Orange & Fennel Cupcakes
Gluten/ Dairy Free Available…… Add an extra egg/ Increase the Bake time by 5 mins/Rest the finished batter in the bowl for a minimum of 30 mins before re-mixing and adding to the oven.
Options Available
We love to experiment with ingredients and the idea of Orange & Fennel sounded like a lovely combination. You will never know until you try and it worked yayyyyy. Give these a go you will be surprised.
Cake/Cupcakes
Ingredients
90 g Soft Unsalted Butter/ Vegan Block
240g Plain Flour/ Gluten Free Plain Flour
2 Tsp Baking Powder
10g Corn Flour
250g Caster/White Sugar
2 Lg Eggs ( 3 for GF)
230g Full Fat Plain Yogurt/Soya Yogurt
1/2 Tsp Vanilla Extract
1- 1 1/2 Tbsp Syrup
Zest of 2 Lg Oranges
Syrup
120g Caster Sugar
120g Squeezed orange Juice
1 Tbsp of the above Zest
1 Tbsp Fennel Seeds
Bake
160C Fan/180C/Gas 4/ 350F
Cupcakes 19 - 21 mins
3 x 6" Cakes 30 Mins
Pre Heat the oven then line either 3 x 6-inch cake tins or add liners to your 12-cupcake tray. Add the flours/sugar/raising agent into your mixing bowl and give it a quick stir. Pour your softened butter into cubes, again stirring it around so that the butter is covered. Next, you may need to cover your mixer with a cloth, and then turn it on at a slow speed to start with. Once some of the butter is incorporated turn up the speed slightly, we don't want the flour shooting around everywhere!! We want to whip this up until it has all formed what resembles breadcrumbs. Now to this mixture add your Vanilla/ Yogurt/ Syrup and Orange zest. Mix this around until all combined and then crack in your eggs. Once these are all mixed in and smooth, pour the mix into a jug as it is a wet batter and fill your cake tins or cupcake liners 3/4 full. ** If you are making this gluten-free leave the batter in the mixing bowl for 30 mins to absorb some of the liquid before pouring it into your tin. Doing this you honestly will not know the difference.
Begin by making the syrup, do this about an hour before. The longer you leave it the stronger the fennel will be so keep tasing it ( obviously when it's cool).Into a saucepan place the orange juice/ sugar/zest and fennel seeds. Bring these to a boil and allow to simmer for around 3 mins. Then leave it to sit and develop, to your taste. Once you are happy with the flavour, sieve the syrup and store in a covered conatiner.
Buttercream
Ingredients
250g Salted Butter/ Salted Vegan Block Butter
600g Icing Sugar
100g Sour Cream/ Mock Cream Cheese Buttercream
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
Method
Place your cubed butter into the microwave and melt in bursts ensuring the butter temperature doesn't rise above 30C. Stir in between to disperse the heat. The butter should be melted but still be creamy and thick. To this add in your sour cream and stir it all in, add the vanilla and then in stages pour over the icing sugar, mixing with a spatula after each stage. You will end up with a very creamy mixture, this can either be piped immediately or pop into the fridge. As this is sour cream it can only be at room temperature for a maximum of 4 hours before disregarding. I used a 1M nozzle and topped it with an orange slice. You can also use some of the syrup to drizzle over the top. You may need to warm it slightly.
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