Oh my, this is good. It isn’t often you can quote Homer Simpson in baking but his line in relation to his Flaming Homer cocktail, ‘fire made it good’, can definitely be applied here.
First step: vanilla cupcakes. I’ve been making these babies, courtesy of Australia Women’s Weekly’s ‘Quick Mix Cakes’ book, for yonks. They are one bowl, delicious, fail-proof and never last long! They are hardy enough to withstand being made by little helpers, too. I’ve tweaked the recipe.
As usual I dress my cupcakes with Donna Hay’s dark chocolate glaze which I have blogged about previously.
But here’s the trick: make the cupcakes, allow to cool completely before dressing with the choc glaze. Stud with mini marshmallows. Then, place under the grill [broiler] for a few seconds. Keep an eye on them cause the marshmallow will melt quickly. Eat. And eat and eat. Oh, baby…
CUPCAKES:
GATHER:
125g diced butter at room temperature
good splash vanilla
½ cup caster sugar
2 eggs
1 ½ cups self raising flour
½ cup milk
LET’S GET TO IT:
Preheat oven to 170C and line 2x 12 hole patty pans with liners.
Place everything in the bowl of electric mixer and blend until all combined and smooth.
Place in party pans and bake until golden 17-ish minutes.
Cool on wire racks.
Meanwhile, make the glaze:
Melt 150g best quality dark chocolate with ½ cup pouring cream in a small pan over low heat, stirring until melted and smooth. Stand for 20 minutes to thicken.
Spread thickly on cold cakes and immediately add mini marshmallows.
Place under a preheated grill until the marshmallows melt and bubble.


