Thursday 13 October 2011

Foolish Almond and Raspberry Cupcakes

Almond and Raspberry Fool Cupcakes
I wanted to make a cake to take along to a friend's birthday and decided that wee cakes would be the easiest to transport. I wanted to do something a little more special than just a normal sponge with butter cream, and I also wanted to make it a little like a victoria sponge with jam and cream. So! I funnelled out a bit of the middle a filled it with a fool made with fresh raspberries and raspberry jam. TASTY! The sponge and icing are both almond flavoured because 1. that's one of my favourites and 2. almond and raspberry match well.
Ingredients:
3 eggs
6 oz butter
6 oz caster sugar
6 oz self raising flour
a few drops of almond extract


small pot of double cream
150g fresh raspberries
2 tblsp raspberry jam


125 g very soft butter
300 g icing sugar
dash of milk
red food colouring


Method:
-heat the oven to gas 4 and line a 12 hole muffin tin with papers
- place the butter in a microwaveable bowl and heat on the lowest setting for 10 second bursts. You want it to be as soft as whipped cream, but not melted. Add the sugar and cream together and beat until light and fluffy.
-add in the eggs one at a time, mixing well between each addition. Add in a few drops of almond extract.
- sift in the flour and mix until just incorporated. 
-  spoon in 3 tablespoons of mixture to each case. Bake for 20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.
- once baked, remove from the tin and leave to cool on wire racks.


To make the fool, lightly whip the cream and add in the jam and a handful of chopped raspberries. Mix gently.


To make the butter cream, beat the butter and add in half the icing sugar. Add in a few drops of extract, mix carefully, then add the rest of the sugar. Add enough milk to make it a bit smoother and lighter. Drop in a few drips of colouring and give it a few turns- if you mix it properly it will just be pink and not swirly.


- once cool, use a potato peeler with an apple corer to funnel out space for the fool from the cakes. Pipe in enough fool to fill (hard to say). Then pipe on the icing. Top with a raspberry. TADA!



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