Holiday Treats Looking for some tasty sweet treats to fill the tins with these holidays? Try this yummy, healthy pumpkin and prune cake, perfect Autumnal flavours and of course you can’t go past these deliciously retro Butterfly Cupcakes, suitable for any occasion!
Lemon Curd Butterfly Cupcakes
- 175g butter, softened
- ½ cup caster sugar
- 3 eggs
- ½ cup lemon curd
- 2 cups self-raising fl our, sifted
- ¼ cup milk
- 1 cup cream, sweetened and whipped
1. Place the oven rack in the centre of the oven. Preheat the oven to 190ºC. Line 12 standard muffin cups with paper cases.
2. Beat the butter and sugar together until pale and fl uffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the lemon curd. Fold in the fl our alternately with the milk.
3. Divide the mixture evenly among the paper cases.
4. Bake for 20–25 minutes until well risen and golden.
5. Transfer to a cake rack to cool.
6. Cut a small disc from the centre of each cupcake and cut the disc in half. Fill the cavity with whipped cream and place the two halves of the disc on top to resemble butterfly wings. Decorate with tiny dollops of lemon curd.
Makes 12 cupcakes
Pumpkin & Prune Cake
- 2 cups wholemeal flour
- ¾ cup sugar (white or brown)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp ground nutmeg or mace
- ¼ cup oil, such as rice bran, canola, light olive or sunflower
- ¼ cup milk
- 1 cup apple sauce
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup cold mashed pumpkin
- 10–12 juicy prunes, chopped
Orange-scented Cream Cheese Icing
- 125g cream cheese
- 3–4 tbsp icing sugar
- grated zest of 1 orange
- Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Grease the base of a 20cm ring tin and line with baking paper.
- In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and nutmeg or mace. Make a well in the centre.
- In a large jug or bowl, whisk together the oil, milk, apple sauce, eggs and pumpkin. Pour the wet ingredients into the well in the dry ingredients and stir together gently with the prunes.
- Turn the mixture into the prepared cake tin.
- Bake for 50–60 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Stand for 10 minutes before turning out onto a cake rack to cool.
- To make the icing, beat together the cream cheese, icing sugar and orange zest. Ice the cake when cold.
Makes a 20cm cake
Apple sauce can be bought, or to prepare it at home, cook
2 peeled, sliced and cored apples in a little water. Drain and purée in a food processor until smooth. Pass through a sieve if wished. Vary the flavour by using cooked pears puréed to a sauce instead.
Reproduced with permission
from Sweet: Treats to Share. Published by Penguin Group NZ. RRP $45.00.
Copyright recipe ©Allyson Gofton, 2014. Copyright photography ©Alan Gillard, 2014. Available nationwide
