Follow these guidelines on how to make yourself the perfect base and frosting in time for Christmas!

Base

Ingredients

1 1⁄2 cups cake flour 3⁄4 teaspoon baking powder 3⁄4 teaspoon baking soda 1⁄2 teaspoon salt Pinch of nutmeg 85 grams unsalted butter at room temperature 1⁄2 cup granulated white sugar 1⁄4 cup light brown sugar — packed 1 egg lightly beaten 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 3⁄4 cups full-fat yoghurt 3 large nectarines, peeled, cored and chopped into 1-inch cubes

Method

Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg. Mix dry mixtures thoroughly to ensure that everything is well mixed. Set mixture aside.

Place butter in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer (or with a wooden spoon and sufficient arm grease) until mixture is soft, about 3 minutes.

Tip in the white and brown sugar and mix with the mixer until mixture is pale brown, creamy, and velvety, about 8 minutes. Remember to scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl every once in a while to ensure that all sugar is well mixed. Whisk marks left by the beater should be visible in the luxuriously fluffy mixture. This step incorporates air into the batter to ensure that the resulting cupcake is light and the crumbs are soft. Do take time to beat well.

Add the egg and beat it into the mixture well, scrape the sides of the bowl before beating for another 30 seconds. Mix in the vanilla extract and the full-fat yoghurt, and mix well.

Add the prepared dry ingredients and the cubed fruits. Mix by hand using a whisk or large spoon until everything is mixed. Try and resist the urge to be overzealous when stirring. Mix only until everything is just combined. Over-mixing would result in tough cupcakes.

Divide batter into muffin trays that are either lined with muffin paper cases or greased with baking spray. Fill each muffin wells to about 3⁄4 full, any more and the mixture would overflow in the oven. Bake for 18 to 22 minutes at 150C or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out without wet batter. Do not open the oven door for the first 10 minutes.

When cupcakes are done, remove from the oven and cool cupcakes for five minutes in the tin. After five minutes, turn out the cupcakes and cool completely on a wire rack.

At this point, the cupcakes can either be frosted with cream cheese frosting, or eaten just as they are.

Frosting

Ingredients

45 grams of unsalted butter — room temperature 2.5 cups icing sugar 125 grams cream cheese – fridge cold. 1⁄2 teaspoon lemon juice 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method

Ensure that butter is at room temperature and that cream cheese is fridge cold. Cut cream cheese into cubes before placing back into the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Beat the butter with all the icing sugar until sandy. Start mixing really slowly to prevent inhaling icing sugar.

The mixture will look like yellow sand.

Add the cream cheese, vanilla and lemon juice; beat with an electric mixer (or with a wooden spoon) until mixture forms stiff frosting. The mixture may seem like it is never going to come together as it may look very dry. Give it time and don’t add any more liquid. Don’t beat for more than two minutes or the frosting will be too runny.

Top the cooled cupcake with about one tablespoon of frosting. Ensure that the cupcakes are completely cooled to prevent the frosting from melting.