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Pecan And Nutmeg Cupcakes

Published 30 January 2013 by Veronica Stillwater

Pecan And Nutmeg Cupcakes With Marzipan Ribbon Rose Toppers Are An Exciting Treat!

 

This week I chose to make something a little different when it comes to flavours of cupcakes and I used up some pecan nuts complimenting their flavour with a hint of nutmeg. I used a plain vanilla buttercream frosting and had some fun making ribbon roses from marzipan which are so easy to do. I also tried a few other shaped roses just using my fingers to shape the petals after having rolled a ribbon rose and teasing the marzipan on the outer layer to fan out like a petal would. Marzipan is great to use for making roses and other toppers too, although I have found that it does depend what shapes you want to work with. When going larger in scale using marzipan, quite often it looses it's shape due to the weight you are working with but when using for smaller toppers it is a great alternative to using fondant and a sweet almond treat. Hope you enjoy this week's recipe.

 

 

For the toppers – Makes approx 30:

You will need:

Rolling pin

Work surface

Long sharp knife

Plate or chopping board

 

Ingredients:

Icing sugar for dusting

Approx 180g marzipan, white or golden

Pinch of red powdered food colouring

Knead the marzipan so it is supple and malleable. You can pinch a little of the marzipan off to make a couple of plain yellow roses if using the golden marzipan and have two colours of roses or opt for just the one. Add the red powdered food colouring to the marzipan and knead in well for an even blend of colour. Roll the marzipan into a ball and lightly dust the work surface, rolling pin and marzipan with a little icing sugar. Roll the marzipan out to approx 1-2mm in thickness and using a long sharp knife, cut thin strips of the red marzipan, the length doesn't matter as you will cut the length and make a few ribbon roses from each strip. For the width, no smaller than 1 centimetre or you will struggle to roll the strips between your fingers.

Once you have your strips cut and ready you can start to roll the strips up to create ribbon roses. It is best to allow to the outer roll to sit slightly higher than the last in a graduating effect with each roll as the photos show. Once you have rolled as many toppers as required, you can shape some of the roses using your fingertips to ease out the marzipan and form petal shapes. They really are that easy! Once you have made each ribbon rose, set aside on a plate or chopping board until needed.

 

 

For the cupcakes:

You will need:

Food processor

Spatula

12 paper muffin cases

12 cup muffin baking tray

Tablespoon

Teaspoon

 

Ingredients:

220g self raising flour

3 medium eggs

110g caster sugar

110g butter or margarine

120ml full fat milk

1 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg

150g pecan nuts roughly chopped

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

Turn on the oven and set to 180º in temperature.

Place the paper muffin cases into the 12 cup muffin baking tray.

Place the butter and sugar into the bowl of the food processor and blend on a high speed setting until light, pale and fluffy. Add all the remaining ingredients and blend on a high speed setting until a spoon dropping consistency is achieved. Spoon a tablespoon of the mixture into each of the paper muffin cases in your prepared 12 cup muffin baking tray.

Place the cupcakes in the oven near or just above the middle shelf and allow to bake for approx 30 – 40 minutes. Checking at 30 minutes cooking time on their progress. The cakes will appear golden, will have risen, be firm to the touch with some of the chocolate oozing out.

You can always test by inserting a clean skewer into one of the cakes, if it comes out clean they are ready, if not return to the oven checking with the skewer again at 5 minute intervals. (Always really important never to open the oven door and allow any air in before 30 minutes of cooking as this will allow for the mixture to 'drop' and sink, look through the oven door if you have one that's made of glass to visually check on their progress rather than open the door). Once baked, using oven gloves remove the baking tray from the oven and rest on a trivet until completely cooled.

 

 

For the frosting:

You will need:

Mixer

Piping bag

Small closed star nozzle

Spatula

 

Ingredients:

25g butter

500g icing sugar

Seeds from one whole vanilla bean (You can use a teaspoon of vanilla extract as an alternative)

1-2 teaspoons hot water

1 tablespoon cocoa powder

With the exception of 1 teaspoon of hot water and the cocoa powder, place all the ingredients in the bowl of the mixer and place a clean tea towel over the machine to cover the surface area of the bowl ensuring the tea towel can not be trapped in the whisk or any part of the machine to avoid the icing sugar leaving a dust trail across the kitchen. Start on a low speed setting to incorporate the ingredients and mix until well blended, switch to a high speed setting until a creamy piping texture is achieved. Reserving a small quantity (approx 1 heaped tablespoon) use the spatula to spoon the frosting in to your piping bag ready with the small closed star nozzle and pipe a ring of small stars around the outer edge of the top of the cupcake. Once you have decorated all 12 in this way, pipe frills in rows across the top of the cupcake leaving a gap between each at roughly equal distances away from each other to leave some of the top of the cupcake area uncovered. To pipe the frills, using the same nozzle, simply move your hand up and down in a quick motion when piping whilst applying moderate pressure, pipe as though you were piping the letter M but from the top and just keep repeating it in a row until you reach the other side of the cupcake and to finish, stop applying pressure and quickly pull the piping bag up and away quickly from the area you are piping on. Repeat for all 12 cupcakes. Add the tablespoon of cocoa powder to the reserved buttercream frosting set aside earlier and blend in well. Fill your piping bag and again, using the same nozzle, pipe a small chocolate rosette somewhere on the top of each of the cupcakes. Repeat for all 12.

Once you have decorated all 12 cupcakes with the buttercream piping detail, place a ribbon rose on each of the cupcakes. Ready to serve and enjoy! Until next week! Happy baking and look out for next week's post with more creative cupcake ideas!