Little Mince Pie Cakes with Sally Akins

Welcome to the first post of #CraftyChristmas with Sally Akins. What better way to start than with some delicious Christmas baking. I am sure you will be whipping these little gems up in no time. Perfect with a cuppa whilst you are catching up with the latest #CraftyChristmas link ups.

Mince pies are one of my favourite Christmas foods, but I have very warm hands and I can't tell you how many times I have had to throw away a batch of pastry. So I really love these little Mince Pie Cakes. They're incredibly quick and easy to make, and have all the flavour of mince pies without the hassle of making shortcrust.

Little Mince Pie Cakes with Sally Akins

If you don't want to use the individual spices, you can replace them with 1 teaspoon of ground mixed spice. I prefer to use the individual spices so that I can add extra nutmeg – my personal favourite!

These little cakes are delicious either warm or cold, and would be lovely with a cup of tea or coffee at any time. I think Father Christmas might even appreciate one or two of these with a glass of milk on Christmas Eve!

Little Mince Pie Cakes (makes 12)

175g self raising flour

pinch of salt

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground allspice

A good grating of fresh nutmeg

100g light muscavado sugar

175g softened unsalted butter

2 large eggs

2-3 tbsp milk

About 200g of mincemeat

Icing sugar to decorate

Preheat your oven to 190C/170Cfan/Gas5. Fill a 12-hole cupcake tin with fairy cake cases

The easiest way to make the cake batter is to use a food processor. Simply put the flour, salt, spices, sugar, butter, eggs and 2tbsp of milk in the bowl of the processor. Whizz them all together til the batter is well mixed, adding a little more milk if you think it needs to be a little looser.

Alternatively, you could use a hand mixer or even a wooden spoon – just put all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix together well.

Put 1 teaspoonful of the batter in the base of each case, and use the back of a clean teaspoon to smooth it out. If you dip the teaspoon into water between each cake, it stops the batter from sticking to the spoon.

Add a rounded teaspoon of mincemeat to each case, and then top with another spoonful of cake batter. Smooth the batter out again, using the back of a teaspoon. You want the mincemeat to be completely covered, but don't overfill the cases – three-quarters full is enough.

Place the tray of filled cases in the middle of the oven and bake for around 18-20 minutes. Keep an eye on them from about 16 minutes though, as ovens can vary a lot!

When they are cooked, the cakes will feel firm to the touch and will be tinged brown around the edges. Remove the tin from the oven, and allow to stand for a couple of minutes before transferring the paper cases to a cooling tray. Cool as much as you wish – I like them still a little warm, but they are just as delicious when cold.

Decorate with a sprinkle of icing sugar, and enjoy!

Little Mince Pie Cakes with Sally Akins

Thanks so much for this great recipe Sally. #CraftyBs, don't forget to join in with #CraftyChristmas by linking up your Christmas crafting posts below or visiting some of the posts for inspiration. You can find the coding for the badge at the bottom of this post. Don't forget to say hi using #CraftyChristmas so they know where you are visiting from. 

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