Christmas cupcakes

Ingredients for 12 servings:

• 200 g flour
• 180 g brown cane sugar
• 1 pinch of salt
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 120 g butter, soft
• 2 eggs, size M (room temperature)
• 1 tbsp, heaped cocoa powder
• 120 ml sour cream
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 200 g dark chocolate
• 100 ml cream
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• 250 g powdered sugar
• 60 g butter, soft
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• 60 g hazelnut nougat cream
• Sugar sprinkles or stars in gold or silver

Instructions

Working time approx. 40 minutes; Rest time approx. 20 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 25 minutes; Total time approx. 1 hour 25 minutes

with cinnamon ganache or nougat frosting

For the batter, beat the softened butter with the sugar until fluffy. Add the room-temperature eggs, one at a time, and mix each one thoroughly until incorporated into the butter mixture. Finally, stir in the sour cream. In another bowl, mix the flour with 1 pinch of salt, baking powder, cocoa powder, and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and quickly stir briefly into the butter and egg mixture until a smooth, firm batter forms. Scoop the batter from the bowl with an ice cream scoop and place one ball of batter into each cupcake case. This ensures that all cupcakes are the same size and have a nice, smooth surface after baking. Bake in a preheated oven at 175°C for 20-25 minutes. Do a skewer test to check if the cupcakes are done. Allow the cupcakes to cool completely. For the ganache, heat the cream in a small saucepan. Finely chop the dark chocolate, transfer it to a bowl, and pour the hot cream over it. After about 3 minutes, the chocolate will be melted, so you can stir it until smooth. Stir in 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon for an even more intense Christmas flavor. Place the ganache, which will initially be quite runny, in the refrigerator for a few minutes to make it spreadable. Spread a thin layer of ganache over the cupcakes and then decorate them with Christmas decorations as desired. For example, with gold or silver sugar pearls or stars. You can also color some marzipan with food coloring, roll it out thinly on powdered sugar, cut out Christmas motifs with small cookie cutters, and place it on the muffins. This also looks pretty. To make nougat frosting, beat the softened butter with the powdered sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon until creamy. Add the hazelnut nougat cream and stir until evenly distributed. If the mixture isn’t firm enough, stir in more powdered sugar. Fill a piping bag with the frosting and pipe it decoratively onto the cupcakes. Sprinkle small pearls or stars on top.