Giant Raspberry Cupcake

The other week my mum asked to borrow my giant cupcake mould to make a cake for a couple of her friend's for their birthday lunch. Instead, seeing as I love a good old bake, I proposed that I would go home and bake the cake for her. When talking over what flavour I should do, a few different options came up but we decided on doing some kind of strawberry cupcake creation with fresh strawberries in the center. So off we went to Waitrose only to find they had no strawberries in stock. They did however have a nice deal on fresh raspberries so that is what we came home with. I made the recipe up as I went along and the outcome seemed to work, especially from the feedback I got form my mum's friends. I did cheat slightly and used some jam and some lovely raspberry sauce from M & S. It was a lot like a raspberry coulis so could be made by hand if you were that way inclined. The cake ended up being a vanilla sponge with a mascarpone and raspberry filling topped with raspberry icing. Lovely as an unusual birthday cake for a child or an adult!

Giant Raspberry Ripple Cupcake


Sponge:

340g butter, softened
340g caster sugar
6 large free range eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
340g self raising flour
2 tsp baking powder

Filling:

1 small tub mascarpone
1 tbsp raspberry jam
raspberry coulis/sauce to taste
1 punnet of fresh raspberries

Icing:
(recipe taken from british bake off book but modified slightly)

125g butter, unsalted
400g icing sugar
1 tsp milk
3-4 tbsp raspberry coulis/sauce

Preheat the oven to 160°C. Cream together the butter and sugar for the sponge until light and fluffy. While mixing, gradually add each egg and the vanilla until fully combined. Then carefully but firmly fold in the flour and baking powder until just mixed in. Spray the mould with cooking spray or grease with some butter. Add your mix to about 2/3 full, being careful not to over fill. Cook for 1 hour but check on it at 40 minutes to be sure you don't over cook the sponge. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 5 minutes before turning out to cool on a wire rack.

Next combine the mascarpone, jam and sauce in a bowl making sure it isn't too runny or too sweet. Then carefully fold in the raspberries and set aside.

To make the icing, cream the butter until smooth then add the rest of the ingredients and mix for at least 5 minutes. The icing should be light a fluffy and hold its shape if you plan on using a piping bag.

When the cakes are cool you can assemble the top and the base. I cut out a small well in the top of the base and spooned the mascarpone mixture in to it There is an extra part to my cake mould that you can use to make a well already but I find you don't get a good bake on the bottom sponge. The filling then acts as a sort of glue for the lid to sit on top of. Then you can pipe the icing all over the top and decorate with more fresh raspberries or sprinkles.