Cinnamon Swirl Cupcakes

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Greetings from Scotland, everybody! 
I am currently not in my usual location of beautiful, sunny Wales as I am visiting my boyfriend Martin's family all the way in Edinburgh in Scotland. It is such a gorgeous city (shame it is even rainier than Wales!) and I am having such a nice time, BUT I have been having some serious baking withdrawal symptoms!! Despite this blog still being so young and me being so new to this, I have been so excited to be able to get in the kitchen to bake up a storm and share it with you!

Last night I was very grateful to Martin's mother for letting me take over her kitchen to bake them all some lovely cinnamon swirl cupcakes! I think in America you would call something like these "snickerdoodle" flavoured cupcakes judging by some of the recipes I have previously drooled over on Pinterest. I have never been fortunate enough to experience a snickerdoodle however, and these taste exactly like delicious, sweet-but-spicy cinnamon swirls but in a perfect moist, light and fluffy cupcake so cinnamon swirl cupcakes they shall be called! I topped each cupcake with another new recipe that I had not tried before: whipped brown sugar buttercream. The texture of this buttercream was absolutely divine, sort of like whipped cream and melted in your mouth but with the sweet, rich caramel-like flavour that comes from brown sugar. I was so impressed with how easy it was to make and how well it piped and held its shape on top of the cupcakes. Unlike whipped cream icing (which I love) that has a tendency to slightly melt and ruin any lovely pipework you have done if not kept in the fridge and, I dont know about you, but I reeeeeeallllyyy dont like refridgerated cake!!! But anyway, If you love cinnamon (and even if you dont, trust me) I highly suggest you make these right now!! For you cinnamon haters: the taste is not too overpowering but gives a subtle perfect hint of sweetness and flavour, I promise you will not be disappointed!

These cupcakes were so fun and simple to make, different from the trusty vanilla cupcake recipe I usually use but equally as delicious! This recipe can easily be doubled to make a larger batch of cupcakes, something that I wish I had done as by the time I went into the kitchen the next day, all but 2 had gone (which I will take as a big compliment)! I think there's something quite magical about biting into a cupcake and seeing pretty swirls of something so mouthwateringly delicious throughout with some even managing to peek out of the sides and the top. I only wish there had been some chocolate chips or some gold edible pearls to sprinkle over. I honestly just loved the texture of these cupcakes and the way they seemed perfectly complimented by the buttercream and cannot wait to make them again for my own family when I get home next week.

Ingredients: (makes approximately 12 cupcakes)

Cupcake
200g self-raising flour (sifted) 
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
250g caster sugar (200g for the cupcake, 50g for cinnamon sugar)
115g unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg
60g natural yoghurt
180ml milk (preferably whole milk)
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1-2 tsp ground cinnamon (I personally think this depends on preference for flavour)

Buttercream
3 tbsp plain flour (I didnt have plain to hand so I used self raising and it was fine!)
60ml milk
225g salted butter
1 tbsp vanilla extract
22g brown sugar (I used dark brown sugar) 

Method:
1.  Preheat oven to 180 c and prepare baking tray with cupcake cases.
2. Sift flour, salt, baking powder and soda into a bowl and mix well.
3. Microwave the butter carefully until melted, once melted stir in sugar. The mixture at this point will look a bit gritty but this is right so dont worry! Then stir in the egg, yoghurt, milk and vanilla and mix well.
4. Add the flour mixture gradually to the butter mixture until fully incorporated then stir until no lumps remain.
5. In a small, separate bowl mix the sugar reserved for the cinnamon-sugar with the ground cinnamon.
6. Fill each cupcake case with approximately 2 tbsps of the batter then top with a generous tsp of the cinnamon-sugar mixture. I only added 1 heaped tsp but I later wished I had added just a little bit more, so add as much as you feel you would enjoy - but be careful not to go overboard!! Top each cupcake with another tbsp of batter, some of the cinnamon may poke through to the top. I decided to sprinkle a very small bit of cinnamon-sugar over the top of some of the cupcakes, but this is optional.
7. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until a toothpick or a knife inserted into the middle comes out clean.
8. While the cakes are baking, prepare the buttercream by whisking the flour and milk together over a medium-high heat. Whisk constantly until the batter thickens and reaches a consistency similar to thick pancake batter (it will take a while!)
9. Leave your thickened mixture to cool and stir in the vanilla. While it is left to cool completely, cream the brown sugar and butter together on medium-high speed for around 3 minutes. 
10. Add the completely cooled flour-milk mixture and beat again on high for around 2 minutes or until the texture resembles whipped cream and no grains of sugar can be felt when tasted.
11. Pipe onto cooled cupcakes! I used a Wilton 2D tip but any tip would do. Enjoy!!

 

I hope you enjoy these cupcakes as much as I did!

Teri x

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