Raspberry Trifle Cupcakes

I wanted to make some cupcakes and show off a little with my visitors staying with me so I decided to make a third recipe. Went for the raspberry trifle as thought it would appeal to my family members and was also one of the more trickier ones, with the middle being cut out and this time filled with a fresh whole raspberry, jam and custard!

We had no plans for Monday so basically just chilled out and baked all day. We were going to take a trip to Bluewater but unfortunately my Nan took a little tumble on a kerb whilst we were in town the day before and needed to rest up. None of us were really fussed about going, was just something to do really and by then I had come down with yet another cold so a day at home was much needed.

Made the sponge up early in the morning so it had a chance to cool down completely before they could be filled. Did a bit of cleaning and dossing around before making the custard. It came out a little lumpy this time, no matter how much I whisked and tried to beat it into submission it just wasn't working. Even so once the whipped double cream had been added the texture and taste was still good.

The long bit came in cutting out the cupcakes and filling them. Having looked at the size of the fresh raspberries it seemed like the cut-outs would need to be almost all the way through the cupcake. The cook book says to add the raspberries first, then the jam and then custard on top before trimming and replacing the sponge. I started off doing it this way but the jam and custard didn't run down the raspberry and fill the remaining void. After filling about half of the cupcakes this way I decided to try adding the jam in first and sort of squashing the raspberry into it before covering with custard. This worked out much better than the stated method and the other cupcakes were filled in a flash. Covered them with a big dollop of custard cream and topped with a fresh raspberry and they were done.

I only managed to take a photo with 15 out of the 16 cupcakes as I, willingly, gave the first one to my sister to try, forgetting that the photo needed to be done first. She was a little unsure on the custard cream topping as has only tried cupcakes with the usual buttercream frosting on them but once I explained what it actually was and it wasn't meant to be sweet and sugary like that she agreed they were lovely, albeit a little messy.

Mum, Nan, Hubby and myself tried one later in the day, again with the standard cup of coffee/tea. Having tried the Banoffee cupcakes with the caramel custard on top I knew what to expect and the raspberry jam in the middle added a lovely sweetness to the cupcake ensemble. Not as nice as the Banoffee (and I don't like bananas) I thought but everyone else loved them. After my family had eaten a few more and they had been delivered to my neighbours and friends, my husband took the remaining cupcakes to work. Came home and said they went down a treat at the building site, although only half have been eaten so far as the rest of the guys are on a diet!