Profiterole cupcakes

For the profiteroles: Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Lightly grease a large baking sheet with butter and line with a sheet of greaseproof paper. Put the unsalted butter and 125ml water in a medium-sized saucepan and gently bring to the boil. Remove from the heat once the butter has melted.

Add the flour, a pinch of salt and caster sugar and using a wooden spoon, beat the mixture until a ball of soft dough forms and starts to come away from the sides of the saucepan.

Slowly add in the beaten eggs, a little at a time, and keep stirring with the wooden spoon. The eggs will loosen the dough, but it should still be quite thick and gloopy. If it looks too runny, sprinkle in a teaspoon of extra flour and mix well. Spoon the dough into a piping bag and snip away the end.

Pipe small walnut-sized balls of the choux dough onto the greaseproof paper, leaving a gap in between each ball. Place in the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes, until the choux dough has risen into golden balls. Transfer the choux balls onto a wire rack and make a hole in the bottom of each ball using a chop stick to let the steam escape. Leave to cool.

For the cupcakes: Turn the oven down to 180C/160C fan/gas 5. Line a 12-hole muffin tin and 6-hole muffin tin with paper cases. Beat the butter and soft brown sugar together until pale and creamy. Add the eggs, and beat again, along with the vanilla extract.

Sift in the flour, cocoa powder and bicarbonate of soda and stir well with a metal spoon. Add in the buttermilk and stir again to combine. Using an ice-cream scoop, fill the paper cases with chocolate batter until two-thirds full. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Take the cupcakes out of the tray and leave to cool on a wire rack.

To decorate: Melt the dark chocolate with the butter in a bowl over a pan of gently simmering water or melt in the microwave in 30 second bursts. Leave to cool.

Whisk the double cream until thick and transfer put to a piping bag. Snip the end of the bag and carefully fill each choux ball with a little cream through the hole in the bottom. Pipe a little cream onto each cupcake, too, for the choux ball to sit on.

Carefully dip the top of each choux ball into the chocolate sauce and place one chocolate coated choux ball onto each cupcake. Add a spring of imitation holly to decorate and serve.

Want to see more? Take a look at more of our Christmas cupcake recipes .