Christmas Cupcakes with Nougat Icing

A few weeks ago I read an article about nougat – a sweet made of sugar, honey and egg whites mixed with dried fruit and/or nuts, very popular in Italy and France.  It is really lovely and making it doesn’t seem to be difficult so I definitely try making it one day.

This article made me think I could use an adjusted version of the nougat to create a snow-like icing. And because of the season, I opted for using it on top of cupcakes based on an idea of a British Christmas cake – full of nuts and dried fruit. The first time I made them, the icing worked perfectly – fluffy and delicious but I felt the cupcakes were a bit too dry and there should be more fruit there. So when I made them for the second time I changed the recipe slightly. Additionally, I also soaked the raisins in rum. This time everything worked perfectly and the cupcakes with the nougat icing disappeared very quickly!

INGREDIENTS (for 12 cupcakes):

60g raisins,

3 tbsp rum,

120g butter (at room temperature),

110g light muscovado sugar,

2 eggs (at room temperature),

140g plain flour,

2 tsp baking powder,

0.5tsp cinnamon,

0.5 tsp nutmeg,

140g mixed dried fruit (cranberries, figs) and pistachios, cut into smaller pieces.

Icing:

50g + 1 tbsp sugar,

75g liquid honey,

1tbs water,

1 egg white,

extra pistachios and cranberries for decoration.

METHOD:

1. Put the raisins to a cup and pour the rum over them; leave to soak for at least 1 h.
2. Preheat an oven to 190 Celsius degrees (or 170 for fan ovens) and prepare a 12-hole muffin baking tray by either greasing it lightly or putting in paper cases (if you are using silicon forms you don’t have to do it).
3. In a food processor or with electric mixer beat the butter and sugar until fluffy and pale; add eggs one by one beating the mixture after adding each egg; beat for a while longer.
4. In a bowl mix the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg; and sieve to the batter.
5. Stir with a spatula, add the raisins with rum, dried fruits and nuts, stir and divide the mixture into cases (approx. 1 tablespoon for each one).
6. Bake in the hot oven for 15 minutes (check if baked by inserting a wooden stick).
7. Make the icing: put the honey, water and 50g of sugar to a small pan stir and heat on medium until the sugar is dissolved, then increase the heat to medium high and cook for 5 minutes.
8. Beat the egg white till stiff and add the 1 tbsp of sugar, beat for a minute longer.
9. Gently pour the hot honey-sugar mixture to the egg white while beating, whisk for 2-3 minutes longer.
10. Generously spread the icing on top of cooled down cupcakes and decorate with cranberries and pistachio nuts.