Valentine's Day Cupcakes with cakecraftworld.co.uk

Cake Craft World are 'the UK's leading cake decorating supplier with over 8000 products. From cake decorations, bakeware and equipment to cake boards and boxes, it's all available right here.' They really do stock everything you could every need for baking. The range is outstanding, with very specialist products, as well as items an amateur home baker would want!

I was kindly given the opportunity to try out the 'Be Mine' Valentine Cupcake Set from Cake Craft World (£5.99). The set includes 2 x 6 cavity red cupcake boxes, 10m x 5mm of white curling ribbon with small red hearts design, pack of 75 white cupcake cases with vertical hearts design and 50g red hearts sprinkles mix. The set contains everything you'll need to present cupcakes in a beautiful, romantic and personalised way.

I decided to make some Chocolate Cupcakes with a Hidden Surprise and Vanilla Buttercream Icing, using the cupcake cases and red heart sprinkles.

This is the recipe I used:
(Makes 6 cupcakes)

55g Soft Tub Margarine
55g Caster Sugar
1 Large Egg
85g Self-Raising Flour
1 tbsp Cocoa Powder
55g Chocolate, white/milk/dark it's your preference, broken into 6 pieces (I used Cadbury Bitsa Wispa)

Buttercream

125g Butter
250g Icing Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
Pink Food Colouring
Lilac Food Colouring

Method
1) Preheat the oven to 190'C. Put 6 of the Valentine cupcake cases in a muffin tray or double layer the cases if you don't have a muffin tray.

2) Put the margarine, sugar, egg, flour and cocoa powder in a large bowl, and, using an electric whisk beat together until just smooth. If you don't think there is enough liquid (it needs to be the consistency or thick double cream) then add a splash of milk. The moisture level of the mixture depends on the size of the egg you've used.

3) Spoon half the mixture into the paper cases and place a piece of chocolate in the middle of the mixture in each case. Then spoon over the rest of the mixture into the cases, so that the chocolate is covered.

4) Bake for 20 minutes or until well risen and springy to the touch. If you don't want to serve them with buttercream icing, let them cool for a couple of minutes and then you can eat the cupcakes while the chocolate in the middle is melted, yum!

5) If you want to cover with buttercream icing, as I have, then using an electric whisk combine the butter, vanilla and icing sugar together in a large bowl. Once it's fully combined, light and fluffy then split it between two bowls. You can colour the buttercream any colour you would like, or leave it plain. If you want to colour it only add a drop at a time of the food colouring and mix thoroughly between each drop, until you have your desired colour.

6) I used a piping bag and star nozzle to pipe on the buttercream to the cupcakes, once they had cooled completely. If you do it any earlier the buttercream with melt. Then sprinkle over the red hearts in the Valentine set.