Am I the only one who gets annoyed at recipes that do not turn out? Surely, I ask myself, it is necessary to test a recipe several times to ensure its success, before putting it in print? I don’t think that’s an unreasonable assumption.
And yet, a recipe from my Baker’s Bible, “Baking – a commonsense guide” has failed me again.
It was Easter Friday, and the first time in two weeks that I had had a day at home, and a chance to relax. Always for me, relaxing means baking. So I looked up what I could make without needing to visit the shops (they are all closed on Good Friday) and found ‘Passionfruit and Lemon Delicious Slice’. Having the time, space and inclination, I proceeded to create a masterpiece (or so I thought).
The first issue was with the base – a bit crumbly for my liking. I melted some more butter and added it, baked it, no problem! Then the filling; eggs, sugar, coconut, flour, lemon zest and juice and a tin of passionfruit pulp. Great! I wondered at the time whether I was beating the eggs and sugar too much. When it came to pouring this fragrant filling over the base, it became evident there was far too much for my little slice tray. Hmph!
But it turns out there is a silver lining to this supposedly sorry tale. I was able to make three little cupcakes with my extra filling mixture. And they are so good! Not only do I have a new slice recipe to try out on relatives tomorrow, but I have discovered a whimsical, light, airy, fruity new cupcake recipe by chance! Enjoy!
Passionfruit and Lemon Delicious Cupcakes (per kind favour Family Circle)
Makes an approximate number, perhaps 12
100g ( ¾ cup) plain flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
65g (3/4 cup) desiccated coconut
3 eggs
250g (1 cup) caster sugar
170g tinned passionfruit pulp
Icing sugar, to dust
Preheat oven to 180deg C (350deg F). Place patty pans into muffin tins.
Sift the flour and baking powder together and add the coconut. Beat the eggs and sugar in a bowl till fluffy and pale in colour. Then add the passionfruit pulp, lemon juice and zest. Add the dry ingredients and stir.
Spoon into patty pans (3/4 full) and bake for 20-25 min, or until lightly browned and spongy to touch. Remove from muffins tins and cool on rack.
Dust with icing sugar to serve.
Note: I imagine this could be adjusted easily for GF diets by replacing the wheat flour with spelt or cornflour.
