Almond and raspberry cupcakes recipe

Cooking notes

  • These cupcakes are soft, moist and flavourful, baked using almond milk and ground almonds. They do require the additional effort of scooping out a chunk from the centre and filling it with jam. You then cover the top with the mascarpone frosting, and I assure you the fruity jam surprise inside is worth every bite!

  • For this recipe, I adapted Hummingbird Bakery’s recipe (their cookbook is splendid) – but I tried to add in some healthier substitutions without affecting taste or moistness. You can stick to the traditional ingredients or try the substitutions (in brackets)!

  • Makes 16 cupcakes.

Ingredients

For the cupcake batter:

  • 300 gm plain flour (or 200 gm plain flour + 100 gm whole wheat pastry flour)

  • 2½ tsp baking powder

  • 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

  • ½ tsp salt

  • 250 gm caster sugar (or 100 gm jaggery powder + 150 gm caster sugar)

  • 100 gm ground almonds

  • 270 ml almond milk

  • 125 ml vegetable oil

  • 200 gm raspberry jam

For the mascarpone frosting:

  • 500 gm mascarpone cheese

  • 350 gm icing sugar, sifted

  • ½ tsp vanilla extract

  • 75 gm raspberries, crushed with the back of a spoon

Method

For the cupcakes:

  1. Preheat the oven to 175°C.

  2. Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, and salt into an electric mixer or food processor with the paddle attachment. Add the sugar and ground almonds, and beat on slow speed until well combined.

  3. Put the almond milk and oil in a jug, and whisk to combine. Slowly pour this into the flour mixture, and beat until the ingredients are just incorporated and smooth.

  4. Spoon the mixture into paper muffin liners or muffin tray until about half-full, and bake in the preheated oven for 18-20 minutes, until the sponge bounces back when touched.

  5. Leave the cupcakes to cool on a wire rack for at least 15-20 minutes.

For the frosting:

  1. Beat together the mascarpone, icing sugar, and vanilla extract, until the sugar is incorporated, and the mixture is smooth.

  2. Stir in the crushed raspberries, and your frosting is ready.

For the presentation:

  1. When the cupcakes are cold, use a peeler or spoon to scoop out a small section in the centre of each cupcake (about 2-3 cms deep). Keep the scooped-out pieces aside to use as lids.

  2. Spoon (or pipe) the raspberry jam into the hollows, and then close with the scooped-out lids.

  3. Gently spoon out the mascarpone frosting onto each cupcake, smoothing it over the best you can (I’m not great at this part!).

  4. Enjoy your yummy jam-filled cupcakes cooled or at room temperature.

DessertsAditi Sharma KalraComment