A very clever friend of mine suggested I enter this competition on BBC Lifestyle. And because she is very clever, I decided why not. I chose the flavours because I thought they’ll taste great together (I guess that’s obvious) and because it’s always rad to have a uniquely South African ingredient thrown in. I need to dash, but here is the recipe. Have  great Wednesday. x

Castle Milk Stout Cupcakes

Ingredients

• 125ml milk stout
• 125g salted butter
• 15g cocoa powder
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup buttermilk
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
• 160g cake flour
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C and set aside a 12-cup cupcake tray with liners.
2. In a saucepan, heat the milk stout and butter on low heat until the butter has melted.
3. Whisk in the sugar and cocoa powder, and leave it to cool slightly.
4. Beat the eggs, buttermilk and vanilla together and pour into the stout mixture.
5. In a mixing bowl, combine the flour and bicarb. Slowly pour the stout mixture into the flour bowl, stirring constantly.
6. Transfer the batter to a jug and pour some into each cupcake liner. (The liners should be about 80% full, since the cake doesn’t rise all that much.)
7. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Leave to cool.
8. Once your cupcakes have cooled (about an hour), use a piping bag and a 10mm star tip to pipe the caramel icing on top.
9. Drizzle with some leftover caramel sauce for decoration.

Caramel Icing

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup caramel sauce (ready made or see recipe below) plus some extra for drizzling
• 3 cups icing sugar
• 80g butter (at room temperature)
• 4 tbs milk

Method

1. Cream the butter with an electric mixer, and slowly add 2 cups of icing sugar.
2. Add the caramel sauce and the milk, mixing throughout.
3. Add the rest of the icing sugar, adding more milk if the icing is too thick. Continue mixing with the electric mixer until all the ingredients are thoroughly combined.

Caramel Sauce

Ingredients:

• 2 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 cup cream (at room temperature)
• 4 tbs unsalted butter
• 1 tsp vanilla essence

Instructions:

1. Combine the sugar and the water in a heavy bottom pan on low heat, stirring constantly until the sugar has dissolved.
2. Turn the heat up to medium-low, and heat until the sauce starts turning a caramel color.
3. Immediately remove the pan from the heat, and pour in the cream. The sauce will bubble furiously for a few seconds.
4. Stir in the butter and vanilla and set aside to cool for at least an hour.