Pretty in Pink: Raspberry Cupcakes

A few weeks ago I bought a kilo of frozen raspberries for less than 4 euros. You can imagine I was quite pleased with myself! I love raspberries, but they’re always so ridiculously expensive, if you want fresh ones. Even frozen raspberries aren’t very cheap, usually. So, yes, I was very happy with this purchase, to say the least.

I’ve used a bunch of them to make smoothies, but decided to bake something with them this week: cupcakes, to be exact. I didn’t realise exactly how pink they’d turn out, so, in hindsight, perhaps I shouldn’t have chosen pink paper cases to bake them in. They still look scrumptious, though! Plus, the colour of the icing is completely natural: all you need is some raspberry juice.

I slightly altered this recipe for the cupcakes, which is always foolproof, and they came out looking pretty darn delicious. Unfortunately, I was in a bit of a hurry, and only had time to ice three of the cupcakes (the others needed to bake a little longer) after trying to let them cool more quickly by holding the plate out of the window. Oh well, it happens.

You’ll need… (for 10-12 cupcakes) 

– 110 ml sunflower oil

– 110 g caster sugar

– 110 g plain flour

– 2 teaspoons baking powder

– a pinch of salt

– 2 eggs

– 1 teaspoon vanilla flavouring

– 125 g frozen raspberries (defrosted)

– 60 g icing sugar

– ½ teaspoon lukewarm water

– 2-3 drops lemon juice (optional)

– 12 paper cases

– muffin/cupcake tin

– and an oven, of course! These cupcakes need to be baked at 180 °C (don’t forget to preheat your oven!)

So, let’s get baking!

1. Mix oil and sugar in a bowl This is pretty self-explanatory, I’d say: get a large bowl, and whisk the oil and sugar together.

2. Add flour, baking powder and salt Sieve the flour and baking powder above the bowl before stirring it in, this’ll make sure your batter is smooth and doesn’t have any lumps. Also add the salt, and whisk everything together.

3. Add eggs and vanilla flavouring Now, add the eggs one by one and whisk them through. Also add your teaspoon of vanilla flavouring, and whisk until everything is evenly mixed.

4. Divide the batter over the cases and add some of the raspberries Put 1 tablespoon of the cupcake batter in a paper case, and then push two of the frozen raspberries in the middle before adding another tablespoon of the batter on top. You’ll have a nice raspberry surprise in the middle of your cupcake! Repeat this process for all of the paper cases (or until you run out of batter). The paper cases need to be filled about 2/3 to 3/4. Don’t be too generous with your batter, or you won’t have enough for all of the cases.

Make sure you leave out the 12 prettiest raspberries — you can use these for the decoration!

5. Bake! Next up, put your cupcake tray in the oven and bake them for 18-20 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean (except for the raspberry, of course). They need to be golden brown on top.

6. Prepare the icing While your cupcakes are baking away in the oven, you can start preparing the icing. For the two teaspoons of raspberries you’ll need a (small) sieve and a glass, and “sieve” a few of the left over raspberries (not the pretty ones!). Just use a spoon to push the raspberries through the sieve. This way, you’ll end up with raspberry juice without any pulp. Get yourself another bowl, and mix the icing sugar and the two teaspoons of raspberry juice together. If needed, add half a teaspoon of water, or more, this is up to your own judgment. Same goes for lemon juice: add a few drops if you think the icing is a bit too sweet (as I did). If you like it the way it is, leave the lemon juice out.

7. Ice the cupcakes When your cupcakes have cooled sufficiently, it’s time to ice them. Spoon a bit of icing on the cupcake, and use the back of your spoon to spread it out a little. The icing is quite runny, so it’ll spread on its own a bit as well. To finish it all off, place one pretty raspberry on each cupcake.

Et voila, your cute, and very pink, raspberry cupcakes are done! Enjoy!

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