Raspberry Ripple Ice Cream Cupcakes

Of all the recipes I've invented this is definitely one of my favourites; the results are not only delicious but just oh so pretty and pink :) And the swirly two-tone sponge looks fantastic! As soon as I discovered Morrisons raspberry ripple ice cream flavour squash I knew I had to find a way to combine it with a cupcake, and I'd been wanting to try out my mum's new duo piping bag (from Lakeland), so I managed to kill two birds with one stone here. I took some of them into work the other week and needless to say they didn't last long! I can imagine that kids would love them too.

Admittedly these cupcakes are a little 'synthetic' and if you don't have much of a sweet tooth they probably wouldn't be your cup of (non-sugary) tea but the tartness of the jam compliments the sweet icing perfectly...and hey, they're only little! Strawberry jam also works well if you don't have raspberry.

INGREDIENTS - makes approx. 12

For the cakes:

• 4 oz self-raising flour
• 4 oz caster sugar
• 4 oz margarine/butter
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp Morrisons raspberry ripple ice cream flavour squash (not diluted)
• Couple of drops red food colouring

For the filling/icing:

• 6 tsp (approx.) raspberry jam
• 10 oz icing sugar
• 5 oz butter (unsalted if preferred)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp Morrisons raspberry ripple ice cream flavour squash (not diluted)
• 1 tiny drop red food colouring
• A few rainbow coloured sprinkles, to decorate

METHOD

For the cakes:

1. Line a baking tray with 12 paper cake cases.
2. Whisk the margarine/butter and sugar together in a large mixing bowl until pale then whisk in the eggs.
3. Fold in the flour, baking powder, vanilla extract and raspberry ripple squash until a batter of soft dropping consistency has formed.
4. Add a drop or two of red food colouring (no more than that, use it sparingly!) and swirl through the mixture a few times using a skewer. Don't overdo this or the batter will simply turn pink and you won't get the lovely marble effect!
5. Drop the mixture into the paper cases using a teaspoon until they're each about two thirds full.
6. Pop in the oven and bake at 180 degrees C for about 12-15 minutes until a cocktail stick inserted into the sponge comes out clean.
7. When baked, place on a wire rack and leave to cool. At this stage the cakes can be frozen for decorating at a later date if you wish.

For the filling & icing:

1. When they have cooled, use a teaspoon or small sharp knife to carefully cut out a hole (about 2cm in diameter and 1.5cm in depth) in the top of each cupcake, being careful not to cut too deep into the sponge. Don't discard the bits you've cut out!
2. Drop about half a teaspoon of raspberry jam into each hole and gently push the sponge part that was cut out back into each one.
3. Divide the butter, vanilla extract and raspberry ripple squash equally between two separate bowls and stir/whisk while gradually adding half of the icing sugar to each batch until a fairly stiff, fluffy mixture has formed. Add a tiny splash of red food colouring to one bowl and stir to turn the icing a pale pink - I find the best way to do this is to dip the end of a cocktail stick into the bottle of food colouring and then push it into the icing mixture to ensure it doesn't turn too red.
4. Here, I used my mum's wonderful duo piping bag from Lakeland to top the cakes with swirly two-tone pink and white icing but I realise most people don't have one of these. It's possible to create a similar effect by adding alternating layers of the pink and white icing to a regular piping bag or, alternatively, you could simply spread the two lots of icing onto the cakes and randomly swirl together using a palette knife or teaspoon.
5. Scatter a few rainbow sprinkles onto the top of each cake for extra ice creamy prettiness.