These cupcakes are full of Christmas flavour and a perfect excuse to spend time baking over the Christmas break. This recipe makes 12, they are really easy to make. I've used My Cupcake Set from Debenhams which includes a cupcake baking tray, cupcake cases and cake toppers. The icing is the hardest and messiest bit. I'd recommend getting a good piping bag at the ready to make life a little easier.

You'll need...
For the cupcakes...
100g Butter
100g Caster sugar
1 tsp Cocoa Powder
1 Orange
2 Eggs
50g Dark Chocolate
125g Self-Raising Flour
My Cupcake Set, Exclusive to Debenhams

For the icing...
350g icing sugar
150g butter
Orange food colouring gel
Edible silver balls
Edible glitter
Piping bag & nozzle

To Make...
Beat the sugar and butter together, add the cocoa powder, grate in half of the zest of the orange and squeeze in 2 teaspoons of the juice.


Melt the chocolate in a bain-marie and then add to the mixture.
Whisk the eggs together and mix into the mixture well.
Then fold in the flour gently.


Preheat the oven to 170oC
Spoon the mixture into the cupcake cases, fill just over half way.
Bake in the oven for 20mins, allow to cool.


Make your buttercream icing in the meantime, sift the icing sugar into a bowl.
Mix in the butter and food colouring until it turns a soft orange tone.
Grate in some of the orange zest.


Put into a piping bag and squeeze onto the cupcakes
Decorate with cupcake toppers from the My Cupcake Set, silver balls and edible glitter.
They will keep for a couple of days so you can make them just before you visit relatives over the Christmas season.

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This mince pie recipe has a lovely orange zest pastry, which is really delicious. They are really easy to make and you can make the pastry up to 3 days before you make them up. I've used my mince pie kit which is exclusive to Debenhams, view my full Christmas collection here.

You'll Need...
250g plain flour
25g icing sugar
125g butter
1 orange
1 egg, beaten
400g jar mincemeat
100g dried cranberries
My mince pie kit

To Make...
Sift the flour and slice the butter into cubes.
Rub in the butter into the flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.
Grate the orange zest into the mixture, beat the egg and then add this too.
Add a drop or two of cold water to combine the pastry.
Knead together until smooth then put in the fridge for 30 mins.
Lightly dust a work surface with flour, roll out the pastry to 5mm thick.


Using my mince pie kit, grease the baking tray and cut out 12 of the large circles.
Line the baking tray cups using the pastry, fill with a teaspoon or two of mincemeaat and top with a sprinkle of cranberries.
Squish the pastry together and roll out again.
Cut out 12 of the small circles and top the pies with them, pressing the edges together.
Squish the pastry together and roll out again.
Cut out 12 holly leaves, push the middles together and push onto the tops of the pies.
Add a cranberry to the middle of the leaf, pushing it into the pastry slightly.

Bake for 20mins or until golden brown.
Perfect little gift when you visit friends and family over the festive season.
They can be kept for around a week. So you can make them in advance.

Here's some snaps from our open studio weekend. It was such an amazing weekend. We are all overwhelmed by the amount of visitors we had. Thanks to all the people who came along, we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. And thank you for supporting local creative businesses like us at The Harley Studios.