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.

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Carrot and Banana Cake

If you are one of these people who can never decide whether a carrot or a banana cake is your favorite, hopefully you will be happy with this solution as it is a very successful (and delicious) combination of both of them.

The cake is wonderfully moist and addition of walnut pieces gives it extra texture. There are no spices added to the batter but this cake has a vanilla aroma due to the yummy icing. I must be honest with you, this is neither the lightest, nor the healthiest cake. But I do think that there is no harm in enjoying a slice of this wonderful cake occasionally, especially on a cold, autumn or winter afternoon with a cup of good tea or  coffee.

INGREDIENTS (for 8-12 portions):

Cake:

3 eggs,

175g brown sugar,

175g plain flour,

2 tsp baking powder,

1 tsp salt,

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda,

175ml sunflower oil,

175g walnuts, broken into pieces,

2 medium size ripe bananas, mashed,

175g grated carrot,

Icing:

75 g soft butter,

75g cream cheese,

150g icing sugar,

1 tsp vanilla extract,

Extra walnuts for decoration.

METHOD:

1. Preheat an oven to 170 Celsius degrees (150 fan ovens).
2. Grease a 20cm diameter cake tin with a removable base and cover its bottom with baking paper.
3. In a food processor or with electric mixer beat the eggs and sugar until thick and pale.
4. Add sifted flour, baking powder, salt and bicarbonate of soda; mix until everything is combined.
5. Add the oil, walnuts, bananas and carrots, mix.
6. Pour the batter into the cake tin, put to the hot oven and bake for approx. 75 minutes (until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean).
7. To make the icing, beat the butter and cream cheese together, add the sugar and vanilla and beat for little longer.
8. Spread the icing on the cold cake and decorate with walnuts.

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