Milkybar kid cupcakes

It was a Friday night, the hubby was at le pub and i was bored - the solution? cupcake experimenting, my favourite activity!!

And so, after a trip to the Coop i decided upon milkybar cupcakes, complete with milkybar centre and pillar-box red buttercream icing...yummy! This recipe makes 12 standard size cupcakes:

Ingredients
For the base:
125g softened butter
125 g caster sugar
2 medium eggs
2 tbsp milk
100g self-raising flour
3 tbsp cocoa
12 milkybar segments

For the buttercream topping
175g softened butter
350g icing sugar
3 tbsp boiling water
Vanilla extract
Red food colouring
Milkybar buttons

Firstly for the base...i chose to make chocolate cupcakes, but i think it would work just as well with traditional plain with a splash of vanilla.

Pre-heat the oven to 190c/375f and make sure all of your ingredients are at room temperature.

Place the butter and sugar into a large mixing bowl and mix until lovely and fluffy. Next add the eggs and milk then sift in the self-raising flour and cocoa powder (i prefer to splash out on organic Green & Blacks) Whip up all the ingredients until smooth.

Divide the cupcake mixture into the paper cases and squish the milkybar segments into the centre of the mixture, with the chocolate just peeping out like so...



Bake in the oven for approximately 12-15 minutes until the cupcakes have risen, because of the milkybar centre its best to check if the cupcakes are done by slipping in a cocktail stick just off the centre (if its clean, its done)

Remove the cupcakes from the tray and cool on a rack for a couple of hours before attempting to do the topping. A word of warning about buttercream icing...its best to make it just before its going to be used to get the best super soft finish, otherwise it goes slightly hard but is nevertheless still tasty!

Anyway, beat the butter in a mixing bowl to soften and add the icing sugar, boiling water and vanilla extract into a bowl. Mix until very smooth and add the red food colouring and mix until desired colouring is achieved.


Place the pillar-box red buttercream onto the cupcakes and pile it high! Use milkybar buttons to decorate..