Chocolate Malteser cupcakes and Mental Health Week

These cupcakes came about because The Boy has a ridiculous obsession with Maltesers. I was never that big a fan of them, but I’m an official convert. I made them yesterday on my day off and he was delighted with them when he came home from work. It reminded me how the tiniest of gestures can change someone’s day completely.

Which is why I thought I’d talk a little about Mental Health Week. For me, food and love go hand in hand, so when I want to let a person know that they’re special to me, or even just that I’m thinking of them, I bake. If you could bake (or buy baked goods) for a loved one at any point this week, do so!

One in five Australians aged 16-85 experience a mental illness in any year and 45% of us will experience it in our life time. But 65% of people with mental illness don’t access treatment. (Statistics from the Black Dog Institute.)

Events like Mental Health Week help to reduce stigma associated with mental health issues and spark conversation, so you have a great opportunity to get baking, make your friends happy and break down some barriers.

Malteser cupcakes

Makes 24

• 180g butter
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup golden syrup
• 1 1/2 cups plain flour
• 1 tsp bicarb
• 1/2 cup cocoa
• 4 tbsp light sour cream

Golden syrup icing:

• 60g butter
• 1/4 cup golden syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups icing sugar
• 2 tbsp milk 24 maltesers

Preheat your oven to 180° and grease your cupcake tins lightly with butter.

Beat together your sugar and butter. Add in the eggs and mix well. Pour in your golden syrup, flour, bicarb and cocoa and mix well. The batter may be looking a little dry now, so add in the sour cream and mix until you have a smooth, light batter,

Spoon your batter into muffin cups, filling them to ¾ of the way full. Pop into the oven for 23-25 minutes, until they’ve risen and are slightly firm to touch. These cupcakes are quite fudgey, so they’ll probably sink down a little bit once you’ve got them out of the oven. Never fear, we’re going to fill that little convex bit with delicious icing.

Once the cupcakes have cooled, whiz together all of your icing ingredients until smooth. Scoop the icing into a piping bag fitted with a star shaped nozzle.

Top each with a single malteser and share with as many people as possible.

As always, if feel like you need someone to talk to, Lifeline are here for you.

Or if you’d like to support the ABC’s Mental Health fundraising efforts, Mental As, click here.