minutes. Keep doing this until the cupcakes are baked.
Once baked leave to cool in the tins for about 10 minutes then remove and place on a cooling rack to finish cooling. I find this helps the cupcakes firm slightly as they cool which makes decorating easier.

Buttercream:

Whilst the cupcakes are cooling make the buttercream.
Melt the white chocolate in a bowl over gently simmering water. Keep an eye on this whilst you get on with the next step.
In a large bowl combine the butter, vanilla extract and HALF of the icing sugar (remember to sift this in, it gives the buttercream a smoother texture). Once this is combined well, add the other half of the icing sugar. Adding the icing sugar in stages helps the ingredients combine easier and saves your kitchen from being dusted in a icing sugar! If there is too much icing sugar in a bowl, when you begin mixing, it likes to escape the bowl!
Once the white chocolate is melted add it to the buttercream mixture and combine well.
Add a few drops of pink food colouring. I use gels as I find they give a better colour and are easier to work with.
Mix well for at least 5 minutes with an electric hand whisk to ensure the buttercream is light and fluffy and the colour is even.

Decorating:

Line the cupcakes up on a clean surface.
Use a small knife to cut away a small hole out of the top of each cupcake.
Fill these holes with a teaspoon of seedless raspberry jam- just to ensure you get the raspberry taste!

Then fill your piping bag (I find plastic disposable ones are best) using a Wilton 1M nozzle.

Then crack on piping those roses. Start in the middle, build it up a little then swirl outwards. Below are some pictures that may help you with this. It took me a good few tries to get the hang of it.