CupCake base, about 12 cupcakes
110g unsalted butter
2 dl granulated sugar
2 eggs
3.5 dl flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
1.5 teaspoon vanilla sugar
1.5 dl milk
half a lemon, finely grated peel
Frosting
100g softened unsalted butter
4 dl powdered sugar
1.5 teaspoon vanilla sugar
about 5 teaspoons Xanté, pear brandy
230g cream cheese
green food colouring
milk chocolate and pear truffle
40 g cream
10 g glucose
120g milk chocolate
20 g Xanté, pear brandy
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 180 °C. Beat butter and sugar until frothy. Add one egg at a time.
Mix all the dry ingredients and sift them into a bowl. Stir in flour mixture and milk into the egg mixture in batches. Finally, add the lemon peel and stir until it becomes a smooth paste. Place muffin cups in a muffin pan or use double cups on a standard sheet. Fill the cups three quarters full with the batter and bake in the middle of the oven for about 20 minutes until the muffins are baked through. Let the muffins cool on a rack.
Milk chocolate and pear truffle
Chop the chocolate and place in a bowl. Heat the cream with the glucose and pour it over the chocolate and stir until it has melted. Add the pear brandy. Let the truffles harden in the fridge for an hour.
Frosting
Beat butter, icing sugar and vanilla sugar until white and fluffy with an electric mixer. Add the pear brandy and towards the end whisk in the cream cheese together with a few drops of green food colouring. Make a hole in each muffin. Fill the holes with truffles and decorate with frosting and fresh slices of pear.