To celebrate the mint and orange flavour combinations in Aero bubbles I was asked to come up with an unusual flavour combination in a recipe. I was sent a fab flavour thesaurus  book along with a host of baking goodies to help me on my way.

This book is fantastic, I came up with all manner of weird and wonderful combinations, my children baulked at them all. Sob. The challenge is to come up with a combination that works, the more random the better. So, I tried bacon and banana breakfast muffins because did you know that bacon and banana are supposed to be a good combination. I thought the saltiness of the bacon and sweetness of the banana would work. It doesn’t. I still feel a bit queasy at the thought, however the children liked them. Weird children!

So, I have played it a little safe, we all know chocolate and chilli are a good combination, as is orange and chocolate so I mixed it up and made orange, chilli and chocolate muffins with a little surprise in the middle! Let me know what you think if you dare make them. Oh and I made these gluten free so I always add a bit more liquid to the mixture but you can of course use ordinary self raising flour and they will taste even better!

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Wicked Orange Chilli & Chocolate Cupcakes

Prep time:  40 mins

Cook time:  25 mins

Total time:  1 hour 5 mins

Serves: 12

Ingredients

• 200g melted butter, cooled
• 200g caster sugar
• 200g *Gluten Free Self raising flour ( I use Dove's)
• 100g cocoa powder
• 3 eggs, beaten
• ½ teaspoon chilli powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• Zest and juice of one orange
• 1 113g bag of Aero orange bubbles
• 200g very soft butter
• 350g icing sugar
• Zest of an orange plus juice to taste
• Pinch of chilli powder
• 4 tbsp milk

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 150ºC / Gas mark 2
2. Mix the butter and sugar well
3. Beat in the eggs one at a time
4. Stir in the orange zest and juice
5. Sift the flour, baking powder, cocoa and chilli powder into the mixture and fold in
6. Add the milk and stir gently
7. Spoon 2 tsp of the mixture into each paper case of a prepared muffin tin lined
8. Place one Aero orange bubble into the centre of the mixture for each cake case and push down
9. Add another good dollop of the mixture to each paper case to cover the chocolate bubble until all the mixture is used up
10. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until cooked
11. Leave in the tin for 10 minutes then allow to cool completely on a wire rack
12. Mix the butter and icing sugar until combined completely
13. Mix in the orange zest and chilli powder
14. Add orange juice for a softer consistency and for desired taste
15. Decorate the cakes with the icing and top with an Aero orange bubble

Notes

* This recipe was made gluten free but works even better with normal self raising flour.

3.1.09

Don’t forget to top them up with more mixture after adding the Aero chocolate bubble