Cranberry & White Chocolate

These truly wintery cupcakes finished with glistening jeweled cranberries will put you right in the festive spirit!

Is it too early for Christmas baking? Hmm...I'm going to vote no!

If you voted yes, well, then you've come to the wrong place because this is officially the first bake of the festive season YAY!

It's fitting that today is 1st December!

These scrummy cranberry and white chocolate cupcakes are packed full of white chocolate chips and whole fresh cranberries, filled with cranberry coulis, topped with white chocolate buttercream, and jeweled cranberries.

Believe me when I say they're a true delight. The balance between tart and sweet is just right. They're delightfully, deliciously indulgent!

When making the cranberry jewels it's a simple process of gently cooking the cranberries in sticky sugar, letting them cool, then coating them in sugar to create the perfect shimmery effect.

They'll stay good for a couple of days, but after that they may start to weep so you'll have to remove them from the tops of the cupcakes and re-roll them in sugar (if they last that long!)

These are seriously the perfect way to get you in the festive mood. Get out your Christmas playlist and spatula and get baking. Roll on the festive merriment.

Let's get Caking It!

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Recipe

180C (170C fan)

Yield: 12 cupcakes

Prep: 10 mins

Bake: 18 mins

Assembly: 5 minutes

Ingredients

Sponge

80g unsalted butter

80g caster sugar

3 medium eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

80g gluten free self-raising flour

40g ground almonds

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/4 tsp xanthan gum

80g fresh cranberries, washed

100g white chocolate chips

3 tbsp sour cream

Filling

50g cranberries

25g sugar

50ml water

Frosting

100g unsalted butter

300g icing sugar

100g white chocolate

Cranberry jewels to finish

50g cranberries

100g sugar

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Method: Sponge

Don't forget to wait until all the ingredients are room temperature before starting.

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Fill 12 muffin holes with cases.

2. Cream the butter until pale, then add the sugar and cream together until fully incorporated.

3. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing with an electric whisk between each addition and add the vanilla extract.

4. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, xanthan gum, and ground almonds with a fork, and then add this to the eggs and butter, mixing until fully incorporated.

5. Spoon in the sour cream and fold until combined.

6. Add the white chocolate chips and cranberries and give it a final mix.

7. Spoon 2 tbsp of the mixture into each muffin case.

8. 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: Cranberry Jewels

The perfect shimmering finish touch.

1. Place the cranberries and 25g of sugar into a saucepan and warm on medium-low until the sugar has dissolved. Ensure the cranberries remain whole.

2. Remove from the saucepan with a slotted spoon and place on baking paper to cool for 45 minutes.

3. Once cooled, your cranberries should now be sticky. Working in batches, roll in the rest of the sugar until covered and sparkling.

Method: Cranberry Coulis

This coulis is incredibly easy to make and compliments the sweet white chocolate wonderfully.

1. Add the cranberries, sugar, and water to a saucepan and heat on medium until the sugar has dissolved, then turn up the heat until bubbling.

2. With a fork mash the cranberries.

3. Take off the heat and run through a sieve to get the skins out.

4. Place to one side until needed.

Method: Buttercream

You can't beat a delicious white chocolate buttercream.

1. While the sponges are cooling, make to the buttercream.

2. 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.

3. Chop the white chocolate into small chunks and melt in 20 second increments in the microwave. Wait a few minutes to let cool slightly and then pour into the buttercream and beat until nicely incorporated.

Assembly

1. 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.

2. With a teaspoon, fill the middle with some cranberry coulis.

3. Pipe on a good layer of the white chocolate buttercream.

4. Finish with your cranberry jewels.

5. Enjoy!