Summer Berry filled Orange Zest Cupcakes

With the medals starting to flow in & the gold medals being won in spectacular style I thought it appropriate to celebrate these medals by sharing a suitable perfect bake. There is something quite remarkable about the Olympic; never do you see such camaraderie between competitors and spectators alike. It also brings sports such as shooting, judo, canoeing, gymnastics as swimming and into the spotlight for just over a fortnight and have us absolutely gripped to the edge of our seats.


Whilst driving back from a friend's house late last night, I was listening to an interview with John Grisham on Radio Two; Grisham's insight on the legacy that the Olympic Games will have on the British public this year: 

"more tracksuits will get sold and more fat people will be running, more so this year than ever before; which means there will be more heart attacks and more pressure on the NHS" ... probably pretty true! 

So without further-a-do here is a great little recipe (worth the faff) in light of the Olympics ... I actually made these several weeks ago for a fab friend's 21st birthday. Miss Emily Blandford hosted a black tie affair with a hint of summer sparkle; these were my offering but are rather fitting in the circumstances. 

Makes 15

Pre-heat the oven to 180

Bake to perfection for 12-15 minutes

You will need the following:

Cake

175g Butter

175g Golden Caster Sugar

175g Self-Raising Flour

3 Eggs

1Tsp Baking Powder

1 Tbsp Runny Honey 

(I used Acacia Honey for this recipe)

1 Orange, zest & juice

1Tsp Vanilla Extract 

Filling

200g Redcurrants

50g Raspberries

50g Strawberries

2Tbsp Water

3Tbsp Icing Sugar

Icing

75g Butter

375g Icing Sugar

2Tbsp Yoghurt

A drop of Vanilla Extract

 

Method:

Cream together the butter & sugar

Till pale & fluffy

Beat in the eggs one at a time

Add in the honey & vanilla extract

Once combined, add the grated zest & juice

Sift in the flour

Before stirring in the flour, add the baking powder. Then combine

Pour into cupcake cases and bake to perfection for 12 minutes, if they aren't baked enough then bake for another 3 minutes

Whilst they are baking make the coulis filling
Wash your redcurrants


Add a tablespoon of water to the redcurrants, allow to simmer for 2 minutes


Then add the raspberries, strawberries & the icing sugar.
Continue to simmer for 5 minutes until all the fruit is soft

Pour the fruit into a bowl and using a hand blender, blend your mix

Until it looks like this ...

Once your cupcakes are baked, allow to cool and using a small sharp knife and a teaspoon make a hole in the middle of the cake

Fill the hole with a teaspoon of the summer berry filling

With the cake that you have removed slice off the tip so you are left with a thin cap to place over the filling


like so...

Make your icing sugar
Combine the butter and icing sugar together

Add in the yoghurt and the vanilla extract


Drop roughly 1 heaped teaspoon of icing onto the cupcake, using the back of the teaspoon spread out your icing sugar over the cupcake

Place a raspberry on each cupcake

Carefully fill with a bit of the left over fruit coulis

Using a small food paintbrush or unused makeup brush, dust on the gold edible cake dusting.
Apply to the raspberries and icing

Et voila ...

Lots of golden cupcakes, suitable to give to gold medal winners, birthday girls, friends or you may just want to keep them to yourself ...

If you're going to give them as a present, pop them in a cake box with some tissue paper ... like so

Pretty great with a cup of tea ...

Enjoy ...
Go Team GB