Instructions

1. Pre-heat oven to 180°C / 160°C fan assisted / gas 4. Line a muffin tin with 12 cupcake liners.
2. Sift together the flour, baking powder and baking soda into the bowl of your Kenwood stand mixer.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the rest of the cupcake ingredients.
4. Add the wet mixture into the bowl with the dry ingredients then mix with the whisk attachment just until batter is combined. Tip: Make sure to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl once halfway through mixing to make sure all the dry ingredients are mixed in.
5. Spoon the batter into the cupcake liners to 2/3 full. Make sure not to fill them too much otherwise the cupcakes will flow over while baking. Tip: If you are using cupcake liners that are a bit smaller and you find you still have cupcake batter left, you can to use a second muffin tin lined with as many extra liners as needed. You may need to make extra frosting if this is the case, or simply dust the extras with powdered sugar and top with a strawberry!
6. Bake in the pre-heat oven until a toothpick inserted in the centre of a cupcake comes out clean. Between 18-20 minutes. Tip: If your oven bakes unevenly, wait until halfway through baking before rotating the tin in the oven.
7. Remove cupcakes from the oven and leave to cool on wire rack in the muffin pan for about 10 minutes, then remove cupcakes from the pan and leave to cool completely on wire rack before decorating.
8. For the buttercream frosting, beat butter with the K Beater attachment on low speed for about 5 minutes until butter is smooth and has lightened in colour.
9. Add the icing sugar, vanilla, salt and 1 tbsp of the hot water and beat on low speed until frosting becomes creamy. Add another 1 tbsp hot water and continue beating until well combined, then repeat for the last 2 tbsp of hot water. Tip: Adding hot water helps to dissolve the icing sugar for a buttercream that’s less gritty.
10. To colour the buttercream, mix in a few drops of blue gel or liquid food colouring until you reach the shade you like. Always add a small amount at a time to avoid a shade that’s too dark. Tip: You can also add a drop of purple as this can tone down the yellow from the butter so the blue doesn’t have a teal shade to it, but it’s not necessary.
11. To fill and decorate your cupcakes, we find the best way to remove the centre of each cupcake is to use an apple corer, simply twist it down into the centre of the cupcake and the sponge pops out with the corer. If you don’t have an apple corer, you can also use a small sharp knife to cut out the centre.
12. Fill each cupcake with salted caramel sauce, either using a teaspoon, or simply piped in using a piping bag.
13. Fill a large piping bag fitted with a large plain round piping nozzle with the buttercream. Pipe buttercream onto each cupcake, just a single-height swirl.
14. For the speckle, mix together the cocoa powder with vanilla extract or vodka, don’t worry, the alcohol will evaporate and only the cocoa will be left on the cupcake!
15. Using a clean paintbrush, dip it into the cocoa powder slurry, then run your finger along the bristle so that they bend and then flick little speckles onto the buttercream. Tip: Definitely make sure you line the counter with paper towel or similar to help with clean up!
16. Finally, top each cupcake with three small chocolate eggs nested in the middle of the frosting.
17. Store at room temperature in a sealed container for up to 3 days.