Jeni says: Our lovely bakery manager, Rachel, came up with the idea of chocolate honeycomb cupcakes and they have always been a great seller. When caramelised white chocolate became a thing, I was keen to pair its rich, nutty flavour with maple syrup and these are the happy result.

Make the Caramelised White Chocolate and the Maple Syrup Honeycomb the day before you want to eat these.

Makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients

For the caramelised white chocolate

300g white chocolate

For the maple syrup honeycomb

200g caster sugar
3 tbsp golden syrup
2 tbsp maple syrup
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

For the cupcakes

200g unsalted butter, softened
150g caster sugar
50g soft light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 medium eggs
200g self-raising flour
2 tbsp evaporated milk
1 tbsp maple syrup
50g caramelised white chocolate, finely chopped

For the buttercream

375g unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
525g icing sugar
50g maple syrup honeycomb

To finish

1/2 batch maple syrup honeycomb
250g caramelised white chocolate

Method

First make your caramelised white chocolate. Preheat your oven to 140°C (120°C fan).

Put the white chocolate in a heatproof dish and pop it in the oven on the middle shelf. Every ten minutes, take it out and give it a really good stir with a spatula before popping it back in the oven. Do this for about an hour until the chocolate is smooth and golden brown (like a Caramac bar!). Don’t worry if your chocolate looks lumpy at any point – that’s normal. Just flatten out the lumps with your spatula and stir well. Scrape the chocolate into a small Tupperware container lined with baking paper. You want it to harden into a nice thick layer so you can chop it into good-sized chunks. Set aside to cool completely and store in a cool place for up to three days.

To make the honeycomb, get all your ingredients ready and line your tin, as the last stage of the recipe has to be done quickly. If you don’t have a sugar thermometer, set the bowl of cold water next to your hob. Weigh the sugar, golden syrup and maple syrup directly into a medium-sized pan, then put it on a low heat to melt slowly. Swirl the pan around to help things along and give it the occasional stir if you need to. Be patient here as you don’t want the mix to get too hot and bubble before the sugar has melted.

Turn up the heat and bring the syrup to a simmer. Don’t stir it – you’ll see lots of bubbles, then it will start to turn a little darker in colour and smell more caramelly. Cook for around five to ten minutes until it reaches 150°C. If you don’t have a thermometer, drop a little of the syrup into your bowl of cold water – it’s ready when it makes a hard ball as it cools.

When it’s hot enough, take the pan off the heat. Quickly add the bicarbonate of soda and whisk vigorously. You’ll see the honeycomb puff up – quickly tip it into your lined tin, then set aside to cool and harden.

Preheat your oven to 180°C (160°C fan).

Weigh the butter and caster and light brown sugars into a big mixing bowl or stand mixer and add the vanilla extract. Crack the eggs into a jug and weigh the flour into another bowl.

Beat the butter, sugars and vanilla together using your spatula (or a mixer on low) until it looks lighter in colour and less dense and craggy. It won’t go really fluffy, but you will see a difference after a few minutes of mixing. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl to make sure you’ve got everything mixed in.

Pour an egg into the mix and add a couple of spoons of flour, then mix until combined. Repeat with each egg, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl between each addition. Gently mix in the remaining flour until it’s all incorporated, and add in the evaporated milk, maple syrup and finely chopped Caramelised White Chocolate. Stir to combine.

Divide the batter equally between your cupcake cases (an ice cream scoop works wonders here) and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, testing with a skewer after 20. If the skewer comes out clean, they’re ready. If not, pop them back in for two more minutes and test again, repeating until they are done. Do test each cake as bake times vary depending on where they are in the oven and how much batter is in each case. The tops should be golden brown. Leave the cakes to cool in their tins for 15 minutes before taking them out to let them cool completely on a cooling rack.

Now you can get on with making the buttercream: Put the butter into your stand mixer bowl along with the vanilla and mix until completely smooth, then add in the icing sugar. Once it’s all incorporated, turn the speed up to medium and keep mixing until it’s super smooth. It will go lighter in colour and texture. Once it’s ready, take 50g of the Maple Syrup Honeycomb and either blitz it in a processor or bash it in a sandwich bag until you have crumbs. Fold these into your buttercream. Using the piping bag with the open nozzle, pipe a dome of buttercream on each cake. If you don’t have a piping bag you can use an ice cream scoop instead: take a flattened scoop of buttercream and place it on the cupcake, smoothing any ridges with a palette knife.

Break the remaining maple honeycomb into large, jagged shards. Melt the Caramelised White Chocolate and dip in the shards so they are half-covered. Put one shard, chocolate side down, on the top of each cupcake, pressing it into the buttercream a little so the melted chocolate pools around it.

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