MULLED WINE CUPCAKES
December 17, 2017
Everybody has their own something they wait allllll year to fully indulge in at Christmas. And this year, that something for us was Mulled Wine - and A LOT of it! We've been having mulled wine at least once every weekend since bonfire night so that's definitely a fair few drinks!
We've been so excited to try making these mulled wine cupcakes, and they did not dissapoint. They are so Christmassy and indulgent full of lovely festive spices and flavours. The cupcakes are flavoured with cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg, and a gorgeous homemade syrup (method down below), and are decorated with a divine orange and cinnamon buttercream.
Here is how to make them...
Ingredients:
For the Mulled Wine Syrup...
2/3 bottle of Mulled Wine
1/2 cup caster sugar
For the Cupcakes...
4oz butter
4oz caster sugar
2 eggs
4 oz self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp mixed spice
5 tbsp mulled wine syrup
For the Buttercream...
4oz butter
16oz icing sugar
zest of 1 orange
juice of 1/2 orange
1 tsp cinnamon
For Decoration...
cinnamon sticks
star anise
dried orange slices (homemade/bought or fresh slices)
cranberries, coated in sugar
For these cupcakes we used a homemade mulled wine syrup to make them super delicious. For this, place the mulled wine and sugar in a pan on a medium heat and bring to the boil. Once boiling turn down to a low heat and leave to simmer for around 40 minutes. Set this aside to cool and thicken. Ideally you may want to make this a few hours earlier or even the day before.
To make the cupcakes start by preheating your oven to 200°C/180°C Fan/Gas mark 6 and line a cupcake tray with 10 cupcake cases. Begin by beating together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Then, beat in the eggs. Add in the flour, baking powder, spices and and mix until combined into a smooth batter.
Divide your mixture between the 10 cupcake cases, and pop into the oven for around 18 minutes, or until an inserted skewer comes out clean. While the cakes are still warm use a cocktail stick to make a few holes in the cupcakes, then drizzle on around 2 teaspoons of the mulled wine syrup. Transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool completely before decorating.
To make the buttercream, simply beat the butter until light and fluffy. Beat in the orange zest and juice and then slowly beat in the cinnamon and icing sugar one big spoonful at a time. You may need to add more icing sugar if the buttercream is not thick enough at this point but just keep adding a spoonful at a time until thick and pipable (unsure if that's a word, but we're rolling with it!).
Spoon the buttercream into a large piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle and pipe onto the cupcakes. We piped ours from the outside in, finishing in a point to create a swirl. Top the cupcakes with your festive decorations.
We decorated ours with some sugared cranberries and some dried oranges, which are both really easy to make! For the oranges, thinly slice a couple of oranges, then place in the oven on a wire rack, and bake on a very low heat for a few hours.
For the cranberries, mix a spoonful of sugar with some water and coat the cranberries to make them a little sticky. Leave them to dry for a few minutes then cover them in caster sugar (and a little bit of glitter in you want) and you're done!
These cupcakes are the definition on Christmas. It is the perfect recipe for an afternoon of Christmas baking and is a must bake for any mulled wine lover! They are indulgent and wonderful and we can't wait for you to try them.
The mulled wine syrup is our absolute favourite and we are so excited to investigate how else we can use this! We think it would be perfect to stir into a gin and tonic or even a hot chocolate to make some very festive drinks, and would be incredible drizzle over a dessert - just imagine, a mulled wine Eton mess, mmmmmm!
Thank you so so much for reading this post!
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Lots of love and Merry Christmas,
Antonia and Imogen x
