Moving sucks, cupcakes don't!

My brother and his girlfriend are in the process of moving house. Everyone knows moving sucks. Packing everything and making sure it gets from one place to the other safely is not fun, especially when you have been living in said place for many years and have accumulated many unneeded items. I wouldn't call my brother a hoarder... because he's not, but he does have a lot of books, DVDs and "stuff". To make it worse, my parents recently cleaned out our old bedrooms and made him take a lot of his old things (better known as crap) home with him. Now they are packing and tossing and getting ready for their new home. So when I get a text requesting cupcakes, I immediately get into the kitchen and prepare an impromptu afternoon tea.

Mixing the need to provide a good dose of energy (in the form of sugar of course) and a civilised afternoon tea, I decided to make a jam drop inspired cupcake. A chocolate cake base with a surprise raspberry jam centre, vanilla swiss buttercream icing and a freshly baked jam drop perched on the top. It had height, it had flavour and it had the right amount of deliciousness to keep them going for (hopefully) the rest of the week as the pack, sort and toss. Good luck guys!

Jam Drop Cupcakes
Makes 12

Jam drops
125g butter, at room temperature
100g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
190g self raising flour
raspberry jam

Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees C and line a flat baking tray with baking paper. In a bowl, beat the butter, sugar and vanilla until smooth. Add the egg and continue beating until combined. Fold through the flour. Dust your hands flour and make small balls with the dough. Place them evenly on the baking paper. Lightly press your finger into the top of the ball to make a dent. Spoon a small amount of jam into the dent, then pop the cookies in the oven for about 15 minutes, or until lightly golden.

Chocolate cupcakes
120g plain flour
40g cocoa powder
160g caster sugar
1.5 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
40g butter, at room temperature
120 ml milk
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. In a bowl, combine the flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder, salt and butter. Mix using an electric beater until you get a sandy consistency. On a low speed, beat in half the milk until combined.

In a separate bowl, whisk the remaining milk with the egg and vanilla. Add to batter mix on a medium speed until smooth. Don't over beat, but make sure it is smooth and not lumpy.

Pour the mixture into individual cupcake holders about 2/3's the way. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes. When ready, remove from oven and allow to completely cool before icing.

Swiss Meringue Buttercream
3 egg whites

130g sugar

142g butter, cubed and at room temp

In the base of a double boiler, bring water to a simmer. In the top bowl, combine the egg whites and sugar and whisk constantly until the mixture is hot to the touch, about five minutes depending on the original temperature of the eggs. When the mixture has warmed sufficiently, pour it into the bowl and whip on high speed until the bottom of the bowl is room temperature, ten to fifteen minutes. When the bowl is no longer warm, turn the mixer to medium-low and begin adding the butter piece by piece. Let each chunk incorporate completely before adding the next and don't rush the process!

After all of the butter has been added, add the choc-cheery jam and turn the speed back to high. Whip for about 3 minutes or until the buttercream comes together.

Assemble
Cut a small hole in the top of each cupcake and spoon in a bit of raspberry jam. Scoop the buttercream into a piping bag and swirl the icing on top of each cupcake. Top with a cookie. 

ENJOY!