Muffin Top

Well, Muffin tops are usually not a thing of beauty… quite the opposite really as the sight of a human muffin top might well make you cringe away in horror, but be prepared to gawk for your life, as I present to you the celebratory Muffin Top! Made in loving dedication to my darling mama who is… 21 again today! So here's a little pressie from me to you, mum- with all those finer things you love in life- chocolate and peanuts!

To make your own Peanut butter sandwich chocolate cake, here comes the science…

Serves 6 Muffins

Ingredients

Cake

1. 4 oz margarine (at room temperature)

2. 4 oz caster sugar

3. 3 oz self raising flour

4. 1 oz cocoa powder

5. 1/4 tsp baking powder

6. 2 eggs

7. 1 tsp vanilla extract

8. 6 tsp of crunchy peanut butter

For the Peanut butter sauce

1. 2 tbsp icing sugar

2. 1 tbsp peanut butter

3. 2 tbsp water

Steps

Cake

1. Use a mixer to beat the margarine and caster sugar until you barely feel the sugar granules.

2. Add in the eggs- one at a time and mix in-between every addition.

3. Sift the self raising flour and baking powder- again add a small batch at a time. I usually divide into three parts, and this means that the flour can mix properly. 

4. Now add the cocoa powder and vanilla extract.

5. Slowly mix in, so that the mixture remains fluffy. 

Now you simply lay out your paper muffin cases in a muffin tray and spoon your mixture in. We are going to do this in three stages, the first is the chocolate mixture, the second is a scoop of peanut butter and the third is the final layer of the chocolate mixture. You need to make sure that the total mixture is no more than half full as these babies will rise!

Cover with a sheet of baking paper, as the cocoa powder cooks very quickly and has a good chance of burning (learnt this this hard way…) Gas mark 175. Put the kettle on and wait for about 45mins.

When they are lovely and cool, you can then mix your peanut butter sauce (simply mix all of the sauce ingredients together until you have a lovely thin consistency- good enough for pouring). Then get a spoon and start decorating! If your a tea fan, put the kettle on again- these muffins taste great with a hot cup of Rosie Lea. If, your an impatient bugger (like me), you would have probably left out the sauce altogether and burned the roof of your mouth the moment you gobbled them up from the oven… either way… scccccrumptious!