So far so good with my Slimming World plan.  But I really miss baking.  And what I mean about that is proper baking without using rubbish ingredients to replace the sugar and the butter in cakes.  I’ll just have to be extra strict with myself and keep away from anything I bake.

I’ve had a large bag of Mint M&Ms in my baking cupboard for a few weeks now.  Every time my son comes in the kitchen he’s always asking me if he can have the packet of M&Ms as I hadn’t used them. I told him I was using them to bake cupcakes or cookies with but last Wednesday he’d asked again on his day off from college.  So I thought I would use the M&M’s as decorations on top of some  chocolate mint infused cupcakes which were finished off with a swirl of mint chocolate buttercream.  Those of you who know me well, know I have an addiction to all things mint flavoured and I’m also a huge fan of Sugar and Crumbs flavoured icing sugars.  When they brought out a mint chocolate flavour icing sugar I was in heaven.

MINT CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES

Ingredients:

 125g softened, unsalted butter.

125g caster sugar

100g self raising flour

25g cocoa powder (I use Green and Blacks)

2 large free range eggs

1 tsp peppermint extract

• Prepare a 12 hole cupcake tin with your cupcake cases and preheat your oven.  I have an electric fan oven so my oven temperature is about 1600C.
• Weigh out all the ingredients and mix together in a large mixing bowl. I use the all in one method for baking my cupcakes.  These can either be mixed with a hand held mixer or a free standing one.
• Spoon the mixture into the cupcake cases. I usually get two large teaspoonfuls into each case, making sure they are equally divided. I have used a small ice cream scoop to help me in the past but it has broken!
• Bake the cupcakes on the tray in the middle of the oven for about 15-20 minutes until they are well risen and spring back when touched.
• Leave to cool on a wire rack.

For the icing:

250g softened unsalted butter

500g pack of Sugar and Crumbs Chocolate Mint Natural Flavoured Icing Sugar

Milk to mix.

• Weigh out the butter and put into a large mixing bowl.  Whip it up with a hand held mixer so that it makes it creamy and easier to manage.
• Sift in the icing sugar and mix carefully. Add in milk, bit by bit until the icing is smooth but not runny. It needs to be of a piping consistency.
• Prepare a large piping bag with a large star shaped icing nozzle and fill the bag with about 1/3 0f the mixture. Pipe onto the cooled cupcakes.

As the pictures of my cupcakes shows, I used mint flavour M&M’s to top my cakes. You could use anything with a chocolate mint flavour: After Eight mints or Aero Bubbles or Matchmakers.

These cakes always go down well with my family and it was torture not being able to eat one.

Happy Baking!

Love Sam xx