A White Style: Chocolate Christmas Puddings......

Hello! It's Thursday, which of course is let's-get-baking-day...surely....
So today I'm sharing the farm's version of Christmas pudding. Which isn't exactly Christmas pudding. At all. To be frank I ~~loathe~~ do not really care for Xmas pudding or any type of pudding, cake, food of any type with dried fruit in it. I have tried my whole life to like and accept the humble sultana, raisin, prune, you name it but the gag reflex in my mouth just will not come to the party on this. Soooo......an alternative was needed.
Enter.....

Yep...the good old chocolate cake. The perfect alternative to pretty much anything and everything!?!
These little lovelies are simply a chocolate cupcake smothered in vanilla icing with a few smashed up candy canes thrown on top. Easy as yes??

So let's get down to business and get recipe writing......

Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients

115 gms butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar (I use raw but use whatever you have/prefer)
1 teaspn vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cups self-raising flour, sifted
2 heaped tablspns cocoa powder

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees

2. Beat together the butter, sugar and vanilla until it is lovely and pale

3. Add your eggs and beat well

4. Now sift in the flour and cocoa powder and mix through. Alternate with pouring your milk in, this will make it easier to stir in.

5. If this all seems like a bit too much hard work I have been known to throw everything in the bowl at once and beat it all for a few minutes. Seems to work just fine!

6. Ok, spoon your mixture into cupcake papers (I stick the papers in a muffin tray so they hold their shape nicely) and pop them in the oven for approx 12-15 minutes

7. Take out when cooked and allow to cool on a cooling tray

Once your cakes are cooled right off strip off their little papers and whip up a batch of vanilla icing. Once again I do not have an exact recipe to share with you of how to make my icing as I have always just winged it. I basically toss some icing sugar in a smallish bowl, add a teaspoon or so of margarine then add enough hot water to soften this and mix through with the sugar. I then add vanilla extract. I just keep adding more icing sugar and water until I have the amount and consistency that I need.
Now spread that icing right onto those little brown cakes......

Once you've done this go and grab your candy canes (if your children haven't sniffed out your stash and helped themselves to the whole packet in a pre-xmas frenzy) and get smashing.....

Little tip for you here.....it's a good idea to pop the canes into a plastic zip-lock bag before going forth with whacking your rolling pin about as this will prevent your kitchen floor, bench and any other nearby surface from being sprayed with sticky green and red pieces of sugar candy. Just saying.......

Right....last thing to do is simply sprinkle your cakes/puddings with pretty pieces of lolly. If you are the precise type you may like to carefully place particular chosen pieces of green and red candy in strategic spots of your cake...or if you're anything like me you will simply stand back and throw. I like to call it my creative outlet.