White Chocolate and Raspberry Cupcakes.

There are some combinations that you just can't go wrong with like; chocolate and peanut butter, maple and pecan or marmite and beans on toast...(no, just me?). The bloomin' delicious combination of white chocolate and raspberry is no different. To start with; the vibrant pink rasberries paired against the delicate, creamy white chocolate looks amazing but, it also tastes great which, is definitely the most important! The juicy, tartness of the raspberries perfectly accompanies the luxurious, rich, sweet flavour of the white chocolate and I discovered that this lovely flavour combination doesn't disappoint and continues to work perfectly together to create a really lovely cupcake too so, do enjoy if you decide to whip up a batch yourself!

On a side note, I reverted back to my 13 year old boyband obsessed, fan-girl self again on Friday morning and managed to get tickets to see 5 seconds of summer in Birmingham next year which, I am fairly sure I am far too excited about for a 20 year old but, oh well! I had 3 laptops going, recruited my sister to help out and managed to get my tickets which, I am over the moon about. I felt slightly insane refreshing the page every few seconds, panicking that I wouldn't get any, it was really a very stressful time. I am definitely too obsessed for a grown woman but, nevermind, it's a healthy obsession... largely. A group of handsome Australian guys (albeit most are two years younger than me :/ but hey, what's two years?), playing instruments, writing great music, singing great songs, wearing great clothes, having great hair and generally looking gorgeous all the time, what grown woman wouldn't fall slightly in love? Needless to say, next June regardless of whether I am supposed to be a respectable, sensible and adult 21 year old, I will definitely be rocking out with my socks out for 5sos and won't care at all!

Recipe

For the White Chocolate and Raspberry Cupcakes-

300g plain flour

2 tsp. baking powder

150g caster sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla extract

• 225ml whole milk
• 50g butter, melted and cooled slightly
• 100g fresh raspberries, cut in half
• 110g white chocolate, chopped into chunks
• For the Raspberry Filling-

80g fresh raspberries

1 tbsp. caster sugar

1 tbsp. lemon juice

2 tsp. corn flour

60ml cold water

For the White Chocolate Frosting-

170g white chocolate, melted and cooled slightly

230g unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

240g icing sugar, sifted

1 tbsp. whole milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 tsp. salt 

To decorate - white chocolate shavings, white chocolate chips or grated white chocolate and 24 fresh raspberries.

Method

1. Start by preparing the cupcakes. Line a muffin tin with 12 muffin cases and pre-heat the oven to 200C.

2. Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl and stir the sugar into the flour mixture.

3. In a separate bowl crack the egg, whisk in the vanilla extract, milk and melted butter (melt for approximately 30 seconds in a microwave and allow to cool slightly before adding to the egg and milk). 

4. Stir the liquid mixture into the dry mixture.

5. Using a metal spoon, fold the raspberries and white chocolate chunks into the cake mixture.

6. Fill each cake case 2/3 full with the mixture, making sure that each case has some white chocolate chunks and raspberries in. Bake for around 17-20 minutes or until the cupcakes are golden and spring back when the surface is pushed lightly.

7. Transfer the cupcakes to a wire rack and allow to cool.

8. While the cupcakes are cooling, prepare the raspberry filling. Combine the raspberries, lemon juice and sugar in a saucepan and begin to simmer over a low heat.

9. Whisk the corn flour into the cold water until smooth, add to the raspberries in the saucepan and bring to the boil. Simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly until the desired consistency is reached and set-aside to cool. The sauce will thicken further as it cools.

10. Using an apple corer, dig out a hole in the centre of each cupcake and once the raspberry sauce is cool, spoon 2 tsp. raspberry sauce into each.

11. Finally, prepare the white chocolate frosting. Beat together the butter, icing sugar, milk, vanilla extract, white chocolate and salt until the frosting is thick, smooth, light, pale and fluffy. Pipe a swirl of frosting onto the top of each cupcake and sprinkle with the white chocolate shavings and top with two fresh raspberries.