Vanilla and Fudge Cupcakes With Chocolate Fudge Icing

Friday was an I-must-bake day and I decided to bake something I've been wanting to do for a while.  I've had the important ingredients sitting in my baking cupboard for about a month now and just hadn't gotten around to making anything with them.  But we had finished all the Portal cookies and I wanted something new to be the after dinner treat.  Hence, these cupcakes!

So what do we have?  Well, they are vanilla cupcakes with pieces of fudge baked into them.  Then they're topped with a chocolate fudge icing and decorated with bits of fudge, white and milk chocolate.  They really are quite indulgent and so so yummy!  Especially because the fudge is the clotted cream fudge from Thornton's, which is some of the most amazing vanilla fudge ever!  I am a bit of a glutton if presented with this fudge.  I got that instead of an Easter egg from the fiancé this year.  I was not at all put out.  I used a lot of my favourite brands of sweet for my decorations this time around.  So not only is there Thornton's fudge, but I used Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate for the icing and milk chocolate decoration, and Milky Bar buttons for my white chocolate.  Like I said, these are something I've wanted to do for a while.  Something delicious and sweet for me!

I used pretty much my usual vanilla cupcake recipe, but I upped the amount of ingredients slightly to get bigger cakes.  My cupcakes have always been a bit small, though I generally don't mind that.  But for something like this I wanted some that were a bit bigger.  And it worked!  They look good and taste just the same.

Recipe - Makes 12


Cupcakes:

• 140g/5oz caster sugar
• 140g/5oz butter
• 3 eggs
• 170g/6oz self-raising flour
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 85g/3oz vanilla clotted cream fudge 

Fudge Icing - adapted from Cake Decorating Magazine

• 100g/3.5oz milk chocolate
• 55g/2oz butter
• 1.5 tbsp milk
• 75g/2.6oz icing sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Decoration:

• White chocolate buttons
• 1 Cadbury Flake
• Vanilla clotted cream fudge
• (I also used leftover, broken milk chocolate decorations that I made when doing the chocolate and orange marble cakes)

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4 and line a 12 hole muffin tin with cases.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl until pale and fluffy.
3. Add the vanilla extract and beat in.
4. Add the eggs one at a time, and beat until fully incorporated after each addition.
5. Sift in the flour and fold into the mixture.
6. Chop the fudge into small pieces and fold into the mix.
7. Spoon into the cases, trying to distribute the mixture and fudge equally.
8. Bake for 20-25 minutes.  The cakes should be risen and golden, and a skewer inserted into the centre should come out clean.
9. Leave to cool on a cooling rack.
10. Make the icing whilst you wait.  First melt the chocolate and milk together in a medium glass bowl placed over a pan of simmering water.
11. When melted together, add the butter and wait for that to melt too.
12. When the butter has melted, mix it all together.
13. Gradually add the icing sugar and mix in.
14. Add the vanilla extract and beat that in too and then leave the icing to cool.
15. When the icing has cooled, beat again until fudgey.
16. Use a spoon to smooth the icing on top of each cake.
17. Crumble the Cadbury flake and sprinkle over the top of the icing.
18. Chop up the fudge and white chocolate buttons (and milk chocolate pieces if you have them) and place some of each on top of the cakes.