Diamond Heart Cupcakes

DAY 1

Cupcakes

• Preheat a fan-forced oven to 160C (320F) or 180C (356F) for a conventional oven. Line a cupcake tin with cupcake liners.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the flour, baking powder, caster sugar and salt. Turn mixer on low speed and allow it to mix for a couple minutes to help everything combine well (alternatively you may do this by sifting the ingredients together). Add the softened butter and let it mix until it resembles a fine sand like texture.
• Next, add milk, eggs, yogurt, oil, coconut essence and vanilla extract in a large jug and whisk well.
• Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients in a slow and steady stream until no dry ingredients are visible. Scrape down the bowl and mix for another 20 seconds.
• Fill each cupcake liner 3/4 of the way (using an ice cream scoop to transfer the batter into the cupcake liners makes this a quick and easy process otherwise you can use two tablespoons).
• Bake for 20-25 min or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Allow them to cool completely on a wire cooling rack before frosting.
• To prepare the frosting add about 2 tbsp of frosting to the silicone moulds (6.5cm /  in diameter 3.5cm in height) and use a teaspoon to spread it around the moulds. This helps prevent any air bubbles being around the outside of the mould and helps give them a nice smooth appearance.
• Fill with frosting, level them off with a spatula and freeze for at least 30 min. Can be frozen the day before, just cover the exposed bit with cling wrap.
• Carefully spray the top bit of the cupcakes with gold spray aiming to get an ombré effect around the top half of the cupcake liner.
• Core the centre of each cupcake and fill with Turkish delight centre.
• To assemble the frosting: unmould the frosting right before you’re ready to cover in mirror glaze. Pour the mirror glaze over the frosting (ensuring it’s the right temp) You may need to cover them 3-4 times.
• Let the glaze drip off and set for about 10-15 min. Use a knife to carefully cut the drips off going inward to let the excess drips stick to the bottom of the frosting mould.
• Using two table knives carefully transfer the mirror glaze frosting to the cupcake.
• Carefully stick the choc shards on the mirror glaze. If the shards keep slipping give it 30 min before you try again.

Turkish Delight Centre

• Add corn starch and water to a small bowl and mix well. Set aside
• Add water and sugar to a medium sized saucepan and bring to a boil. Turn down to medium heat and add corn flour mixture. Mix for 5 min until it thickens. Add pink food dye and mix until evenly coloured.
• Transfer mixture to a bowl and chill until it’s set. Once it’s set, run it through a sift to return it to a gel consistency.

Chocolate Shards

• Place pink candy melts in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 20 seconds at a time, mixing each time until it’s smooth.
• Pour chocolate onto a baking tray lined with baking paper. Spread as thin as you can using a large offset spatula, taking care not to bend the baking paper.
• Allow to set at room temperature. Run a large knife under hot water to heat up and dry with a towel. Cut out shards make sure each shard looks thin in appearance and has four sides.

Pink Mirror Glaze

• Combine gelatin and water in a small mixing bowl and set aside for 5 minutes.
• Heat milk, sugar and water in a saucepan over medium heat and bring to a simmer.
• Add bloomed gelatin and stir until dissolved.
• Place chocolate chips in a large heat proof bowl. Pour hot mixture over chocolate and let it sit for 5 minutes. Once chocolate has softened, use an immersion blender to smoothen out the mixture. Add food gel colours and mix until well combined. Pour mixture through a sieve to remove any remaining lumps.
• Allow glaze to cool to 33C before using.

Frosting

• To prepare frosting, add coconut flavouring to the frosting and mix until well combined.
• Add frosting to a piping bag. Snip the end off and pipe some frosting in some half sphere silicone molds. Use the back of a teaspoon to spread the frosting out nice and evenly in the molds. Fill up with more frosting. Use a large offset spatula to spread the frosting out evenly. Freeze for 1 hour.
• Carefully take the frozen frosting out of the molds.
• Add each one on top of a cup and place each cup into a baking tray to collect the excess mirror glaze. Pour mirror glaze over the top. Allow to set in the fridge for 1 hour.
• Core the centre of each cupcake and fill with Turkish delight gel.
• Use a small offset spatula to transfer mirror glaze frosting bulb to the top of each cupcake.
• Finish off by sticking pink shards to the mirror glaze, leaving some of the mirror glaze exposed.