Sticky Toffee Pudding Cupcakes (Recipe) and Peek-A-Boo Chocolate Bears

It's been a cold snowy month here in Norfolk. We've had 6" of snow and temperatures down to -14deg C.

There have been a few days when the postal service and courier networks ground to a halt, schools shut and most people stayed home due to some rather nasty winter weather. After you've made snowmen outside, and come back in to thaw out.... these rib sticking cupcakes do down rather nicely with a hot cup of tea.

I couldn't resist adorning mine with these gorgeous chocolate Peek-A-Boo bears. These little bears were made in one of our new Chocolate collection silicone bakeware moulds from www.siliconemoulds.com and are due for release early March 2013. You can find the new PEEK-A-BOO silicone chocolate mold here

Recipe - Makes 15 

180g plain (cake) flour

2.1/2 tsp of baking powder

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

90mls corn (or sunflower) oil

150g light brown sugar

150g chopped and pitted Medijool dates

Add the chopped dates to a bowl with 180mls of boiling water, then pop in a microwave for a further minute. Remove and mash with a fork until thick and pulpy

Whisk sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla until thick and foamy. Sift flour and baking powder and fold into the whisked mixture, followed by the mashed dates.

Spoon equally into silicone muffin moulds, placed on a baking tray and lined with paper cupcake cases. Bake for approx 15 > 18 mins at 160deg C Fan / 180deg C normal until the tops are golden and springy and a toothpick comes out clean.

Remove and leave to cool.

Meanwhile, prepare the toffee frosting..... You will need to excuse me here as I tend to make most of my buttercream by eye rather than by weight !

Salted Toffee / Caramel Frosting

quick toffee sauce :

Put equal amounts of salted butter and golden syrup in a pan. Bring to the boil for approx 2 mins.  Remove from heat and add to a mixer bowl with 500g powdered icing sugar.

Start to beat and then add in about 150g of softened salted butter. Beat thoroughly until it comes together and is smooth and glossy. If too runny, you can add some more powdered sugar.

This frosting is quite slack and suitable for spreading or dolloping on cupcakes. It's not the sort that you can pipe into big ice cream swirls.

If at any point, it turns into something that looks really curdled and horrid or starts to sieze- do NOT panic. Simply put the bowl over a pot of hot water and keep mixing until it becomes smooth.

You do need to apply it to cakes whilst still a little warm.

The adorable little chocolate feet were made in another silicone chocolate mould from my Spring 2013 collection. A registered design from www.siliconemoulds.com

Sarah-Jane Nash - www.siliconemoulds.com - January 2013