Marzipan cupcakes

Those moist, fluffy marzipan cupcakes are very delicious. This time I prepared them for Easter. 

This thing on top of each cupcake supposed to be a chick or duckling but for some reason it looks like something between very slim goose or dove :). Things happen :(. 

Ingredients for 8 cupcakes:

• 90g flour
• 1 tsp cornflour
• 1/2 tbsp baking powder
• 90g soft butter or margarine
• 90g caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp almond extract 
• 40g marzipan

 Preheat the oven to 190C. Line muffin tins with muffin cases.

Dice or shred the marzipan and set aside.

Sift the flours, baking powder into a electric mixer bowl. Add the butter, sugar, eggs and almond extract and beat until smooth. Fold in the marzipan chunks. 

Spoon the batter into paper cases 3/4 full.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until well risen and golden. 

Transfer to the wire rack to cool down.

To decorate melt the chocolate an pour over each cupcake. Then when chocolate starts setting stick to it edible decorations made off the marzipan. 

Enjoy !

Happy Easter !!

Apricot couscous cupcakes

Those dense, satisfying, tasty cupcakes appeared on my blog only because of my curiosity. When I found the recipe here I simply had to try it. I have never add couscous into a cake batter so I was really wander what comes out of this experiment.

Ingredients for 12-18 cupcakes:

• 50g dried apricotes
• 2 eggs
• 105g caster sugar
• 50g melted butter
• 155g couscous
• 155g flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp ginger

Put 110g of apricotes (50g for batter and 60g for frosting) into a pan and cover with water. Bring  to a boil and simmer for fifteen minutes. The apricotes should be plump.

Drain the water out. Keep the water to cook couscous.

Place the couscous in a bowl and pour over the apricots water add some boiling water to cover couscous completly and add some to have about 1 cm more water above the couscous. Set aside to bulk.

Put the cooked apricots in a blender and blend them until you have a pasty puree. 

Preheat the oven to 180C. Line muffin tin with paper cases.

Melet the butter and set aside to cool down. In a big bowl whisk the eggs and sugar until combined. Stir in the melted butter. Add the couscous, flour, baking powder, ginger and stir until just combined. Then stir in the apricot pure. Fill the cupcake liners to the top and bake for 20 minutes.

Transfer the cupcakes to the wire rack to cool them completly before add the frosting.

Apricot frosting:

• 60g apricot pure
• 125g mascarpone
• 2 tbsp icing sugar
• apricot chunks

Place all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth. Spread over each cupcake top and sprinkle wit some apricot chunks. 

Enjoy !

Maple apricot oatmeal muffins

Porridge to go that is the best description of those muffins. They are packed with oats, dried fruits, sweetened with maple syrup and small amount of brown sugar. I think they are very healthy breakfast option. We liked them very much. The recipe comes form this website. 

Ingredients for 12 muffins:

• 240g oats
• 240 ml milk
• 80ml maple syrup
• 80g butter or margarine
• 1 egg
• 240g flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 15g brown sugar
•  100g dried apricots

Preheat the oven to 200C. Line muffin tin with paper cases.

Put the oats into a bowl add milk and maple syrup and stir well. 

In a separate bowl beat the butter, stir in the egg. 

Add the butter into a bowl with oats and stir well. 

In another bowl combine the flour, salt, sugar, baking powder and soda. Chop the apricots into small chunks and stir the min the flour mixture. 

Add the dry ingredients into a bowl with wet ones and stir until just combined.

Spoon the batter into baking cases. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes until golden.

  

 Enjoy !

Hot marmalade cupcakes

Today I would like to present intense orange cupcakes served with hot orange and ginger marmalade and whipped cream. They were nice, cake was thick and moist with lovely orange scent. This recipe is only for 4 cupcakes. Perfect for afternoon tea.The recipe comes from 'Easy cupcakes' cookbook.

Ingredients for 4 cupcakes:

• 1 medium size orange
• 85g butter
• 85g caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 115g self-rising flour
• 2 tbsp orange marmalade (I used orange and ginger marmalade)

Put the orange into a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat and cover and simmer for 1 hour until soft. Remove the orange from the water and leave to cool for 30 minutes. 

Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease slightly the ramekins. 

Cut the orange into a chunks remove the stones. Place the chunks of orange into a blender and blend them until minced. 

Add the butter, sugar, egg and flour and blend until smooth. 

Spoon the batter into prepared earlier ramekins. 

Bake for 25 - 30 minutes. While the cupcakes are still in the oven heat up the marmalade. 

Remove cupcakes from the oven leave them for 2-3 minutes then brush with warmed marmalade.

Serve with whipped cream. You can use the ready one or pour the whipping cream into a bowl and whisk it until forms soft picks. Add 1 tablespoon of icing sugar. 

 

 

Enjoy !

Mini prawn and parsley muffins

Those muffins are perfect finger food for any party. Their size is perfect for one or two bites. They can be placed on an elegant tray one beside another or simply thrown into a basket depends on the party. They also very easy to make  as the recipe comes form 'Easy muffins' cookbook.

Ingredients for 18 mini muffins:

• 125g cooked and peeled prawns (i had frozen)
• 140g flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 egg
• 125ml buttermilk
• 3 tbsp canola oil
• 1 and 1/2 tbsp chopped parsley
• salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 200C. Slightly grease the mini muffin tin.

Thaw the prawns. If you forget just pour over the boiling water it should do the trick. Chop the prawns into smaller chunks.

Put the flour, baking powder into a bowl and whisk the together. Then stir in the prawns.

In a separate jug whisk the egg, stir in the buttermilk, oil, parsley, salt and pepper.

Pour the wet ingredients into a dry ones and mix until all ingredients are just moist.  

Spoon the batter into prepared earlier mini muffin tin. Bake for 15 minute until well risen.

Serve warm or cold. Enjoy !

Lemon muffins

Another lemon muffins recipe on my blog. Very tasty and very easy to make. This time instead lemon juice there is lemon curd added to cupcake batter. The muffins are soft, moist very sweet and tart. The recipe comes form 'Easy muffins' .

Ingredients for 12 cupcakes:

• 175g soft butter or margarine
• 175g golden caster sugar
• 175g self rising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 3 eggs
• 4 tbsp lemon curd

Preheat the oven to 180C. Line muffin tin with paper cases.

Put the butter, sugar, flour, baking powder, eggs into an electric mixer bowl and beat until smooth. Then add the lemon curd and beat again. 

Spoon the batter into paper cases 3/4 full. Bake for 25-30 minutes. 

While the muffins are being baked prepare lemon and sugar mixture. 

Ingredients for lemon and sugar mixture:

• 100g sugar
• freshly grated lemon zest 
• freshly squeezed lemon juice

Put the sugar into a small bowl add the lemon zest and lemon juice stir well and set aside until muffins are baked.

When remove muffin from the oven spread the sugar and lemon mixture over each muffin top. Leave them to cool down....and enjoy !

Lemon mini cheesecakes for St. Patrick's day

Happy St. Patrick's Day !

Ingredients for 6 cheesecakes bases:

• 70g butter cookies
• 20g melted butter or margarine

Prepare muffin tin. Line 6 muffin holes with paper cases.

Put cookies into a blender and blend them until crumbly. Melt the butter, you can use microwave or melt the butter in  a saucepan on the cooker.  Pour the melted butter into a crumbs and bled again so crumbs are coated evenly with butter.

Divide the mixture evenly among all muffin cases. Flatten the crumbs with a back of the spoon. Set aside.

Ingredients for cheese mixture:

• 200g  cream cheese
• 1 small lemon
• 20g soft butter or margarine
• 1 tbsp semolina
• 6 tbsp icing sugar
• 1 egg
• green food colouring
• heart shaped chocolates for decoration

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Great the lemon zest and squeeze lemon juice. Place the into a blender. Add the cream cheese, butter, semolina, sugar, egg and green food colouring and blend until smooth. The mixture is a little bit runny.

Pour the mixture over prepared earlier muffin cases dividing evenly.

Bake for 25-30 minutes. When baked remove for oven and leave in muffin tin to cool down. Transfer to the plate and decorate with chocolate hearts.

 

Enjoy !

Fig nugget muffins

In my opinion they are the tastiest healthy muffins I have ever baked. They were soft, moist with lovely orange scent, packed with dry fruits and nuts. The recipe comes form EatingWell website.

Ingredients for fig filling:

• 150g dry figs
• 2 tbsp chopped hazelnuts or walnuts
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tbsp orange juice
• 1 tbsp honey

Grate the orange zest and seat aside you will need it for the batter. Squeeze the orange juice and set aside.

Put the figs into blender, add the nuts and blend them until smooth. Then add the cinnamon, orange juice and honey and blend again. Set aside.

Ingredients for muffin batter:

• 1 egg
• 1 egg white
• 190g brown sugar
• 250ml low - fat yogurt
• 150ml canola oil
• orange zest
• 75ml orange juice
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 60g oat or wheat bran
• 115g wholegrain flour
• 115g plain flour
• 1 and 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp chopped nuts (walnuts or hazelnuts) to sprinkle

Preheat the oven to 200C. Line muffin tin with paper cases. 

Put the egg, egg white and sugar into a bowl and beat until smooth. Then add the yogurt, oil, orange zest, orange juice, vanilla and stir well. At last but not at least add the wheat bran. Set aside.

In separate bowl whisk the flours, baking powder, soda and salt. Whisk them well and add into a bowl with wet ingredients. Stir until just moist. Spoon one tablespoon of batter into paper cases the place one teaspoon of fig paste and cover with batter. Do not overload the muffin cases. Fill up to 3/4 full. Sprinkle with chopped nuts.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until well risen.

 Enjoy !

Caramel mud cupcakes

Caramel mud cupcakes were divine. Very sweet, moist, crunchy on top. Perfect. The recipe comes form The Australian Womens' Weekly 'Cupcakes'. 

 Ingredients for 12 muffins:

• 125g butter
• 100g white chocolate
• 150g brown sugar
• 90g golden syrup (I didn't have enough of golden syrup so I added 50g of golden syrup and 40g of honey)
• 160ml milk
• 200g flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 egg
• icing sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 170C.

Line muffin tin with paper cases.

Put the butter, broken into smaller chunks white chocolate, sugar, golden syrup (or golden syrup and honey) and milk into a sauce pan. Heat up all ingredients stirring occasionally until melted. Pour the liquid into a bowl and set aside to cool down for 15 minutes.

Add the flour, baking powder and whisk. Then stir in the egg. 

Divide the mixture among paper cases.

Bake for 30 minutes. The remove form oven and set aside to cool down. Dust with icing sugar and enjoy !

 

 

Mint hot chocolate

Mint hot chocolate cupcakes were delicious although I had some problems with buttercream. Instead of creamy, soft buttercream I had something rather crumbly and hard. I am not saying it wasn't delicious but not exactly was I was expecting. But the chocolate cake and mint filling were really tasty. With no doubts. The recipe comes form 'Making cupcakes with Lola' cookbook.

Ingredients for 13 cupcakes:

• 100g dark chocolate
• 175g butter
• 225g sugar
• 4 eggs
• 100g self - rising flour
• 3 tbsp cocoa
• pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 180C. Line muffin tin with paper cases.

Break the chocolate into a smaller pieces and put into a bowl, add the butter. Melt them together using microwave or placing a bowl over a pan of simmering water. When melted stir well add the sugar stir again and let  cool for about 10 minutes.

In a meantime sift the flour, salt and cocoa into a separate bowl. 

Pour the chocolate mixture into an electric mixer bowl and beat for 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 10 sec between each addition. Add the flour mixture and mix until blended.

Divide the batter between the muffin cases. Bake for 25 minutes, until well risen  and  a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove form oven and let cool completely on a wire rack.

Mint filling ingredients:

• 250g icing sugar
• 2 tsp mint essence
• 2 tbsp water  

Sift the sugar into a small bowl. Add the mint essence and 1 tbsp water and mix. Add another tbsp of water and mix again. The sugar should be incorporated and the mixture should form thick white paste.

 

 

When cupcake are cooled completely cut a whole in the middle of each one. Put inside about 1 teaspoon of mint paste and cover with remaining cake (look at above pictures).

Buttercream ingredients:

• 120g soft butter
• 250 - 300g icing sugar ( originally 500g but my buttercream was too thick I would recommend to reduce the amount of sugar to 250-300g)
• 1 tsp mint essence
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 1 tbsp milk
• green food colouring

 Put the butter into an electric mixer bowl and beat until smooth. Sift the half of the sugar and beat until incorporated. Add the second half of sugar and beat on low speed. Add the mint and vanilla essence. Add the milk and mix beat for 3-5 minutes on higher speed. 

Add a couple of drops of food colouring and beta until incorporated.

Spread the frosting over the cupcakes using a spatula, or spoon the buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle and pipe on top of a cupcakes. Decorate with mint chocolate. 

Enjoy !

Potato nests

I have seen this recipe in ' The Little Paris Kitchen. Cooking with Rachel Kahoo'. I like the idea very much and decided to try it in my own kitchen. Because this dish is baked in muffin tin I have decided to publish it on my blog. The recipe is also available on line on this website. 

Ingredients for 6 large potato nests:

• 1tbsp butter
• 500g potatoes (used those which don't fall apart while being cooked)
• 1 onion
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 bay leaf
• 200g smoked bacon
• 100 ml dry white wine
• 250g Reblochon cheese I used Camembert

Grease the muffin tin holes. Preheat the oven to 180C.

Peel of the potatoes, then cut them into matchsticks size pieces.Set aside.

Dice the bacon. Chop the onion. Finely chop the garlic. Dice the cheese.

before baking

Put the butter, bay leaf, garlic, bacon  and onion on frying pan and cook until bacon golden brown. Then add the wine and reduce it until only a few tablespoons of liquid remain. Remove bay leaf. Add the potatoes and stir them in. 

Remove pan from the heat and add the cheese. Stir well and transfer to prepared earlier muffin tin. 

Bake for 15 -20 minutes until golden warm. Serve hot.

 Enjoy !