Recipe of the Month - March 2016
Easter Fruit Cupcakes
Something for the Easter Weekend!
Provided by Emlyn Sexon, Life’s Kitchen Company Head Chef
Makes 12
Ingredients
- 100g Unsalted Butter
- 2 tsp Ground Ginger
- 2 tsp Mixed Spice
- 250g Caster Sugar
- 100ml Sunflower Oil
- 4 Medium Free-range Egg
- About 100g Dessert Apples
- 100g Crystallized Ginger
- 100g Currants
- 100g Mixed Dried Fruit
- 300g Plain Flour
- 2 tsp Baking Powder
- For the sugar syrup - 25g Caster Sugar, 25ml Water
- For the cheese frosting - 60g Unsalted Butter (Softened), 60g Full-fat Cream Cheese, 120g Icing Sugar, Food Colorings
Method
Line the pockets of a muffin tray with muffin cases or paper wraps, and preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Melt the butter with the spices in a small pan over a low heat, then pour this into a mixing bowl with the sugar and oil and mix well. Beat in the eggs until smooth.
Peel the apples and grate them, discarding the core, mix the apples with the other ingredients, followed by the crystallized ginger, currants and mixed dried fruit. Stir in the flour and baking powder evenly.
Three-quarter fill each muffin paper with spoonful’s of the mixture and Bake for about 25 minutes, or until small pointed knife poked in comes out almost clean.
Make the syrup by boiling the sugar with the water in a small pan until dissolved, then leave to liquid to cool. When you remove the cakes from the oven, brush the syrup over the cakes whilst they’re still warm.
For the frosting, make sure the butter is soft, then, using a whisk or electric mixer, beat it with the cream cheese in a bowl until smooth and light, stir in the icing sugar with a spoon until it begins to come together, then whisk again briefly until light and smooth. Now divide into equal portions and add your different food coloring to each one.
To serve:
When the cakes are cold, pipe crosses on the cupcakes with the cream cheese frosting before serving, Enjoy!
