Caramelised Cupcakes with Lotus Biscoff

You know you've got a good coffee shop when your steaming hot mug arrives with a little caramel biscuit, covered in the red lotus wrapper. I could easily devour a large packet of these biscuits, I like to dunk and dip them in a cup of coffee... as well as steal them from the cupboard when I think no-one is looking (forever leaving only one left in the packet, because you can sneakily eat biscuits if you have to then put the wrapper in the bin!). 
When I stumbled across the Lotus Biscoff Caramelised Biscuit Spread during our weekly shop I knew I had to buy it, but didn't have a clue what to do with it (It may surprise some people to learn that I cannot face sticking a spoon in the jar and just eating it!) and so my mission began, what can I bake with this yummy biscuit spread?

Cupcakes are always a firm favourite in our family (I think its because their "mini" size makes them a little more "healthy" than a slice of cake) and these caramelised cupcakes were no different - what surprised me the most were how quickly my nieces devoured the buttercream and declared this cake the champion of cakes (and me the champion cake maker!). 

You may wonder why I didn't add the biscuit spread to the cake mixture but I felt that you wouldn't fully appreciate the flavour once baked in the cake and decided it would be best to brown the butter and sugar instead to get a caramelised cake flavour. 

Ingredients (12 Cupcakes)
175g Unsalted softened Butter
175g Soft brown sugar
175g Self raising flour
3 Eggs
1.5 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 Tbsps Milk
Buttercream:
150g Unsalted softened butter
300g Icing sugar
150g Lotus Biscoff Biscuit Spread (I used smooth, but you can use crunchy if you wish!)
3 Tbsps Milk
**Extra biscuit spread if you wish to core and fill your cupcakes**

How to:
Heat oven to 160 degrees celsius fan.

1. Melt butter and sugar in a saucepan over a low heat, stir until dissolved and leave to cool. 
2. Once cool, add to your stand mixer and combine with eggs and your sifted self raising flour.
3. Mix your vanilla extract into your milk and add to your stand mixer.
4. Beat on a low speed until fully combined.
5. Use an ice cream scoop to divide your batter in to your cupcake cases so they are no more than 2/3 full. 
6. Place in the oven for 18-20 minutes until a cake skewer comes out clean. 
7. Meanwhile, make your buttercream by beating your softened butter until light in colour and creamy. 
8. Add half of your icing sugar (adding I.S. in small amounts reduces your sugar cloud effect!) and mix until combined. Repeat with the second half. 
9. Add your biscuit spread and milk; mix until fully combined, light and soft. 
10. Remove cupcakes from the oven and leave to cool. 
11. Once cool you have the option of use a cupcake or apple corer to remove the centre of your cupcake, fill this with some melted biscuit spread if you wish, top the core with some of your removed cupcake. *Optional*
12. Pipe your buttercream and decorate!

The first time I made these cupcakes I decorated using a whole lotus biscuit however this became soft very quickly. I would recommend bashing some biscuits in a bag with your rolling pin to create biscuit crumbs and use these for decoration instead!