Chocolate Cinnamon Cupcakes

One thing that I'm always wanting to brush up on is my baking skills. The odds of me being the only one in my family that's terrible in the kitchen are pretty high - my brother is an aspiring chef, my gran's a professional cook & my dad makes a mean egg & chips. Me? I can just about make cupcakes! Whilst my mum & I were in ASDA the other day I came across a book with 1,000 cupcake, brownie and dessert recipies. Is it just me that thinks cooking sweet things is sooooo much more enjoyable than savory? The end tasting part is always the best!

So, to make 12 gorgeous cinnamon cupcakes, you will need:

- 110g self-raising flower
- 110 caster sugar
- 110g unsalted butter
- 30g unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 eggs
- 1 tablespoon of ground cinnamon

For the topping you will need:
- 110g unsalted butter
- 225g icing sugar
- 1 tablespoon cocoa powder



Preheat your oven to 180 degrees (fan) or gas mark 5 & combine all of the cake ingredients in a bowl. I actually made this without scales and just guessed by looking at it. When I was making this, the mixture was so thick that I had to add a bit of water to to it to thinnen it slightly before putting it into cases. I used quite small cupcake cases that I bought in a set of three and so the mixture actually made enough for about 14 small cakes! Once they've been in the oven for 15-20 minutes, they should be done! Now it's time to make the icing.



Butter cream is one of my favourite things to make and to do so, you will need to soften the butter and slowly sieve the icing sugar into it. I originally tried to pipe the icing through a food bag because I don't have piping bags but it failed miserably, so I spread it out over the cake using the back of a spoon. Then I broke up a small block of dark chocolate and put it on the top. Done! The recipe originally said to sprinkle it with white chocolate and to add cinnamon into the icing but I thought that'd be way too much. I'll be the first to admit that they don't look the best but practice makes perfect, hey?

If you make these cakes, make sure to show them to me on Twitter - I'd love to know what you think of them!