Hokey Pokey Cupcakes with Rich Caramel Frosting

In every country there are certain things that are considered to be 'iconic'. We have many of these in NZ including Pavlova (yes Aussies it OURS), jandals, sheep, no.8 wire, and of course Hokey Pokey ice cream (amongst loads of others). Hokey pokey is a caramelly, crispy sweet most NZ-famous for being in Tip Top's Hokey Pokey Ice Cream which is like a vanilla ice cream with little bits of HP through it. So as soon as I saw this recipe in Tamara Jane's 'Divine Cupcakes', I knew I had to make them. Although it has taken ages to get there I finally made them on Sunday for Harry's playdate with his little friend Johanna. I made only half the recipe and got 13 cupcakes so I'll give the full recipe here in my blog. The frosting is really good too and I found that half the recipe made enough for all the cupcakes with a reasonable amount left over to freeze. 


Hokey Pokey Cupcakes


415g flour
3 tsp baking powder
230g butter
230g brown sugar
1/2tsp vanilla
4 eggs
1/2c sour cream
1/2c milk
2 large Cadbury's Crunchie Bars, crushed


Preheat the oven to 170C and line the muffin tins. 
 Beat the butter until creamy then add the sugar gradually beating until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla then add the eggs one at a time beating well after each addition.


Combine the sour cream and milk, and in a separate bowl sift the dry ingredients. Add flour mixture alternately with the sour cream and milk mix beginning and ending with the flour (I did it in 3 lots). Do  not overmix. Stir in the Crunchie bars. Divide the mix between the cases. Bake about 18 mins. Remove from the tin and cool on a wire rack.


Rich Caramel Frosting (I made half this)


100g butter
125g brown sugar
75g golden syrup
125ml cream
1kg icing sugar


Combine all ingredients except for the icing sugar and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Turn the heat to high and boil 5 mins. Cool to room temperature.


Add half the icing sugar to the caramel mixture and beat until light and fluffy. You may need some extra milk to get the right consistency. Add the rest of the icing sugar and beat until spreadable (or pipeable). I needed extra milk to get this to where I wanted it to be.


Sprinkle the cupcakes with some extra crushed Crunchie bars.