Recipe: Malteaser Cupcakes

Malteasers are some of my favourite chocolates and for the longest time I wanted nothing more than to devour a family box to myself. Yet I refrained from doing so and I chose to make easy Malteaser cupcakes that have a delicious malty kick to them. A light malt/chocolate sponge is topped with a malt and chocolate buttercream with Malteasers on top to decorate.

Ingredients 
For The Cupcakes 
- 100g Light Brown Sugar
- 100g Stork
- 100g Self Raising Flour
- 15g Cocoa Powder
- 10g Malt Powder
- 2 Eggs
- 2 Tsp Chocolate Extract

For The Buttercream 
- 200g Butter, softened
- 320g Icing Sugar
- 15g Cocoa Powder
- 10g Malt Powder
- A splash of milk
- 1 Share Box/Bag Of Malteasers

Method 
1- Pre heat your oven to 180c. Line a twelve cupcake tin with paper cases.
2- Into a bowl place your light brown sugar and stork. Cream together until pale in colour and fluffy in texture.
3- Add one egg and a tablespoon of flour. Beat until combined.
4- Repeat with the other egg and another tablespoon of flour. Beat until fully combined, taking care to scrape the edges of the bowl.
5- Fold in your chocolate extract, cocoa powder and malt powder alongside the remainder of your flour. You can use any type of malt powder, I used Ovaltine as that's all I had but you can easily use Horlicks and if you want to add even more chocolate use the chocolate alternative to both of these.  6- Spoon your mixture into your waiting cupcake cases and bake for 18-20 minutes or until the top springs back when pressed gently. Leave to cool in the tin for five minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
7- Now it's time to start your buttercream. Place your softened butter into a clean bowl and beat until soft.
8- Sieve in half your icing sugar and beat until combined. If you're using a hand mixer to make your buttercream, start on a slow speed so your icing sugar doesn't fly everywhere because it coats everything and doesn't taste as good as it suggests.
9- Sieve in the remaining half of your icing sugar and beat until fully combined, taking care to scrape the edges and bottom of the bowl so everything is fully incorporated.
10- Beat in your cocoa powder, malt powder and a small splash of milk to help loosen the mixture and take it to the perfect piping consistency.
11- Spoon your prepared buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a piping nozzle of your choice and pipe onto your now cooled cupcakes. I used my 2D Flower nozzle to create these swirls as it always works wonders with my shaky, still somewhat amateur piping hands.
12- Once all of your cupcakes have been decorated, gently place your malteasers in the centre to create a small cluster. I went for two in the centre so that they didn't roll off or make the cupcake look overloaded but you can put as many malteasers on as you like.
13- Leave to set and then enjoy. I can guarantee these will be a hit with family, friends and work colleagues.