One of my favourite pastimes is to search out famous bakeries and salivate over their wares…
Magnolia Bakery in New York provided just the inspiration I was after this week when deciding on some birthday cupcakes for myself and Little Miss Green Foot.
The biggest challenge I find when striving to eat healthily, is to emulate the ‘glamour’ that sugar-and-fat-laden sweets exude.
I hope you enjoy my interpretation of these purely elegant and luxurious cupcakes.
Recipe makes 24.
Cupcake Ingredients:
3 ¼ cups of unbleached plain or spelt flour
3/4 cup unsalted organic butter, softened (coconut butter works well too)
2 ½ cups rapadura sugar – ground to a castor sugar consistency
3 large organic eggs, at room temperature
4 x bottles Hoppers ‘Cherry Red’ natural food coloring
3 tbsp raw cacao or cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp organic vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
1 1/2 cups organic full cream milk
1 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 tsp bi-carb soda
Method:
1. In a small bowl whisk together the Hoppers’s red food colouring, cacoa powder and vanilla extract. Set aside.
2. In another small bowl, stir the salt into the milk. Set aside.
3. In a bowl, sift the spelt flour and set aside.
4. Cream the butter and sugar until very light and fluffy – careful not to over mix.
5. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating each one in after adding. Add to the batter and beat well.
6. Add the cacao and colouring mix to the batter, mixing in gently until combined.
7. Add to the batter in three parts, the salt and milk solution alternating with the flour. With each addition, gently stir until the ingredients are combined but don’t over mix. but do not overbeat.
8. In a small bowl, stir together the cider vinegar and baking soda. Add to the batter and mix well. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl, making sure the ingredients are well blended and the batter is smooth.
9. Divide the batter among some greased and lined patty cake tins. Bake for around 20 mins or until your tester comes out clean.
10. Cool the cupcakes in the pan 10 minutes, then remove from the pan and cool completely on a rack before icing.
Vanilla Butter Cream Icing:
1 x cup unsalted organic butter – very soft
8 x loose cups organic icing sugar, or 5 x cups of rapadura sugar, ground to icing sugar consistency
1/2 cup organic milk
2 x teaspoons organic vanilla extract
Method:
Combine butter, sugar, mix to combine. Then, mix in with a fork the vanilla and milk. Keep whisking until smooth. Apply using a piping bag, or smooth on with a small teaspoon. Icing will set when refrigerated so to keep soft store at room temperature.
* for a dairy free version, use oat, rice, almond or soy milk. Coconut butter can be used instead of the unsalted butter.
Photo by Yulia Khlebnikova on Unsplash
