christmas cappuccino cream stuffed cupcakes

... like many food bloggers and I suspect most people out there, Christmas can be both a blessing and a curse. I genuinely love Christmas. Regardless of the commerciality of the whole shebang, when it comes down to it I adore the social gatherings of friends and family and of course I love the cooking but at the same time it can all become pretty stressful... i've tried my hardest to be clever and create 'make-ahead' and frozen options for everything but in all honesty when push comes to shove it's never going to be that simple so put a glass of something cold and alcoholic in my hand, surround me with friends and some festive music and i'm more than happy to be in the kitchen buzzing away...

Emmi CAFFÈ LATTE is an iced coffee drink that you can find in the chiller cabinet at most supermarkets. I'm not usually one for picking up something like this but only the very best ingredients are used from the sustainably sourced coffee beans from the best coffee-growing areas to the finest milk and it's all prepared immediately to lock in all the flavour. This means that you can actually taste that certain something from the selected ingredients in every single cup. Of course the convenience of these cups is probably what's so good about them and now that i've tried their Cappuccino Iced Coffee with it's cute limited edition Christmas cup with a reindeer wearing a scarf on it i'm kind of hooked... which is useful because they've asked me to develop a little christmassy Advent recipe for their facebook page Christmas giveaway...

christmas cappuccino cream stuffed cupcakes
since baking my jam-filled rose cupcakes back in the summer I've wanted an excuse to create another one, this time filled with something rich and creamy and luxurious and it seems Christmas is the perfect answer... I imagine these would be ideal for a naughty little treat on Christmas morning or would work equally well served with a Christmas cocktail or two...

for the cupcakes
110g slightly salted butter at room temp
225g golden caster sugar
2 large free-range eggs
275g plain flour sifted with
2 teaspoons baking powder
120ml Emmi CAFFÈ LATTE Cappuccino
1 teaspoon coffee extract
1 tablespoon kahlua liquor Optional)

for the coffee and kahlua cream filling and icing
110g unsalted butter at room temp
60ml Emmi CAFFÈ LATTE Cappuccino
1 teaspoon coffee extract
500g icing sugar - sifted

pre-heat the oven to 160C fan assisted and line a 12 hole cupcake tray with paper cases

in a large bowl using a hand-held electric whisk, cream the sugar and butter for about 5 mins until it is light and fluffy then add the eggs one at a time, beating for a few minutes after each egg is added

weigh the flour together with the baking powder and then sift one third into the batter and whisk in followed by a third of the Emmi CAFFÈ LATTE Cappuccino whilst beating, continue until all the flour and Emmi CAFFÈ LATTE Cappuccino has been used

carefully spoon into your cupcake cases until 2/3rds full and then bake for 20 - 25 minutes until golden and risen. Let them cool in the tray for 10 mins then remove and place on a wire rack until completely cool

next, make the cream icing... in a large bowl beat the Emmi CAFFÈ LATTE Cappuccino, butter, coffee extract and half the icing sugar until smooth which can take several minutes with a hand-held electric whisk, then add the remaining icing sugar and beat until the icing is smooth and creamy.

to assemble the cupcakes... take a cupcake corer and core out the centre of each cupcake, then fill each hole with the cream. Then liberally cover each cupcake with cream in a frothy swirl - sprinkle with something suitably sparkly...

eat and of course, enjoy!