Gingerbread Latte Cupcakes with Chocolate-Ginger Bread

For me the only sure fire way to get into the Christmas spirit is to roll up my sleeves and get stuck into some festive baking. Whilst I'm at home this holiday season I'm working 9-5 in a library shelving children's text books, as you and imagine it absolute riveting (I hope you realise just how painfully sarcastic I'm being) so I find my mind wondering ALOT through the day. Today I started to day dream about cupcakes and thought of the Gingerbread Latte I enjoyed the other day in Boston's Tea Party (they do the best flavoured lattes, waaay better than Starbucks and the like)... and this little case of joy popped into my head, a coffee sponge, topped with a ginger spiced butter icing! So here's my recipe to treat your tummy this Christmas...

For the Cake:
Pop 150g of butter in the microwave for 20 seconds, just until its soft and squishy - NOT RUNNY - and then mix with 150g caster sugar until they are completely mixed and the mixture is smooth. Stir 2 eggs into the mixture and a drop of vanilla essence. Once this is all combined, put 2 tablespoons of milk in a glass cup and microwaves for 20 seconds, when the milk is warm add a teaspoon full of coffee granules and stir until they've melted in and pour into the mixture. Finally add 170g of self raising flour and give it a bit of elbow grease. Tip the mixture into 12 muffin cases and bake in the oven at 180 degrees for 12-15 minutes. 

For the Icing:
Soften 100g of butter in the same way as you did earlier and gradually stir in 250g of icing sugar into the butter. Once the mixture is smooth and creamy add 1 teaspoon each of ginger and cinnamon and a splash of milk. Stir the butter cream until its slightly silky and its done! Add this to the top of the cakes once they've cooled completely.

For the Chocolate-Gingerbread:

Mix together 120g of soft butter with 100g of soft dark brown sugar until smooth, this can be a bit tough with the brown sugar so use an electric whisk if you have one. To the mixture add 200g of golden syrup (if you melt it in the microwave it will mix in easier) along with 250g of plain flour, 100g of cocoa powder, 2 teaspoons of ground ginger and a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda and give it a good stir, it should make a crumbly mixture so don't worry. Wrap the dough in clingfilm and place it in the fridge and let it cool for 30 minutes. Once a bit firmer, place the dough between two sheets of baking parchment and roll out the dough until its as thick as a £1 coin. Cut into whatever shape you like and bake for 10-12 minutes at 180 degrees on one of the sheets of baking parchment. 

Once the biscuits have cooled you can cut them in half and place them on top of the cupcake, you'll have loads of biscuits left over which is a bonus because they still taste great by themselves!