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'Midnight Rain' Cupcakes

Inspired by Taylor Swift's song 'Midnight Rain', these half-and-half cupcakes are made with two mud cake batters: dark chocolate and white chocolate & caramel, then topped with two types of peppermint buttercream: dark chocolate and caramelised white chocolate, so they're perfect for everyone, whether you're sunshine or midnight rain.
Course Dessert, Snack
Keyword Caramelised white chocolate, Dark Chocolate, Midnight Rain, Mud cake, Peppermint, Taylor Swift, Taylor Swift Cupcakes, White Chocolate
Prep Time 2 hours
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 2 hours 30 minutes
Servings 12 cupcakes

Equipment

  • 12 navy blue cupcake cases (see Note 1).
  • 2 piping bags
  • 1 large open star piping tip
  • 1 large petal tip

Ingredients

For the mud cake batters:

  • 75 g dark chocolate, roughly chopped.
  • 75 g white chocolate, roughly chopped.
  • 90 g unsalted butter, split into 2x45g portions.
  • 50 g caster sugar, split into 1x30g and 1x20g portions.
  • 30 g light brown soft sugar
  • 20 g dark brown soft sugar
  • 90 g sunflower oil (or other flavourless oil).
  • 75 ml milk
  • 3 eggs
  • 100 ml sour cream
  • 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/4 tsp instant coffee granules, dissolved in 3 tbsp hot water.
  • 190 g self-raising flour, split into 1x90g and 1x100g portions.
  • 10 g cocoa powder
  • fine sea salt

For the peppermint buttercreams:

  • 70 g white chocolate, roughly chopped.
  • 30 g dark chocolate, roughly chopped.
  • 290 g unsalted butter, softened.
  • 320 g icing sugar, sifted.
  • 3 tbsp milk
  • peppermint extract
  • navy food colouring (see Note 2).

To decorate:

  • golden star sprinkles (see Note 3).

Instructions

Make and bake both mud cake batters:

  • Preheat the oven to 160°C (conventional oven). Line a 12-hole cupcake tin with navy cupcake cases and set aside.
  • Place the dark chocolate and one of the 45g portions of butter into a medium-sized microwaveable bowl. Melt in the microwave on the lowest setting, in 1-minute bursts, stirring between each burst, until smooth. Repeat this process with the white chocolate and the remaining 45g of butter, in a separate bowl. Set both bowls aside to cool slightly.
  • Once cooled, add the 30g portion of caster sugar and all of the light brown soft sugar to the dark chocolate mixture. Stir well to combine. Add the remaining 20g portion of caster sugar and all of the dark brown soft sugar to the white chocolate mixture. Stir well to combine.
  • In a large jug, whisk together the oil, milk, eggs, sour cream and vanilla extract. Add half of this mixture to each bowl and mix well to combine (see Note 4).
  • Add the coffee, dissolved in the hot water, to the dark chocolate mixture and mix to combine.
  • Sift the 90g portion of self-raising flour into the dark chocolate mixture, along with the cocoa powder and a pinch of salt. Then, sift the remaining 100g of self-raising flour and another pinch of salt into the white chocolate mixture. Stir both mixtures separately, until the dry ingredients are just incorporated.
  • Transfer each batter to a separate jug, then pour both batters simultaneously into each cupcake case, to give the half-and-half effect. Fill each case about 3/4 of the way full, then bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, until they just about spring back when touched.
  • Once baked, remove the cupcakes from the tin immediately, to prevent the cases from becoming greasy. Place onto a wire rack and set aside to cool completely before decorating.

Make the peppermint buttercreams:

  • Start by caramelising the white chocolate. Place the chocolate into a microwaveable bowl, then melt in the microwave on low heat, in 1-minute bursts, stirring between each burst, until smooth.
  • Once melted, start caramelising the chocolate. Place the chocolate back into the microwave on high heat, in 15-second bursts, stirring between each burst, until the chocolate has turned a deep, golden colour. This will take a little while, so be patient.
  • Once you are happy with the level of caramelisation, set the chocolate aside to cool. It will be very hot! While it is cooling, melt the dark chocolate in a separate bowl and set aside to cool as well.
  • Once both chocolates have cooled to room temperature, make the peppermint buttercream. Place the softened butter into a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer until pale and soft. Mix in the icing sugar, followed by the milk, then beat again until light and fluffy.
  • Add a few drops of peppermint extract to the buttercream and mix well to combine. Taste and add more extract, if desired.
  • Add 1/3 of the buttercream to the cooled, caramelised white chocolate and mix until completely combined. Add the remaining buttercream to the melted dark chocolate and mix until completely combined. Add navy food colouring to the dark chocolate buttercream until your desired shade is achieved (see Note 2).

Decorate the cupcakes:

  • Transfer the white chocolate buttercream to a piping bag fitted with a large, open star tip. Transfer the dark chocolate buttercream to a piping bag fitted with a large petal tip.
  • Pipe a large, circular dollop of white chocolate buttercream, to one side on the surface of a cooled cupcake. Switch to the dark chocolate buttercream and, holding the bag so that the thicker end of the petal tip sits against the surface of the cupcake, pipe a ribbon back and forth, forming a crescent shape around the white chocolate dollop. Repeat this process for the remaining cupcakes.
  • To finish, scatter a few golden sprinkles onto the navy buttercream crescents.
  • Store the cupcakes in an airtight container, at room temperature. Stored like this, they will keep for 3-4 days.

Notes

  1. Navy cupcake cases: I used these.
  2. Food colouring: I used the Colour Mill Oil-Based Food Colouring in the shade Navy. However, I had a couple of problems with this: my icing ended up more black than navy (probably because of the dark chocolate) and I had to use quite a lot of food colouring. Feel free to use a different shade of blue colouring, add some dissolved cocoa powder to the icing base to make it even darker (so you need less colouring) or omit the colouring altogether. 
  3. Golden star sprinkles: I used these sprinkles from Waitrose.
  4. Dividing wet ingredients: If you are worried about dividing the wet ingredients evenly, weigh the mixture, then divide that value by 2. Simply add this amount to each bowl for a perfect division. I find it easiest to mix a small amount of the wet ingredients into each bowl first, to loosen the mixtures, then add in the rest.