Valentine’s Day is around the corner and honestly, we rarely celebrate (our anniversary is in a month), but I kinda love making things in Valentine’s theme. For this year I made these cupcakes filled with raspberry rose sauce, topped with a fluffy white chocolate ganache and decorated with the stunning Pink Lychee granola (by Naturally Granola). This recipe includes two simple elements to make, and two to buy. We are going easy here.

What you’ll need.

• White chocolate ganache

  • 200gr chocolate

  • 150ml of heavy cream

  • 40gr butter

• 1/2 portion of my raspberry spread

  • 125g of frozen raspberries

  • 50g of sugar

  • 1 tsp corn starch

  • 4 tsp of water (or 3 tsp water + 1 tsp rosewater)

• 8 Ready made vanilla cupcakes

• Pink Lychee granola from Naturally Granola

This makes 8 cupcakes, but you can easily divide the recipe. Just store the leftover raspberry spread in the fridge for up to a week and use a handheld mixer for the ganache.

Dishes you’ll have afterwards.

• Saucepan (2x, but we’ll wash it in between)

• Whisk attachment and bowl of stand mixer

• Bowl

• Teaspoon

• Tiny bowl

• Spatula

• 1 big piping tip (about 1cm)

You’ll also need 2 piping bags

How to make it.

1. First we are making the ganache. Heat the heavy cream in a saucepan. In the meanwhile chop the white chocolate and pop it into a heat proof bowl. Poor the hot cream on top and wait for about a minute. While you wait: melt the butter in your saucepan (don’t worry about the cream left in there).

2. After a minute you can stir the chocolate cream mix until the chocolate is melted. Now stir in your butter and set it in the fridge to cool. This can take up to 4 hours. Wash the saucepan.

   If you can’t wait: make an ice bath and put your bowl in it (make sure no water gets in) and stir until it is cooled down.

3. Second we need the raspberry spread. Tip the raspberries in the clean saucepan and add the sugar. Cook over a medium-high heat until the raspberries have broken down. Use your tiny bowl to mix 1 teaspoon of corn starch with the 4 teaspoons of water (or 3 teaspoons of water and 1 of rosewater). Leave to cool in the pan, then transfer to a piping bag and let it cool further in the fridge.

4. Put the white chocolate ganache into the bowl of a stand mixer and whisk on high speed. Stay close to keep an eye on this, you don’t want to overmix, it will cause the ganache to split. Whisk until the ganache is fluffy and has firm peaks. Transfer into a piping bag, set with a big piping tip.

5. Assemble time! Use the other piping tip to cup out the centre of the cupcake (discard the centres, I just eat them tbh) and fill the holes with the raspberry spread. Pipe on a nice ring of the chocolate ganache on top of the cupcakes. You can freestyle here a bit. Don’t worry about the imperfect parts, you can cover those with granola, which is the last step. Decorate your cupcakes with the chuncks, raspberries and rose petals from the Pink Lychee Granola.

If you use the code “miekeatsNG” you get a 10% discount on your first Naturally Granola order.

(I am part of their Ambassador program, which means I receive free granola in exchange for content.)