Nutella Cupcakes with Malteaser Burst

Not really the ideal cake for anyone on a New Year's diet but utterly delicious...and a bit of a looker to boot! I made these for a birthday and they were really well received.

I used the mybakes.co.uk nutella cupcake recipe, although there are several different versions about. A taste tester tried one on the day they were made and then tried another one the next day, the verdict...twice as delicious on day two!

The suggested decoration for this cupcake is a couple of malteasers on top but if you really want to make an impact you can try a Malteaser burst. To make it I used gold florist wire, florist tape, a flower pick and obviously Malteasers! Cut 5 pieces of wire of various lengths and then fasten together at one end with florist tape. Push a Malteaser on to the end of each piece of wire and then bend each one outwards. It is not generally recommended to push this straight into the cakes, especially if you were to lose the piece of florist tape off the end. It may therefore be advisable to insert a flower pick before icing, although I know that some people may just push the individual bits of wire into the cake!

Finally, thanks to Matthew Piper who took the stunning photo at the top. Check out more of his pictures on Flickr.