Christmas Chocolate Mud Cupcakes with Meringue Toffee Frosting Recipe

These cupcakes are a great little treat. They keep well in the fridge and make excellent thank you gifts at this time of year. Our little miss took some to her swimming teachers, some to riding school on the last day, and some to Santa at Ballantynes. The toffee frosting is a lovely light alternative to buttercream. We added strawberries and blueberries to give them a nice cheerful Christmas theme. The cupcakes can easily be made gluten free by using Bakels gluten free flour instead of wheaten flour. 

Chocolate Mud Cupcakes with Meringue Toffee Frosting. 

1/2 cup vegetable oil
250ml cream
50ml espresso
1 cup boiling water
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
2 eggs, beaten
2 cups brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1 and 3/4 cups flour


Preheat the oven to 160 deg. C. Put out 35 small, free-standing cupcake cases onto a baking tray.

Sift the flour and cocoa together and set aside. 
In a large bowl, whisk together the oil, cream, espresso, boiling water, vanilla essence, lightly beaten eggs, brown sugar, salt, and lastly the baking soda. 



Add the flour to the liquid and gradually whisk the mixture to combine it. 

Place the mixture into a jug to make it easier to pour into the cupcake cases.








The cupcakes rise quite a lot, so only half fill each case with mixture.  











Bake for 25 minutes until well risen. The tops should bounce back when pressed. Allow to cool completely before decorating with the toffee frosting.  

Meringue Toffee Frosting

175g granulated sugar

1 tablepoon liquid glucose

40ml water

3 egg whites. 

Separate the eggs. Reserve the egg yolks for another recipe. Beat the egg whites until firm peaks form. Not so much as the whites start to look dry, just stiff enough to stand up when the beater head is raised out of the mixture. 

Put the sugar, glucose and water into a small pot over a medium heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves, then stop stirring and boil until the toffee reaches 145deg. C on the sweet thermometer or until it's a light brown colour. 

With the beater running, dribble the toffee into the beaten egg whites a little at a time. The egg whites will start to look glossy, then turn a nice thick toffee colour. Be very careful with the hot toffee! 

Working quickly before the frosting sets, use a piping bag and star nozzle to pipe rosettes onto each cupcake. If you don't have a bag and nozzle, just use a knife to spread a generous amount onto each one. 

Top each cupcake with a quarter of strawberry and a couple of blueberries. Any summer fruit will do. 

Store the frosted cupcakes in an airtight container in the fridge. 

I got a super cute and practical cupcake holder box from a $2 store in the mall - definitely worth getting for easy transportation.  

Happy baking everyone, and a very merry holiday season to you all xxx 

Home Hot Smoked Salmon and raising money for Tonga

In two and a half weeks time I will be hopping on a plane bound for Tonga. When I tell people this they imagine tropical resorts, sun loungers and pool side wait staff. But this trip will be far, far different from your average tropical package holiday; because I'm going with 7 staff and 24 students on a Mercy Outreach to visit our Tongan sister school. We've been preparing for the trip for months: the Puletaha traditional formal uniforms are at the sewing factory being completed, the risk analysis has been written, we've all had our vaccinations, and the gear list is as long as your arm. 

Anyway, I wanted to fill the trip's coffers a little more so we could take a few more resources over with us. We all love food, and we've all been quite busy of late, so I thought a morning tea, available by donation, would be just the thing. I kept it quite simple, Cheese rolls, Chocolate Mud Cupcakes, both gluten and gluten free, a gluten free pizza bread and home made Hot Smoked Salmon served with sour cream and capers.

The home hot smoked salmon always goes down well. It's really delicious and really easy to make at home.

Home Hot Smoked Salmon

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons salt

2 tablespoons wine vinegar

1 teaspoon mustard powder

a piece of fresh salmon, about half a side, skin on - I used Akaroa salmon from Rare Fare

a couple of handfuls of manuka wood chips

4 tea bags of black tea

methylated spirits

some matches or a gas lighter

a stainless steel fish smoker

Mix the sugar, salt, vinegar and mustard.

Check the salmon for pin bones, and lay it in the centre of a large piece of plastic food wrap, or in a close fitting tray or bowl. Cover in the marinade, wrap or cover, then place in the fridge for about an hour.

Take the salmon from the fridge. Remove from the wrap and place it on the metal rack of the fish smoker. I always use the rack with the most clearance gap from the tray, as otherwise the wood chips always seem to end up on the fish. Use a paper towel to blot the excess marinade from the fish. 

Prepare the smoker by finding a suitable outside position on a level, non flammable hard surface. Place the manuka chips and tea leaves into the tray of the smoker. Half fill the methylated spirit container. 

Once you have every thing ready, place the tray with the salmon into the smoker and light the meths. Don't try to move the lit meths container as you will probably burn yourself. Place the smoker over the burning meths and put the lid on. 

Because the heat often causes the smoker to buckle, place a heavy pot on top of the lid to encourage a good seal. Smoke for about 15 to 20 minutes depending on the thickness of the fish. You can always lift the lid to check. The fish should be a dark colour and firmish to the touch. 

Once done, remove the rack and fish from the smoker and set aside to cool. It is very delicate and needs to be handled very gently to prevent it from falling apart. Once cold, transfer the fish by covering the top side with plastic food wrap and inverting the rack and fish onto a plate. Take care when removing the rack as the fish skin will be stuck to it. Just push down on the skin as you lift the rack. Wrap the fish and refrigerate overnight. 

The next day, unwrap the fish and peel off the skin. 

Using either plastic wrap or a plate, invert the fish, then gently ease it onto the serving platter. Refrigerate it until served. 

I usually serve it with crackers, both water and gluten free rice crackers, and a mixture of sour cream, mayonnaise, and capers. 

Thanks so much to everyone who gave so generously to this worthy cause. The morning tea fundraiser was a great success. 

Our Little Blossom turns Five

It has been a wonderful weekend for our family. Our darling little blossom turned five and we had a great party hosting all her fabulous little buddies. 


Things were a little frantic on Sunday morning, and both us had been cooking for the best part of two days prior to the party. Little Miss got up really early with a mind full of party activities. 


There is nothing better than sharing some cake with your best buddies.


I made a rosewater sour cream cake decorated with cream cheese frosting. I didn't take any tutorial photos, as time was too short!

 Butterflies were the order of the day.

 I made Profiteroles, Lemon slice, Chocolate Mud cup cakes, the Cookie Jar selection, Jellies with fruit and Quince cupcakes - I'll be blogging those soon. Mum made some Chocolate crackles, just like when we were children!

 The man-of-the-house made all the savoury treats and cut the fruit selection.

Party Dancing and musical cushions time! We had a great time with all our friends. Thanks so much to you all for making this such a special day! School days here we come...