Blackberry, Almond & Cinnamon Cupcakes.

Makes 12   Prep Time 40 mins   Cooking Time 15 mins

Ingredients:

For the cakes:

150g Unsalted butter or cooking margarine

150g Caster sugar

2 Large or 3 medium sized free-range eggs

1 tsp. Vanilla extract

150g Plain flour

2 tsp. Baking powder

80g Blackberries

1.5 tsp Cinnamon

50g Flaked almonds

For the topping:

12 Blackberries

250g Mascarpone cheese

75g Icing sugar

1 tsp. Vanilla extract

Equipment:

12 Bun cake tray

12 Large sized cupcake/muffin papers

Wooden spoon

1 Large and 1 medium sized mixing bowl

Piping bag with nozzle of your choice

Preheat oven to 180c/170c fan-assisted/Gas mark 4

In a large mixing bowl beat the butter/margarine with the caster sugar with a wooden spoon until the mixture is pale and fluffy. 

Add in each egg, one at a time, mixing the egg into the mixture before adding the next and stir in the vanilla extract. 

Sieve the flour, baking powder and cinnamon into the bowl and fold this in to the mixture carefully so the cakes are light. 

Add the almonds and blackberries to the mixture and fold in, you can slightly crush some of the blackberries against the side of the bowl with the wooden spoon to break them up and give a marbled effect to the mixture. 

Insert the cake/muffin papers in to the cake tray and divide the mixture between the 12 cakes as equally as you can. If you like you can use an ice-cream scoop for this. 

Gently drop the tray horizontally on to your work top to even out the position of the cake batter and ensure there are no air holes. 

Place the tray in to the oven and bake for around 12-18 minutes, you can check whether they are cooked with a cocktail stick; this should come out clean, but you know that!

When the cakes are ready, remove from the tray and place on a cool surface or preferably a wire rack to cool completely. 

For the topping, place the mascarpone cheese into a medium sized mixing bowl and beat with a wooden spoon until it has loosened, add the vanilla extract and beat again. 

Sieve in the icing sugar and (carefully!) incorporate this in to the cream cheese until you have a smooth and glossy mixture. 

It's a good idea to chill this down for 10 minutes or so before piping as the mixture will be much easier to use. 

Place the icing into a piping bag and pipe a dot of icing on to each cake and place a blackberry on top. Then pipe around the berry in any way you wish, I like to do circles of little dots with a star nozzle. 

Now, they're ready to eat, preferably with a cup of tea!