Beetroot redcurrant and white chocolate muffins with elderflower mascarpone icing

Tomorrow our friends Cath and Gregg are getting married. I'm helping decorate and it's a red a white colour theme (Gregg is a big Liverpool football fan). Tonight, Cath is having a few of her close girl friends round to her mum's house to celebrate her last night of freedom! I've made these red and white muffins - coloured with beetroot powder (and a little red food dye to make them more red than pink) and full of white chocolate chunks and redcurrants. The icing is flavoured with elderflower cordial.

Ingredients

3oz butter, melted and cooled

8 fl oz (1 cup) milk

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp red food colouring

9oz self-raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp beetroot powder

2oz ground almonds

6oz golden caster sugar

4oz redcurrants

3oz white chocolate, chopped

For the icing

7oz mascarpone

3 tbsp double cream

3 tbsp elderflower cordial

3oz icing sugar

To decorate

3oz redcurrants

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C and line muffin tins with 18 paper cases.
2. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter, milk and eggs.
3. Add the vanilla and red food colouring and beat.
4. Sift the flour, baking powder, beetroot powder, ground almonds and sugar and combine with a large metal spoon.
5. Add the redcurrants and white chocolate and gently stir through.
6. Fill the muffin cases ¾ full and bake for 12-15 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean.
7. Remove from the oven to cool on a wire rack.
8. To make the icing, place the mascarpone, cream and elderflower in a bowl and sift in the icing sugar.  Beat with a wooden spoon until smooth.
9. Once cool, use a palette knife to ice the muffins and decorate with a few redcurrants.