This cupcake is a Cookies & Cream dream!
This week is Coeliac Awareness Week (woo, go coeliacs!!), and when I think about foods I craved as a child but were unable to have, it was always Oreo cookies!
Growing up, it wasn't just the restrictions of not being able to eat gluten, and being in pain when I accidentally did, but the emotional toll it took on always feeling left out.
That's why I want to #ShineALightOnCoeliac this week to make sure that kids growing up now have all the food options they could ever possibly want, and never feel like they are missing out.
You can go to the Coeliac UK website to get involved with the Awareness week activities, and help to shine a light and make it easier for future coeliacs.
If you've spent your coeliac years looking longingly at the cookie and cream options like I have, then these are sure to hit the spot!
I was adamant that I wanted to do a cookies and cream cupcake for Coeliac Week and I am so glad I did because these are AMAZING!
The vanilla sponge is soft and fluffy, with just the right amount of chocolate cookie crumbs throughout to crunch in each bite. They're filled with the vanilla cream centre from the cookies, and topped with vanilla and chocolate cookie crumb buttercream. Before filling the muffin cases with batter I dropped in half a cookie (separate the cream from the biscuit). It's the perfect ratio of cookie, sponge and cream!
I still haven't got my hands on the gluten free Oreos, but the supermarket dupes are good alternatives. You can find them in all the major shops.
In the recipe, I use the term C&C to identify where the cookies are used. 4 packs of cookies should suffice for the biscuit base, the crushed cookies in the sponge and buttercream, the cream filling, and the whole cookie on top.
So, if you're looking for a delicious, indulgent and super easy cupcake to bake to celebrate your coeliacs, then this is the one!
Let's get Caking It for Coeliac Awareness Week!
Recipe
180C (170C fan)
Yield: 12 cupcakes
Prep: 20 mins
Bake: 18 mins
Assembly: 10 mins
Ingredients
Sponge
160g unsalted butter
160g caster sugar
4 medium eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
160g gluten free self-raising flour
1 tsp gluten free baking powder
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
80g gluten free C&C biscuit cookies, crushed
2 tbsp sour cream
x12 gluten free C&C biscuit cookies (half of the whole C&C cookie)
Filling
Gluten free C&C vanilla cream centre
Frosting
150g unsalted butter
350g icing sugar
50g gluten free C&C cookies, crushed
1 tbsp milk
x12 gluten free C&C cookies
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Method: Sponge
Don't forget to wait until all the ingredients are room temperature before starting.
Preheat oven to 180C. Fill 12 muffin holes with cases.
With a fork, cream the butter until pale, then add the sugar and cream together until fully incorporated.
Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing with an electric whisk between each addition, and add the vanilla extract.
In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, and xanthan gum with a fork, and then add this to the mixture, mixing until fully incorporated.
For the crushed cookies, separate the biscuit halves from the cream. Put the cream aside for the cupcake centre filling. Make crumbs by crushing the biscuit halves.
Add the crushed cookies and fold until fully incorporated.
Spoon in the sour cream and fold until combined.
Place 1/2 a cookie into each muffin case and spoon 2 tbsp of the mixture on top.
Let the mixture sit in the cases for 20 minutes before placing in an oven for 18 minutes. A skewer or toothpick inserted into the cupcakes should come out clean.
Method: Buttercream
This buttercream is so deliciously creamy.
While the sponges are cooling, move onto the cookie buttercream.
Cream the butter until pale, and gradually add in the icing sugar until it is all incorporated. You can do this either with a standing mixer, an electric hand whisk, or a fork. At this point the mixture should be a little stiff.
Slowly pour in a little milk until a rich pipeable mixture is formed.
Add in the crushed cookies and mix.
Assembly
Making sure the sponges are completely cool, scoop out the middle of the cupcake with an apple corer, taking care not to go right down to the bottom.
With a teaspoon, fill the middle with the C&C cream you saved earlier from the crushed cookies.
Pipe on a good layer of the buttercream, and top with a whole C&C cookie.
Enjoy!
