Kiwi fruit cupcakes

I have never made Kiwi cupcakes before despite this being a fruit I often enjoy eating, I like the combination of juicy fruity almost opal fruit flavour and bright green flesh. They are however not a fruit that immediately springs to mind when you fancy baking.

I think kiwi fruit are cute, like little furry creatures that live in the fruit bowl and there are numerous ways of accessing the bright green flesh, my preferred method being slicing and I have made kiwi fruit jam in the past with great success.

For this recipe you can dress with butter cream and a kiwi slice or just leave plain and sprinkle with demerara sugar for some crunch. Its an easy tasty bake which works with gluten free flour as well as normal wheat flour.

What you need

• 2 large kiwi fruits or 4 small kiwi fruits, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch chunks
• 2 cups of plain flour 
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 egg - free range
• 1 cup skimmed milk
• 1 tsp vanilla paste
• 1/4 cup coconut oil - melted
• Demerara sugar - for sprinkling
• Buttercream (optional)
• Slices of Kiwi for decoration
• Large muffin cake cases

What you do

• Pre heat the oven to 200c /180c fan
• Line the cupcake tin with the case cakes
• Beat the eggs, oil, milk and vanilla together in a large bowl, I used my mixer. 
• Sieve the flour,baking powder, cinnamon, sugar and salt into the bowl and mix together quickly
• Fold in the chopped kiwi fruit
• Spoon the mixture into the cake cases - this mixtures makes approximately 12 large muffins / cupcakes.
• Sprinkle the tops with demerara sugar if using
• Pop into the oven and bake for 20 minutes or so until well risen, golden and cooked through when tested with a cocktail stick
• Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack
• When fully cool, decorate with buttercream if you wish

I'm entering this post to this months Alphabakes hosted by The More than the occasional baker , the letter this month being K - for Kiwi fruit in this case.

                                                       

 And to Bake of the Week hosted by Casa Costello

                                                            

And also to Treat petite over at Cakeyboi, the theme this month being "Anything Goes"


                                            

Love Cake Jibberjabber - the theme this month is Back to School - Something new. As I said earlier in the post I haven't baked with Kiwi fruit previously.

                                     

Rhubarb and maple syrup crumble muffins

Whilst playing with the samples of maple syrup from Clarks I dreamt up a recipe to use that lovely seasonal ingredient of rhubarb in combination with maple syrup, loosely based on a previous muffin recipe with a crumble topping, my I present Rhubarb and maple syrup crumble muffins. Almost healthy as they contain fruit, a natural sweetener and wholemeal flour, I hope you enjoy them.

Mr Lancashire Food (our official photographer) has taken some absolutely stunning photographs of these muffins which really make them look very special. Check out his new pinterest page

Muffin mixture

• 1/4 cup light brown soft sugar
• 1 egg free range
• 3 tbsp maple syrup
• 5 tbsp melted butter - then cooled
• 3/4 cup plain low fat yoghurt
• 1 cup wholemeal flour
• 1/2 cup plain flour
• 1 cup chopped rhubarb
• Pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder & 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Crumble topping

• 1/4 cup plain wholemeal flour
• 1/4 cup plain flour
• 2tbsp maple syrup
• 2tbsp light soft brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
• 3tbsp butter

You have options on the crumble topping either melt the butter for a more crunchy topping or rub in for a soft sandy crumble topping, the choice is yours.

Method

• Pre-heat the oven to 180C
• Prepare your muffin pan with large muffin cases - 12 cases
• Prepare the crumble mixture in a small bowl and put to one side
• In a seperate bowl mix the dry ingredients and in another bowl mix the wet muffin  ingredients, then combine gently together, do not over mix, lumpy is ok.
• Lastly add the rhubarb and 1/3rd of the crumble mixture to the muffin mixture
• Spoon into the muffin cases and top with the remaining crumble mixture
• Bake for 15 -20 minutes until cooked and golden
• Cool on a wire rack and dust with icing sugar when cool

I used Clarks maple syrup in this post which was kindly supplied free of charge by Clarks for recipe development purposes. If you would like to win some of Clarks syrups or honey's check out our rafflecopter giveaway.

I am also entering these muffins in the lovely Ren Behan for Simple and in Season Blog event

                                                

Chocolate Banana Muffins

This weekend's bake is inspired by a couple of spotty banana in the fruit bowl and a recipe I came across in "Cupcakes and Muffins" as reviewed in an earlier post. It's an easy recipe that uses things you would normally have in the store cupboard, I switched the spice from cinnamon to cardamon as that is what I felt needed to be experimented with but it's your choice.

Ingredients

• 125g softened butter or quality margarine
• 225g soft brown sugar
• 2 large spotty bananas - peeled and mashed
• 2 eggs - free range of course
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon or cardamon
• 225g plain flour
• 25g Cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp bicarb
• 85ml buttermilk (or milk with a couple of drops lemon juice)

Method

Preheat your oven to 180c. Line your muffin tin with paper cases, the mix makes approx 12-14 large muffins.

Whisk the butter and sugar together , add the mashed banana, eggs and vanilla extract and mix, sift the spice, flour, cocoa powder and raising agents and mix gently and then add the buttermilk, mix until smooth. Spoon the mix in to the cases and bake for 25 minutes until well risen and firm in the centre. You can then decorate to your taste once cooled.

Cupcakes and Muffins - Ann Nicol Flame Tree Publishing

I have recently been approached by Flame Tree Publishing to review my first cookery book. I was excited to receive a copy of " Cupcakes and Muffins" by Ann Nicol to review, this is a lovely chunky wipe clean softback filled to the brim with delicious looking recipes.

The author Ann Nicol is an expert on cake baking and cake decorating, having written for many leading magazines such as BBC Good Food, Women's Weekly and Home and Freezer Digest. Her passion is all things baking and she has published many books in this topic area.

The book is divided into 8 sections which cover all you need to know to bake and decorate great looking and more importantly great tasting cupcakes and muffins.Sections such as basic techniques, once they're done and decorating lead you through baking and decorating the cakes and muffins.

The book has lots of recipes for you to try, some that are more unusual as well as the basics and has many ideas for novel ways to decorate your creations. Each recipe is illustrated and all are easy to follow and include storage details as well. Whilst loving the looks of cupcakes and muffins, some tend to be all topping and have little or no flavour when it comes to the cake part, so I was keen to try recipes from the book which were more about the cake and its flavour than the topping. I wasn't disappointed.

I tried the recipe for Banoffee cupcakes which used up some over ripe bananas I had in the kitchen, with the following results.

I also baked the Gingerbread Cupcakes as well

Both recipes gave great results and tasted as good as they looked. The book has a lot to offer both the beginner and the more experienced baker and has in particular a strong section on decoration and one on  basic cake recipes which can be used in a variety of different ways.


I would thoroughly recommend this book and this is seconded by the 5 star ratings it has on Amazon, where you can purchase a copy. It would make a great gift for a girlfriend or the bride to be.


The publisher also has a facebook page and is currently running a competition as well if you would like to enter.

Banana Crumb Muffins

Another recipe for using up over ripe bananas. This one is lovely and easily adapted for lactose free by using margarine instead of butter. The cinnamon and sugar streusel topping elevates these muffins to another level.

Ingredients

• 1 & 1/2 cups plain flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda / bicarb
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 bananas, mashed
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup butter / marg melted.

Method

Sift the flour, bicarb salt and baking powder into a bowl. Melt the butter and allow to cool a little, mash the banana in a separate bowl, add the butter, egg and sugar, mix thoroughly and then add to flour bowl. Mix quickly and pour into cases, makes about 10 large muffins.

For the streusel topping, 1/3 cup soft brown sugar, 1/2tsp cinnamon, 2tbsp flour, 1tbsp butter, mix until you have a fine crumb, then top the muffins before baking in a oven @ 190c for approx 15-20 mins.

Yummy !