Sinfully Easy Lindor Choc Cheesecake Cupcakes with Melty Centres

Last Christmas I somehow ended up with three boxes of Lindor chocolates; one of each of the white, milk and cookies & cream varieties to be precise. Now, I am most certainly NOT complaining as they are divine but, amidst all the other gazillions of truffles, mints, posh biscuits and other choccy treats myself and my family acquired between us during the festive season (there's still several boxes in the cupboard even now at the end of May, no joke) I thought I'd try and put some of them to use in my baking. Or rather, I thought I'd use the milk and white chocolate ones in my baking; the cookies & cream ones are such amazingly heavenly little balls of sweet, creamy loveliness that I have them stashed away in an undisclosed location for me to savour as they are too good even to share! Sorry. Not sorry. Anyway, one thing I found is that Lindor balls actually melt surprisingly well, even the white ones (provided you chop them up) so this uber decadent recipe really is sinfully easy.

Obviously if you don't want to splash out and use Lindor chocolates, these cakes would work fine with most other kinds, but I found them an unashamedly indulgent and sophisticated change to the bog-standard cooking chocolate taste, and you really can't beat Lindor for creaminess so they work fantastically in the gooey melty surprise centres.

I took a batch of these into work on my birthday back in January and they seemed to vanish in a puff of smoke - you can't go wrong with chocolate and cheesecake afterall, even when there are avid new year dieters about...

INGREDIENTS - makes approx. 12-15

For the cakes:

• 4 oz self-raising flour
• 4 oz caster sugar
• 4 oz margarine/butter
• 2 eggs
• 2 oz cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp strong instant coffee, diluted in hot water
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

For the melty filling/icing:

• 5 (approx.) milk Lindor chocolates
• 5 (approx.) white Lindor chocolates
• 4 oz cream cheese (at room temperature, full-fat works best)

METHOD

For the cakes (inc. filling):

1. Line a baking tray with 12 paper cake cases and boil the kettle.
2. Whisk the margarine/butter together in a large mixing bowl until pale then whisk in the eggs.
3. Fold in the flour, baking powder and vanilla extract until a batter of a soft dropping consistency has formed.
4. Drop the mixture into half of the paper cases using a teaspoon until they're each about half full.
5. Roughly chop two of the white Lindors into thirds using a sharp knife (and being careful not to ping them off the worktop...) and place a third on top of the mixture in each filled case, then top up each case with cake batter until they're about two thirds full.
6. Stir a tablespoon of instant coffee into about two tablespoons of boiling water until the granules have all dissolved then pour into the remaining cake batter*. Then make a cup of tea with the leftover boiled water (well, it'd be wrong to put the kettle on and not have a cuppa, wouldn't it?!)
7. Fold in the cocoa powder then drop the mixture into the remaining paper cases using a teaspoon until they're each about half full, then repeat step 5 but this time with two milk chocolate Lindors.
8. Pop in the oven and bake at 180 degrees C for about 12-15 minutes until a cocktail stick inserted into the sponge comes out clean.
9. When baked, place on a wire rack and leave to cool. At this stage the cakes can be frozen for decorating at a later date if you wish.

For the icing:

1. Chop the remaining Lindors into small pieces and place the white chocolate ones into a heatproof bowl. Leave some of the flaky chocolate crumbs on the chopping board as these can be used to decorate the cakes at the end. 
2. Place the bowl over a saucepan of hot water without letting the bottom touch the water and stir occasionally, or heat in short bursts of LOW heat in the microwave (this is important - don't put the white chocolate on a high heat for long periods or it will seize and turn lumpy and horrible), until completely melted.
3. Place half of the cream cheese into a separate bowl and stir/whisk while pouring in the melted chocolate until a smooth, spreadable icing has formed. Work quickly as the chocolate will begin to set quite rapidly. If the mixture is excessively runny, add some icing sugar.
4. Spread the icing onto the cooled vanilla cupcakes using a palette knife.
5. Repeat steps 1 to 4 but this time with the milk chocolate Lindors and cupcakes.
6. Sprinkle the remaining milk chocolate crumbs onto the white chocolate cakes and vice versa to decorate. Then grab one and devour it while you still can.

*Yes, this really does enhance the chocolatey flavour of the sponge, it's no myth! And I promise it won't make the cakes taste of coffee (this coming from a coffee hater, so trust me).

Raspberry Ripple Ice Cream Cupcakes

Of all the recipes I've invented this is definitely one of my favourites; the results are not only delicious but just oh so pretty and pink :) And the swirly two-tone sponge looks fantastic! As soon as I discovered Morrisons raspberry ripple ice cream flavour squash I knew I had to find a way to combine it with a cupcake, and I'd been wanting to try out my mum's new duo piping bag (from Lakeland), so I managed to kill two birds with one stone here. I took some of them into work the other week and needless to say they didn't last long! I can imagine that kids would love them too.

Admittedly these cupcakes are a little 'synthetic' and if you don't have much of a sweet tooth they probably wouldn't be your cup of (non-sugary) tea but the tartness of the jam compliments the sweet icing perfectly...and hey, they're only little! Strawberry jam also works well if you don't have raspberry.

INGREDIENTS - makes approx. 12

For the cakes:

• 4 oz self-raising flour
• 4 oz caster sugar
• 4 oz margarine/butter
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp Morrisons raspberry ripple ice cream flavour squash (not diluted)
• Couple of drops red food colouring

For the filling/icing:

• 6 tsp (approx.) raspberry jam
• 10 oz icing sugar
• 5 oz butter (unsalted if preferred)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp Morrisons raspberry ripple ice cream flavour squash (not diluted)
• 1 tiny drop red food colouring
• A few rainbow coloured sprinkles, to decorate

METHOD

For the cakes:

1. Line a baking tray with 12 paper cake cases.
2. Whisk the margarine/butter and sugar together in a large mixing bowl until pale then whisk in the eggs.
3. Fold in the flour, baking powder, vanilla extract and raspberry ripple squash until a batter of soft dropping consistency has formed.
4. Add a drop or two of red food colouring (no more than that, use it sparingly!) and swirl through the mixture a few times using a skewer. Don't overdo this or the batter will simply turn pink and you won't get the lovely marble effect!
5. Drop the mixture into the paper cases using a teaspoon until they're each about two thirds full.
6. Pop in the oven and bake at 180 degrees C for about 12-15 minutes until a cocktail stick inserted into the sponge comes out clean.
7. When baked, place on a wire rack and leave to cool. At this stage the cakes can be frozen for decorating at a later date if you wish.

For the filling & icing:

1. When they have cooled, use a teaspoon or small sharp knife to carefully cut out a hole (about 2cm in diameter and 1.5cm in depth) in the top of each cupcake, being careful not to cut too deep into the sponge. Don't discard the bits you've cut out!
2. Drop about half a teaspoon of raspberry jam into each hole and gently push the sponge part that was cut out back into each one.
3. Divide the butter, vanilla extract and raspberry ripple squash equally between two separate bowls and stir/whisk while gradually adding half of the icing sugar to each batch until a fairly stiff, fluffy mixture has formed. Add a tiny splash of red food colouring to one bowl and stir to turn the icing a pale pink - I find the best way to do this is to dip the end of a cocktail stick into the bottle of food colouring and then push it into the icing mixture to ensure it doesn't turn too red.
4. Here, I used my mum's wonderful duo piping bag from Lakeland to top the cakes with swirly two-tone pink and white icing but I realise most people don't have one of these. It's possible to create a similar effect by adding alternating layers of the pink and white icing to a regular piping bag or, alternatively, you could simply spread the two lots of icing onto the cakes and randomly swirl together using a palette knife or teaspoon.
5. Scatter a few rainbow sprinkles onto the top of each cake for extra ice creamy prettiness.

Low Sugar Chocolate Mud Icing

Unfortunately my dad has diabetes and is therefore unable to consume my myriad teeth-rottingly sweet baked goods in large quantities. The rest of my family are fairly health-conscious too so I came up with this delicious and simple alternative to sugary buttercream using just cream cheese and dark chocolate with a high cocoa content. I've called it 'mud' because of its colour and thick, chunky consistency! Obviously if you're topping standard vanilla or chocolate sponges with it they can hardly be classified as super healthy, and there's still quite a high fat content, but it does mean a small cupcake can be enjoyed with a bit less guilt if you're watching your sugar intake without going overboard with the artifical sweetener, and the strong flavour means a little goes a long way. Generally I'm not a fan of dark chocolate containing a high percentage of cocoa myself but the slight bitterness of the icing was offset really nicely with the light sponge, and the vanilla cereal stars make very cute decorations!

There are various reduced-sugar cake recipes available online that this could be paired with. Remember: the higher the cocoa content percentage, the less sugary the chocolate but the more bitter the taste.

DISCLAIMER: I'm not a health or nutrition expert so try at your own risk!

I ran out of icing when I made the cakes in the photo above so the three on the right have diabetic pineapple jam in instead :)

INGREDIENTS - to ice approx. 12 cupcakes

• 2 oz high-cocoa chocolate (minimum 60%), roughly chopped
• 5 oz cream cheese (at room temperature, full-fat works best)
• Handful of vanilla flavour star-shaped cereal (available in Tesco last time I checked)

METHOD

1. Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of boiling water without letting the bottom of the bowl touch the water and stir occasionally, or place in the microwave and blast on low heat in short bursts until completely melted.
2. Place the cream cheese in a separate bowl and gradually pour in the melted chocolate while stirring until a smooth, spreadable mixture has formed.
3. Spread the icing onto each cupcake using a palette knife - make sure you work quickly as it sets very rapidly - then top with a few vanilla cereal stars if desired.

Edit: Here are some I made for my dad for Father's Day, topped with crushed sugar-free Werther's Originals :)

Cheat's Creme Brulee Cupcakes

I adore a good creme brulee so I leapt at the chance of transforming this silky, creamy dessert into a cupcake. However, after much Googling and continuously seeing the words 'separate egg yolks' and 'blow torch' I immediately decided they were too much effort. Because I'm lazy like that.

I then stumbled across an American recipe where the cupcakes were filled with vanilla flavour 'pudding' which sounded like minimal faff but, sadly, what the Americans refer to as 'pudding' (a kind of creamy dessert usually served in individual pots if I remember rightly from watching Scrubs) is not widely available here in the UK. Luckily I discovered the perfect substitute in the form of vanilla flavour Alpro soya dessert! This can be bought as a pack of four individual pots from most major supermarkets and can usually be found among the gluten/dairy-free products (they're also available in dark chocolate, milk chocolate and toffee which are all yummy too, just FYI). I decided to take the plunge and attempt some spun sugar decorations (actually not as scary as they sound) for an authentically crisp but refreshingly blowtorch-free creme brulee-esque topping. Rounded off with a simple vanilla buttercream icing, these little beauties went down a treat, with many 'ooh's of admiration :) And they're so ridiculously easy to make!

You'll only need to use a small amount of the soya dessert for the cakes but any that's left over is delicious poured over sponge puddings, brownies, other warm desserts etc as a tasty alternative to custard (or of course you could just eat it straight out the pot if you haven't fallen into a sugar coma brought on by sampling icing like me...)

INGREDIENTS - makes approx. 12

For the cakes:

• 4 oz self-raising flour
• 4 oz caster sugar
• 4 oz margarine/butter
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

For the filling/icing/spun sugar decorations:

• 12 tsp (approx.) vanilla flavour Alpro soya dessert
• 5 oz icing sugar
• 2 oz butter (unsalted if preferred)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 oz caster sugar

METHOD

For the cakes:

1. Line a baking tray with 12 paper cake cases.
2. Whisk the margarine/butter and sugar together in a large mixing bowl until pale then whisk in the eggs.
3. Fold in the flour, baking powder and vanilla extract until batter of a soft dropping consistency has formed.
4. Drop the mixture into the paper cases using a teaspoon until they're each about two thirds full.
5. Pop in the oven and bake at 180 degrees C for about 12-15 minutes until a cocktail stick inserted into the sponge comes out clean.
6. When baked,  place on a wire rack and leave to cool. At this stage the cakes can be frozen for decorating at a later date if you wish.

For the filling, icing & spun sugar decorations:

1. When they have cooled, use a teaspoon or small sharp knife to carefully cut out a hole (about 2cm in diameter and 1.5cm in depth) in the top of each cupcake, being careful not to cut too deep into the sponge. Don't discard the sponge bits you've cut out!
2. Put about a teaspoon of the vanilla soya dessert into each hole and gently push the sponge part that was cut out back into each one.
3. Add the caster sugar to a small pan over LOW heat until it has turned brown and melted to a thick, sticky consistency - DO NOT STIR! Be patient and don't be tempted to turn up the heat to speed up the process as it will burn horribly, trust me!
4. When all the granules have disappeared, scoop the melted sugar out of the pan using a spatula and spread onto baking parchment or the opened-out clean inside of a cereal packet (sounds odd but works really well for this kind of thing, and it's always good to recycle!) Do this quickly as the sugar will begin to set rapidly.
5. While you're waiting for the spun sugar to cool and set, place the butter and vanilla extract into a bowl and stir/whisk while gradually adding the icing sugar until a thick, fluffy mixture has formed.
6. Spoon the icing into a piping bag with a nozzle of your choice attached (I used a large circle one) and squeeze onto the top of each cake, or simply spread the icing on using a palette knife.
7. Break up your sheet of spun sugar into randomly sized shards and place some on top of each cake just before serving. Any leftover shards can be stored in an airtight container for about a week or so.

Butterscotch Schnapps Cupcakes

Most of my baking incorporates a special 'secret' ingredient which serves as the source of inspiration and these little golden stunners are no exception. They contain one of my favourite ingredients for all kinds of cooking and baking, butterscotch Mickey Finn's - a dreamy discovery I made in a corner shop in Princes Risborough. Unlike the garishly green sour apple Mickey Finn's I remember downing by the bucketful in my student days (which always made me think of toxic waste), this has a lovely warm creamy vanilla taste and no nasty afterburn. It makes a fantastic addition to cakes and is also scrummy added to whipped cream, coffee, Coca Cola or simply drizzled over sponge pudding or brownies; the possibilities are endless! It's just a shame it's not very widely available in the UK. 

Following a failed first attempt and after looking at lots of different butterscotch cupcake recipes online, I decided on the addition of Angel Delight and cream soda in both the sponge and icing to complete the recipe - the result is a deliciously moist and moreish cake! If you're teetotal or aren't able to find the Mickey Finn's, the recipe is still delicious without it.

WARNING: Due to (I think) the alcohol content you may find the cakes fall slightly after they're removed from the oven - I managed to improve this a bit after altering the mixture a couple of times to the method below but the results were by no means perfect. So they may not be the most aesthetically-pleasing cupcakes, but the sponge is still super moist and tasty and it's not that noticeable once they've been iced!

INGREDIENTS - makes approx. 12-15

For the cakes:

• 5 oz self-raising flour
• 4 oz caster sugar
• 4 oz margarine/butter
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp butterscotch Mickey Finn's (or other brand of butterscotch schnapps)
• 3/4 packet butterscotch flavour Angel Delight
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp cream soda

For the icing:

• 10 oz icing sugar
• 5 oz butter (unsalted if preferred)
• 1 tsp butterscotch Mickey Finn's
• 1 tsp cream soda
• 1/4 packet butterscotch flavour Angel Delight
• Sprinkling brown sugar, to decorate

METHOD

For the cakes:

1. Line a baking tray with 12-15 paper cake cases.
2. Whisk the margarine/butter and sugar together in a large mixing bowl until pale then whisk in the eggs.
3. Fold in the flour, baking powder, Mickey Finn's, cream soda, vanilla extract and 3/4 of the Angel Delight until batter of a soft dropping consistency has formed. Add a little extra flour if excessively runny.
4. Drop the mixture into the paper cases using a teaspoon until they're each about two thirds full.
5. Pop in the oven and bake at 180 degrees C for about 12-15 minutes until a cocktail stick inserted into the sponge comes out clean.
6. When baked,  place on a wire rack and leave to cool. At this stage the cakes can be frozen for decorating at a later date if you wish.

For the icing:

1. Place the butter, Mickey Finn's, cream soda and the remaining 1/4 of the Angel Delight into a bowl and stir/whisk thoroughly while gradually adding the icing sugar until a fairly stiff mixture has formed. It's usually best to play this bit by ear - if too runny, add more icing sugar or if too stiff, add a splash more cream soda.
2. Spoon the icing into a piping bag with an attached nozzle of your choice (I used a rope effect one) and pipe onto the cooled cakes or simply spread it on using a palette knife, then sprinkle with a little brown sugar. And scoff! Yum.

Edit: I used the same recipe to make a larger layer cake as a commission for a lady at work - she was very impressed!