One of my favourite things about Christmas is coming in from the cold winter to a steaming hot mug of Mulled Wine or Cider.  I have already filled my home with Spiced Apple & Mulled Wine candles because to me, that is the smell of Christmas.

With that in mind, I’ve been doing some festive baking and, after having a poke around at what was out there, created my Mulled Cider Cupcakes.  I somehow managed to get the measurements about right on my first try which is some kind of miracle, but I perfected the recipe on this, my second batch – which my office got to dig into this morning!

The recipe is very straightforward and the icing is just a standard buttercream.  I tried a cream cheese frosting and a mulled cider buttercream but the first one tasted weird and the second split so I went back to basics.  Luckily, the cupcake has so much flavour, it almost needs a relatively plain, sweet icing – obviously you are welcome to jazz it up however you like!  This should make around 12-18 cupcakes depending on the size of your muffin tray/paper cases – I used the left over mixture to make mini cupcakes.

Mulled Cider Cupcakes

Easy  |  Cook: 20 minutes  |  Makes 12-18

Ingredients

For the cupcakes:

• 200g self-raising flour
• 100g unsalted butter (Softened)
• 200g soft light brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• 150ml mulled cider

For the frosting:

• 140g unsalted butter (softened)
• 280g icing sugar
• 1-2 tbsp milk
• Cinnamon – for sprinkling

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees and line 2 muffin trays with paper cases.
2. Beat the butter until soft, then add the sugar and cream the two together.  Add the eggs and mix again until smooth.
3. Add the flour and mixed spice, then combine until you have a relatively thick batter and all ingredients are incorporated.
4. Add the cider, a little at a time, and mix after each addition until you have the desired dropping consistency.
5. Spoon the mixture into the paper cases, then place in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown and risen.  Remove from the oven and leave to cool, then place on a wire rack and allow to cool completely.
6. For the buttercream, beat the butter until smooth, then add the icing sugar and beat again (this may take a while) until smooth.  Add the milk, a little at a time, until you have a smooth, pipe-able icing.  You could add vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg or similar to flavour the icing – around 1 tsp.
7. When the cupcakes are cool, pipe or spread the icing onto the cupcakes and sprinkle with a little cinnamon or decorate as desired.  Enjoy!