Rudolph Cupcakes

Hello foodies,

Everyone knows Santa's reindeer named Rudolph. How about turning this famous red-nosed reindeer into delicious cupcakes? :O)

A fun recipe that both kids and adults will love. A great Christmas activity idea that could also be placed in one of the boxes of your Advent calendar. ;-)

Here are our hazelnut cupcakes with a melting praline centre, all decorated with a Rudolph made from sugar paste.

For 12 cupcakes, you will need the following ingredients:

Hazelnut muffins

- 135g butter

- 165g brown sugar

- 3 eggs

- 75g milk

- 180g flour

- 120g ground hazelnuts

- 10.5g baking powder

- 2 boxes of praline melting centres

Decoration

- 2 packs of "Choco" sugar paste

- 1 pack of "Bright White" sugar paste

- 1 pack of red marzipan

- 4 cm heart cutter

- 3.5 cm oval cutter

- 8 cm round cutter

- Red glitter sugar

- Edible glue

- 1 pack of oval sugar eyes

- 100g dark chocolate

- 24 salted pretzel sticks

- Small rolling pin

- Magic powder for rolling

- 30 cm piping bag

- 1 small piping bag coupler

- 1 round nozzle 1.5 mm

- Modelling tools

- Brush

To start, we will make the hazelnut muffins.

Hazelnut muffins

In the bowl of your mixer, pour 135g butter and 165g brown sugar.

Using the whisk, cream the butter and sugar together. This will take about 5 minutes at medium speed.

Add 3 eggs and whisk again for 2 minutes at medium speed.

Pour in 75g milk and mix for just 30 seconds at medium speed until incorporated.

Add 180g flour and 120g ground hazelnuts.

Finally, weigh out 10.5g of baking powder. Use the scale spoon to be precise.

Mix again for about 5 minutes at medium speed.

There we go, we have a lovely muffin batter. :-)

To fill the piping bag neatly, place it in a large jug and transfer the muffin batter into the piping bag.

Place the brown cupcake liners in each cavity of the cupcake pan.

It is very important to use a cupcake pan with cupcake liners. This way, the muffins will stay nicely round and won't lose their shape. ;-)

Preheat the oven to 200°C fan.

Cut the tip off the piping bag with a pair of scissors.

Fill each cavity halfway.

For extra indulgent cupcakes, we're going to hide a praline melting centre inside. ;-) Get two boxes to make sure you have enough for the recipe.

Place one melting centre per muffin.

Press down on the melting centres so that the muffin batter rises up around them.

Cover each melting centre with the remaining batter.

Bake the muffins in the middle of the preheated oven for about 18 to 20 minutes.

Here's a tip to check if the muffins are done: using a knife, poke a muffin. If the blade comes out clean, the muffins are baked. If there is batter on the blade, they need more time. In that case, bake the muffins for an additional 2 minutes. :-)

The muffins are nicely risen and golden brown – perfect! Let them cool at room temperature.

Now let's move on to the decoration.

Decoration

First of all, we are going to make the disc that will sit on top of the cupcake.

I recommend rolling out the sugar paste in several batches. Take 1/4 of the pack of "Choco" sugar paste.

Knead it well between your hands to make it smoother and more elastic.

To prevent it from sticking to the work surface, dust it with magic rolling powder. This powder is made from a special, very fine potato starch that doesn't clump and leaves little residue on the sugar paste. :-)

Place the sugar paste on the work surface and dust it with magic powder as well.

Using a small rolling pin, roll out the sugar paste to about 2-3 mm thickness.

Cut out 12 large circles of sugar paste using a 8 cm round cutter.

Place a disc of sugar paste on top of each muffin. Gently smooth with your hand to help the sugar paste adhere to the muffin.

We are now going to create Rudolph's muzzle. To do this, mix 100g of "Bright White" sugar paste with 100g of "Choco" sugar paste.

As before, knead the sugar paste well so it's easy to work with and the two colours blend together nicely.

Roll out the sugar paste to about 2-3 mm thickness. Don't forget to dust your work surface with magic powder so nothing sticks.

Using a 3.5 cm oval cutter, cut out 12 ovals.

Glue the muzzle using edible glue and place it on the sugar paste disc.

Warning! Less glue is more. If you apply too much glue, the muzzle won't stick but will slide.

Now we are going to create the ears.

Using a 4 cm heart cutter, cut out 24 hearts in "Choco" colour and 24 hearts in light brown (the same colour as the muzzle).

Once again, roll out the sugar paste to 2-3 mm thickness.

Apply a little edible glue to the darker heart, then place a lighter heart on top as shown in the second photo below.

Then pinch the bottom of the hearts (the rounded part) between your fingers and trim the excess with a knife.

Be careful not to cut too much – leave a little bit sticking out. This will help keep the ears in place in the cupcakes.

Using the cone-shaped modelling tool, make two slots in the muffin so you can insert the ears.

Apply a little glue in each slot.

Insert Rudolph's ears.

Grab a pack of oval sugar eyes. Apply a dot of edible glue on each eye before placing them on the cupcake.

A Rudolph without a red nose isn't really a Rudolph. ;-)

So we're going to give him a lovely red nose. Take some red marzipan and form 12 balls about 1 cm thick.

Pour a little red glitter sugar into a bowl, then roll each marzipan ball in it.

Apply a dot of glue on the muzzle and place the red nose on it.

Using the spatula-shaped modelling tool, draw him a little smile.

We will now make the reindeer's antlers.

Cut the pretzel sticks to about 6 cm long.

Meanwhile, melt 50g of dark chocolate in the microwave at 600W, stirring every 30 seconds so the chocolate doesn't burn.

You really need to be careful not to burn it – it must not exceed 40°C. If needed, you can check the chocolate temperature with a thermometer.

Take a brush and coat the sticks with chocolate as shown in the first photo below.

We will use the remaining chocolate to draw beautiful antlers. To do this, we are going to thicken the chocolate with cold water.

Gradually add cold water to the bowl of chocolate and stir. You need to achieve a paste-like texture. The amount of water to add will depend on the temperature of the chocolate.

Prepare your 30 cm piping bag fitted with a small coupler.

Place the large part of the coupler inside the piping bag. Cut the tip with a pair of scissors as shown in the first photo below, then fit a 1.5 mm round nozzle. Screw the second part of the coupler over the nozzle.

Take your chocolate-coated sticks and pipe antlers onto them.

Let your antlers rest for 15 minutes in the freezer so the chocolate sets.

Using the cone-shaped modelling tool, make two slots next to the ears so you can insert the antlers more easily.

Insert the antlers into the slots.

Our lovely Rudolphs are finished and they are incredibly indulgent with their melting praline centre! :-P

They will keep for about 3 days in a cupcake box.

I hope you enjoy this recipe and give it a try.

Have a wonderful Sunday, foodies!

Sophie

P.S.: All the materials used can be found at the bottom of the recipe.