In my last Christmas effort of the season, before sadly taking down the tree and de-fairy-lighting the house, I saw these cupcakes in the Hummingbird Bakery cookbook and just had to give them a go! I found that I even had the same little snowmen decorating pieces, had all the ingredients in the cupboards already, so with carols banned for the new year already (self-imposed ban) I thought I should act quickly before I Grinched all Christmas food too!!!
Ingredients:
80g unsalted butter
280g sugar
240g plain flour
1 teaspoon grated nutmeg (I added this to the recipe, I wanted the cake mix to be more eggnoggy)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
240ml milk
Method:
1. Beat together the butter, sugar, flour, baking powder, nutmeg and salt on a low speed until they have the texture of fine breadcrumbs.
2. In a separate jug, combine the eggs and milk and whisk a little.
3. Pour 3/4 of the milk/egg mix into the dry ingredients and mix on low speed to combine. Mix on a higher speed and add the remainder of the milk/egg mix.
4. Fill patty papers with batter and bake in a 190C oven (375F) for about 15-20 minutes.
5. Cool on wire rack and ice when completely cool.
Icing:
1. Whisk 500g icing sugar with 160g of butter, 1 teaspoon of nutmeg and 1 tablespoon of brandy. Note, the recipe called for rum essence, but, I do not make eggnog with rum, I use brandy, and as brandy essence just seemed a little odd to me, I thought, what harm will 1 tablespoon of brandy do over the entire batch! (Answer: no harm, only good can come from adding brandy).
2. The mixture will be crumbly. Add 50ml of milk gradually until the icing is light and fluffy.
3. When the cupcakes are definitely cool, spread the icing over each one and decorate as you please!
On a cold night, if it were up to me, I would enjoy these with a warm baileys! But, in my pregnant state, a warm cup of (decaf) tea was equally as lovely!!
And sadly, I believe Christmas in the McCosker house is now over. But, I still believe.....
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