Creme Brulee Cupcakes

"It's like creme brulee ... in a cupcake!" was the highly original (but highly flattering) comment my friend made when sampling one of these creamy little delights. These are definitely for those with a sweet tooth (and not on a diet) as they are loaded with butter and sugar, but if you want to take the edge off a little and go for a more balanced taste, you can very slightly burn the toffee which will provide a slightly bitter note to cut through the sweetness.

These cupcakes need to be made in reverse, that is - make the custard for the frosting first as it needs to be quite cold before the butter and icing sugar can be mixed in.

Frosting

1/2 cup caster sugar
1 tablespoon plain flour
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
125g butter (slightly softened)
1 cup icing sugar (approx)

Heat a small saucepan full of water over medium heat until simmering. Mix caster sugar, flour, egg and milk in a metal bowl. Place the metal bowl over the boiling water and use electric beaters to beat the mixture until a smooth consistency has been reached and the mixture is hot (this is important as the eggs need to be cooked unless you want a salmonella risk). Cool by putting the bowl in a sink full of iced water while you make the cupcakes and toffee.

When you are ready, add the butter to the mixture and beat with electric beaters, adding large spoonfuls of icing sugar one at a time, until frosting is thick and pale. You mat reach a point where you decide to stop adding icing sugar and just keep beating it - tasting the mixture along the way is crucial (and delicious)!

Cupcakes

125g butter
3/4 cup caster sugar
2tsp vanilla essence (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp baking powder

Beat butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add vanilla and eggs (one at a time). Add flour, baking powder and milk and mix thoroughly. Ladle into cupcake pans (you should get about 25 from this recipe - 24 if you're keen on licking the bowl!). This mixture is very liquid because of the extra egg so keep that in mind! Bake in a preheated 180 degrees (celsius) oven for 20 minutes or until golden and nicely risen - be sure to do the clean knife test before removing from the oven! Allow to cool thoroughly.

Toffee

Put 170g caster sugar and 4 tbsp water into a small saucepan and stir continuously over low heat until sugar is completely dissolved. Turn the heat up to medium-high and leave the mixture, without stirring, until it turns golden-brown. It takes a long time to start colouring but once it does, it gets there fast! you need to watch it constantly as it is very easy to burn. If you do want a burnt toffee flavour, leave it until it is just starting to look more 'brown' than 'golden'. There is a fine line between sweet toffee and edible burnt toffee so it is better to err on the side of caution here! Pour mixture onto a large, flat tray lined with baking paper and allow to cool. Once firmly set, snap into small pieces. You will need at least as many pieces as you have cupcakes!

Assembly

Once the cupcakes are cooled, top with a generous layer of frosting. This frosting recipe makes loads more than you will actually need - my solution was to freeze the leftover but until I have tried defrosting and using it I can't say for certain that's a good solution. Making a double batch of cupcakes on the other hand - definitely a good solution. Once all the cupcakes have been iced, place a piece of toffee on top of each one.

Voila! Creme brulee cupcakes.

Note - unfortunately, these cupcakes need to be refrigerated. As a general rule I am against refrigerating cake as it makes it quite stodgy, however this frosting will melt in seconds so there's not really any other option.

Did you try these yourself? Do you have another cupcake interpretation of creme brulee that you've made or would like to see made? Let me know!