Christmas Pudding Cupcakes
By: Guest Blogger – Alasdair Nunn from Food on the Field
Over the past six months I have made a couple of decisions which will hopefully prove to be worthwhile. One is potentially life changing – my decision to leave full-time employment, rent out my house, and train as a professional chef at Tante Marie in Surrey. My other undertaking is to organise a Food & Music Festival at my local Cricket Club in Copley, Halifax.
The latter decision is inspired by my new found love for Twitter, a social networking site I had very little interest in before I decided to use it. Thanks to Twitter I have already met some fantastic local food producers and providers such as @SushiTuesday and @ThePorkery. I have also attended and assisted at various food festivals in the local area, such as Hebden Bridge, Huddersfield, Halifax, and Holmfirth.
Without Twitter, it’s unlikely I would even be aware of these events let alone the producers, but now, having met local producers and having the privilege of working at and attending the festivals, I am inspired to organise my own food festival under the Twitter name @foodonthefield.
It’s the early days for my project, but I have already received great interest. With well over 600 followers, we hope to be rewarded with a fantastic family event, possibly on the August Bank Holiday Sunday ’13.
In the meantime, I offer you this lovely Christmas recipe thanks to my friends at yorkshirepudd.co.uk. Happy baking and Happy Holidays!
Christmas Pudding Cupcakes with Custard Icing – Recipe
Servings: 12
Prep Time: 20 Minutes
Cook Time: 30 Minutes
Cupcake Ingredients:
- 60g plain flour
- 90g self-raising flour
- 50g dark chocolate or if you prefer a small chocolate orange bar
- 125g butter
- 6 tbsp coco powder
- 1 1/2 tsp mixed spice
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 70 g chopped cherries
- 125g mincemeat
- 50 ml port and 50 ml whisky (or 100ml of either one)
- 1 tbsp sour cream (optional)
- 100g ground almonds (optional)
- Rind and juice of an orange
- 3 eggs
Cupcake Directions:
Set your fan oven to 180C
Grease and line a muffin tray with a thick single strip or two strips of grease proof paper.
Sieve the flour, mixed spice, and baking powder into a large bowl. Add the port/whisky, orange rind and juice, cherries, and mincemeat.
Melt the chocolate and butter in a glass bowl over hot water. Allow to cool and add the sieved coco powder, eggs, and the optional almonds.
Add the melted mixture to the “dry” ingredients in the large bowl and stir together. If it is a little wet, add some more self-raising flour and then spoon into the muffin tray.
Bake for approximately 30 minutes, cool slightly, lift from the tray and remove the grease proof paper. Place the cupcakes on a wire rack to cool.
Custard Powder Icing Ingredients:
- Approx. 200g icing sugar
- 3 tbsp custard powder
- 2/3 tbsp of cold water
Custard Powder Icing Directions:
Combine the icing sugar and custard powder, add the water and stir. Place a small amount of the mixture onto the cooled muffin and top with a cherry.
Enjoy these moist, cherry-topped treats, and keep your eye on my up and coming Food & Music Festival by following me on Twitter @foodonthefield. Cheers!
