• 12-cup muffin tin
• 12 large (52 x 40mm) muffin cases
• 200 g unsalted butter, softened
• 150 g caster sugar (we use Vanilla Sugar)
• 50 g soft light brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 medium eggs
• 200 g self-raising flour
• 2 tbsp evaporated milk
• 1 tbsp maple syrup
• 50 g Caramelised White Chocolate, finely chopped

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: the fresher and softer it is, the easier it is to pipe. 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.