Sticky Toffee Trick or Treat

Halloween is upon us and whilst it is not generally a 'holiday' that I get involved in I thought I would bake a little something that just gently nods in the direction of the spooky goings on that occur on the 31st.

Just recently I have had an influx of new baking books including Richard Burr's BIY (bake it yourself). In his book there is a delicious recipe for sticky toffee pudding, one of my favourites! I thought I would tinker with it a little and turn the delicious pudding into a tasty cupcake treats. I added a pumpkin shaped marshmallow as decoration. If this recipe takes your fancy as a last minute bake for any halloween shenanigans you are involved in this weekend then it can be adorned with any spooky decor you like, or not if you prefer.

Time to get baking!

To make 10 sticky toffee cupcakes you will need:

•  225g Pitted dates
• 200ml Boiling water
• 1 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
• 75g Unsalted butter
• 140g Dark brown muscovado sugar
• 1 tsp Vanilla bean paste
• 2 Large eggs
• 1 tsp Baking powder
• 1 tsp Ground cinnamon
• 1 tbsp Cocoa powder

For the buttercream:

• 125g Unsalted butter
• 100g Dark brown muscovado sugar
• 100ml Double cream
• 2 tsp Lemon juice
• 200g Icing sugar

To decorate:

• 10 Pumpkin marshmallow / whatever takes your fancy!

To make the sponge:

• Preheat the your oven to 180c fan
• Chop the dates, put them in a bowl, add the bicarbonate of soda and cover with the boiling water. Leave for around 20 minutes before blending to a smooth paste.
• Meanwhile cream the butter and the sugar together, add the vanilla then beat in the eggs one at a time.

• Sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and cocoa powder and fold it into the butter / sugar and egg batter. Then fold in the date puree until fully combined.
• Spoon the mixture into your chosen cake cases. I used muffin tulip cases which require much more mixture than 'cupcake cases'. If you use smaller cases you'll end up with a bigger batch of cakes.
• Cook your cakes for around 25 minutes - when a skewer comes out clean, they are ready.

To make the buttercream:

• Whilst the cakes are cooking you can make the butterscotch sauce that will flavour your buttercream. This is made by melting 50g of the butter. Once it is melted and the muscovado sugar and double cream and whisk for around 3 minutes. Add the lemon juice and continue whisking for a further 3 minutes. Set side to cool before. 
• To finish, cream the remaining butter, add the icing sugar and cooled butterscotch sauce whisking until fully incorporated. The longer you whisk the lighter your buttercream will be.

To assemble:

• Pipe a generous amount of buttercream onto each cake and add your chosen decoration.

And that's all there is to it. 

If you fancy sticky toffee in its traditional form, simply bake the sponge mixture in a tray bake tin instead. Once baked, cut into even portions. To serve, pour a generous amount of the butterscotch sauce over each portion.

Let me know how you get on - happy halloween and even happier baking!

Rach x