Hot Chocolate Cupcakes!

Step 1

Preheat your oven to 180ºc/160ºcfan and line a muffin tray with 12 cases

Step 2

Add the butter and sugar to a bowl and beat together until creamy

Step 3

Add in the self-raising flour, hot chocolate powder and eggs and beat until smooth

Step 4

Split between the cases and bake in the oven for 19-21 minutes until cooked through

Step 5

Leave to cool on the side.

Step 6

Add the egg whites to a large bowl and start to whisk to stiff peaks

Step 7

Add the 100g of caster sugar, 1 tsp at a time, whilst whisking.

Step 8

Once all the sugar is in, whisk in the vanilla and leave the meringue to whisk on a slow speed just to keep it moving and stop it from sitting.

Step 9

Whilst this is whisking, add the other 100g of caster sugar to a pan with the water. Heat this on a low heat to dissolve the sugar.

Step 10

Once the sugar is dissolved, turn up the heat and boil the mixture to 113ºc.

Step 11

Once heated, turn the whisk up high again and trickle the syrup into the meringue to make the marshmallow. Once all the syrup is in, whisk for a further 5 minutes.

Step 12

Pipe your marshmallow frosting onto the cupcakes however you fancy (I used a 2d closed star piping tip!)

Step 13

Decorate with mini marshmallows, a flake, and a dusting of hot chocolate powder