Wednesday 15 January 2014

Orange Squash Cupcakes


This month's Random Recipe Challenge hosted by Dom from Belleau Kitchen is "New Year, New Book". I received 1 cookbook for Christmas last year which has been on my wishlist for a while so I was extremely pleased to add it to my collection. It's red velvet chocolate heartache by Harry Eastwood. Its full of natural and healthy recipes that mainly use vegetables instead of butter or oil in cakes. It's brilliant for January baking when everyone is on some sort of diet or the other but this will definitely be used year round. It's particularly good for gluten free recipes that taste good. 



I opened the book to a random page and got page 18 which is Orange Squash Cupcakes. The cupcake contains eggs, sugar, butternut squash, white rice flour (I used brown rice flour as that was all I could find), ground almonds, zest and juice of an orange and baking powder. The icing given is a butter icing but I decided to keep it completely butter free so I made a simple glaze icing with icing sugar and fresh orange juice and orange zest. The verdict - absolutely delicious!! You will not believe that these cakes contain no butter or oil. It was moist and flavourful with a slight grainy texture from the ground almonds. I can't wait to try more recipes from this book! 


This recipe will also fit in nicely with a few other blog challenges this month. Made with love Mondays hosted by Javelin Warrior where the idea to make everything from scratch.


Cooking With Herbs hosted by Karen from Lavender and Lovage. She has chosen the theme citrus this month and this contains fresh orange zest and orange juice.


Four Seasons Food hosted by Louisa from Eat Your Veg and Anneli from Delicieux. The theme this month is Virtuous Food and these definitely fit the bill. 


 Treat Petite hosted by Kat from the Baking Explorer and Stuart from Cakeyboi. The theme this month is "Free From".  This recipe is free from butter and oil and it's gluten free! 



Calendar Cakes hosted by Rachel from Dolly Bakes and Laura from Laura Loves Cakes. The theme this month is "If it makes you happy..." These little cakes made a lot of people happy and I love the brightness and freshness of it which reminds me of spring.




 

 adding butternut squash to the egg/sugar mixture. I couldn't find my grater attachment so had to grate it by hand which is why it's coarser than I'd like 

 ready to go in the oven 

 decorated with simple glaze icing and an orange slice 

Recipe from Red Velvet Chocolate Heartache by Harry Eastwood page 18. It has been republished here with kind permission from the publisher. 



Orange Squash Cupcakes

THESE CUPCAKES BELONG to July picnics with squashed sandwiches, cotton
dresses, Scotch eggs and cartons of juice.

MAKES 12

2 medium free-range eggs
160g caster sugar
200g peeled and finely grated butternut squash
finely grated zest and juice of 1 orange (juicing varieties, such as Seville, are best)
100g white rice flour
100g ground almonds
2 tsp baking powder
1⁄4 tsp salt

FOR THE ICING

75g unsalted butter, cold and cubed
200g icing sugar, sieved
finely grated zest of 1 orange
1 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice

FOR THE TOP

a little grated orange
zest

YOU WILL NEED

a 12-hole muffin tray
12 paper cases (see page xxvii for exact size)

1 Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4 and line the muffin
tray with paper cases.
2 Whisk the eggs and sugar in a large mixing bowl for 5 minutes,
until pale and quadrupled in volume. Add the grated butternut squash
and orange zest, and whisk again. Mix in the flour, ground almonds,
baking powder and salt, along with the orange juice, until they are
well introduced.
3 Spoon the mixture into the cupcake cases, aiming for it to come
four fifths of the way up each case. Place in the oven for 20 minutes
until risen and cooked. Don’t be alarmed that they are flat on the top
rather than dome shaped. Cool in the tin for 15 minutes, before
refrigerating until cold enough to ice.
4 Whilst the cupcakes are cooling, make the icing. Whisk the butter
in a large mixing bowl with an electric whisk until pale and fluffy
before adding 100g of the icing sugar. Whisk again to incorporate the
sugar. Add the orange zest and juice, as well as the remaining sugar.
Beat once again to combine. Refrigerate until the cupcakes are cool
and ready to ice.
5 Ice when the cupcakes are cold, with the help of a small knife
or spatula.

TRUST ME TIPS
Don’t worry if the icing curdles when you add the orange juice.
It will come right and give up the tantrum when you add the final
batch of icing sugar. If for whatever reason it doesn’t quite right itself,
simply add more sugar until it has calmed down and is unified again.


14 comments:

  1. And here's me thinking it was orange cordial! Great entry for Treat Petite :)

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  2. These are perfect for indulging the sweet tooth while watching your figure this winter ;) I've always wanted to try baking with butternut squash - it's such a delicious flavor...

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    1. It was absolutely delicious! I'll definitely be using butternut squash again in cakes.

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  3. me too... I also initially thought these were made with orange squash and was taken right back to my childhood... on the other hand these, with their inclusion of squash the vegetable sounds gorgeous... they look so pretty too... great book and great recipe for random recipes... thanks so much for the entry xx

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    1. thanks for picking the theme and allowing me a chance to dive straight into my new book x

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  4. I soooooo love this book, guilt free cake! x

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  5. I love baking with butternut squash and it goes so well with orange doesn't it. And your cakes look totally delicious and not at as 'Virtuous' as they are! Harry Eastwood's book is a new one on me, but right up my street, shall add it to my Amazon wish list. Thanks so much for linking up to Four Seasons Food.

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    Replies
    1. The flavours go so well together. This is a great book and I'd highly recommend it.

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  6. oooh I've never heard of using butternut squash in baking! Your cupcakes look lovely. Sounds like a really interesting book.

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    Replies
    1. It's really good and I'd highly recommend the book.

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  7. It's a long time since I had an orange cake - they sound delicious.

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