Little Fruity Cupcakes

My favourite cupcake recipe is one I've been making since my boy was very small indeed. I first made them to form the "body" of the cakey caterpillar that was his first birthday cake. I still make them now and they are a lovely treat.  

Sweet, fruity cupcakes with a swirl of white chocolate on top!

The recipe for these fruity cupcakes comes from Lizzie Vann's "Organic:  Baby and Toddler Cookbook". The pages of my copy are a bit "splattered" now as it's been open on my kitchen bench, in the midst of cooking and toddler mayhem, many a day. And, while my boy is much older now, I still cook a few of the recipes from its pages.  

As is my way, I have tinkered a bit with the recipe though very minimally by adjusting quantities slightly, leaving out the sultanas (as no-one in my family eats sultanas) and adding tinned pears as well as banana for the cake batter. This fruit takes the place of refined sugars in this recipe which is one of the reasons I like it. (Less guilt when adding that swirl of white chocolate on top!)  Here's how I make them:

Little Fruity Cupcakes

80g softened butter

1 ripe mashed banana

6-8 slices of soft tinned pear

1 egg

1 Tablespoon honey

100mL milk

200g plain flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1.  Preheat oven to 180C.

2. Cream the butter with the banana and the soft tinned pears. (I do this in my Thermomix 

     but any food processor should do the trick.)

3.  Blend in the egg.

4.  Mix in the milk and honey.

5.  Sift the flour and baking powder.

6.  Gently mix the flour into the wet ingredients until the batter is just combined.

7.  Spoon the mixture into small cupcake cases leaving a little room for them to rise

     while baking.

8.  Bake for approximately 15minutes until a skewer, inserted in the middle of a cupcake, 

    comes out clean.

9.  Cool on a wire rack. Enjoy fresh for morning or afternoon tea or freeze them for later!

These little cupcakes can be iced very simply. The original suggestion in the cookbook is to top them with some fresh fruit, like sliced strawberries or kiwi fruit. I melt a little white or dark chocolate and swirl that on top. You could also make up an icing, tint it with a little food colouring, and even add a flurry of sprinkles, if that were your preferred cupcake style. 

Enjoy!

Meg