Hail to Cupcakes \m/

I am off to see my favourite band in the world, Manowar, in less than a week in Madrid. In five days if you're counting, and I have been since May.

I had thought long and hard about if Manowar were a cupcake what flavour would they be. And one thing kept coming back to me, the phrase the devil has all the best tunes. So my choice of cupcake had to be - devil's food cake.

I used a recipe for a Devils Food Cake from my latest cookbook purchase, Mary Berry's Baking Bible, and made cupcakes instead, altering the cooking time (they were ready in 20mins). The recipe makes approx 14 cakes, depending on your case sizes.

I decided to top the cupcakes with an ultra chocolatey ganache. I had planned to use Jack Daniel's in the ganache but then I bought a bottle of Baileys on offer in Sainsburys and I felt it would be nicer with the Baileys in and I was so right - it was delicious.

The base of the cupcake was incredibly moist and chocolatey - Manny reckons they're one of the nicest cupcakes he's had and I have to agree! The ganache, as I said, was delicious - incredibly rich with a hint of alcohol. Definitely Manowar in a cupcake - tasty, lovely to look at, rich, decadent and something you can't get enough of \m/

while my ganache was still a little moist and shiny!

Baileys Ganache Recipe

200g good quality chocolate broken into pieces (I used Green and Blacks dark)

184 ml double cream

a good glug of Baileys

Heat the cream until it just boils. Pour over chocolate and stir till it melts. Add a good splosh of Baileys. Stir in. Add some more for luck. And a bit more if you fancy it. Allow to cool - mine took approx 30mins in the fridge to reach piping consistency. Pipe or spread onto cupcakes - try not to scoff it all before doing this!

Manowar cupcake - naked