18. Marshmallow Cupcakes

120g plain flour
140g caster sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
A pinch of salt
45g unsalted butter (at room temperature)
120ml milk (semi-skimmed is fine, but use whole for extra indulgence!)
1 egg
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
12 medium marshmallows
12 cupcake cases and 12 hole tin

For the frosting:
250g icing sugar
80g unsalted butter
25ml milk
A splash of vanilla extract

For decorating:
Mini (mini!) marshamllows
Edible gliter

Preheat the oven to 170C. Beat the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and butter together with an electric whisk until the mixture reaches a sand consistency. Pour in half the mix and beat until the milk is just incorporated. Combine the rest of the milk, egg and vanilla extract then add into the flour mixture and mix everything together until smooth.

Spoon the mixture evenly into the paper cases and bake in the pre-heated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown. Leave to cool then scoop out a small section from the middle of the cupcake.

In a bain marie, leave the medium marshmallows to melt over a gentle heat. Once they are smoothly, fill each cupcake-hole with the melted marshmallow.

To make the vanilla frosting, beat the icing sugar and butter together until combined. Add in the milk and vanilla extract and beat for another 5+ minutes (the longer you beat it for, the lighter it will be!).

Ice the cupcakes and then decorate with the mini mini marshamllows and glitter.

Eat!


Another sterling recipe from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook, these have to be some of the best cupcakes i've made. Despite having concerns over the amount of mixture there was (the recipe suggests filling the cases 2/3 full but i could barely reach the half way mark with mine!) they generally rose very well and, more importantly for me, stayed lovely and flat on top. The actual sponge was light and moist too, which can sometimes be difficult to maintain with individual buns. For 'fuller' cupcakes it might be worth making enough mixture for 24 and then just using 18 cases.

Melting the marshmallow was an absolute pain though! Tip 1: don't let the water underneath the bowl get too hot...the marshmallow around the sides will begin to crisp up á la toasted marshmallows! Although it tastes fine, it is quite chewy which in a delicate little cupcake isn't ideal! If it does happen, you can avoid it by not scraping the side of the bowl to get marshmallow goo. Tip 2: whether you are using your fingers or two spoons to coax the melted marshmallow into the cupcakes, have a cup of water on hand to moisten your chosen implement before each one. The mixture is ridiculously sticky and very unforgiving! It is definitely worth it though, as it sets beautifully in the cupcake and is a lovely little surprise to find.

As per Hummingbird cupcakes, they are quite heavy on the icing so the amount of mixture might need to be decreased if you wanted a slightly healthier finished product. I just left it the same though!


I think the fact that i made them two nights ago and they're already all gone vouches for how delicious they are!