Almond and Raspberry Cupcakes Recipe

In North Africa, almonds are frequently combined with aromatic spices and particularly with flowers like roses (in the form of rose petals and rose water). I have taken this basic combination to make a cupcake that combines almonds with aromatic and intensely-flavoured raspberries.

The final combination is heavenly and well worth making for anyone who loves baking or who loves fruit.

Almond and Raspberry Cupcakes

Serves: 12

Ingredients:

125g (4 oz) self-raising flour, sifted
25g (1 oz) ground almonds
125g (4 oz) caster sugar
125g (4 oz) margarine, softened
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp almond essence

For the Topping:
125g (4 oz) unsalted butter, softened
150g (5 oz) icing sugar
200g (7 oz) raspberries
juice of 1/2 lemon
150ml (3/5 cup) double cream

Method:

Add all the ingredients for the cake batter to a large mixing bowl then beat with an electric mixer until smooth.

Spoon the batter into a 12-well muffin tin lined with paper cupcake cases then transfer to an oven pre-heated to 180ºC (350ºF, Gas Mark 4) and bake for between 15 and 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the centre emerges cleanly.

Remove the cupcakes from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before decorating.

For the icing, cream together the butter and half the icing sugar until smooth and light. In the meantime, combine the raspberries, lemon juice and icing sugar in a saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat.

Crush the raspberries with the back of a spoon then take the pan off the heat. Pass through a fine-meshed sieve to extract the juice then set this aside to cool. Add the raspberry juice to the buttercream and beat in until smooth.

In a separate mixing bowl, whip the cream into soft peaks then fold this through the buttercream and raspberry mixture until smooth.

Spoon the icing (frosting) mixture into a piping bag fitted with a star-shaped nozzle. Chill for 12 minutes in the refrigerator then remove from the refrigerator and allow to come back to room temperature.

Pipe this icing onto the cakes in a tall swirl, finishing with a peak at the top.

Serve immediately.

For many more cupcake recipes, please visit the Celtnet Cupcake pages.