I love churros! Since I saw this idea I’ve been meaning to bake a batch just to see if it would resemble the real thing. And, believe me, it does! I made it for our gaming night (TGIF) and it was a hit. The concept is quite simple: add 2 tsp of ground cinnamon to your vanilla cupcake recipe, fill and top with dulce de leche and dust with a little cinnamon sugar. The only tricky part for me was finding a dulce de leche with the right consistency for piping – I had to leave my cupcakes “naked” and go out and find a pipeable one (the ones that come in tins are usually thicker).

CINNAMON CUPCAKE
adapted from Technicolor Kitchen

INGREDIENTS
115g unsalted butter, softened
150g caster sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
210g self-raising flour
170g yoghurt
2 tsp ground cinnamon

METHOD
Preheat oven to 180^oC and line a 12-cup muffin tray with paper cups.
Beat butter and sugar until light and creamy. Gradually add the eggs, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla extract and the ground cinnamon.
Fold in the flour, then the yoghurt, and stir until smooth. Scoop the batter into the prepared cups and smooth the surface.
Bake for 20 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the centre of a cupcake. Leave to cool on a wire rack.

FILLING AND FROSTING
400g (or thereabouts) thick dulce de leche
caster sugar and cinnamon, to your liking

ASSEMBLING
Core the cupcakes after they have cooled.
Fit a piping bag with a star tip, spoon some dulce de leche into it and fill and frost the cupcakes. Here, as I was using dulce de leche for both filling and frosting, I didn’t bother putting the lid back on.
Dust with the cinnamon sugar.

NOTES: I made these cupcakes 2 weeks ago and froze them to see how it would go. They thawed nicely – got just a tad sticky on the tops. So it’s perfect when planning ahead or if you just want to be prepared for any surprise visitors. And using this churro idea makes it really quick to have your cupcakes ready in no time!