Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Iron Cupcake: Earth Cranberry Challenge

This is my recipe for this month's Iron Cupcake Earth competition. The chosen ingredient was Cranberry. Since cranberries are very rare here I had to use the dried ones. Well, they were dry no more after being soaked for 2 days in cherry Brandy, whisky and tea. In fact they ended quite plump and nice looking :) I think I ll make these cupcakes again for Christmas since I really liked their red colour and they were delicious.
The main ingredients of these cupcakes are cranberries and almonds. A marzipan ball is inserted in the middle of each cupcake . Such a nice surprise !!! Then they are topped with some candied cranberries, again boiled in some cherry brandy syrup and finished off buy some marzipan Christmas holy.
This month's Iron Cupcake: Earth prizes are from Etsy artists Lollipop Workshop, Cookie Sunshine, Lots of Sprinkles and Cakespy. Corporate prizes are from Fiesta Products, Hello, Cupcake, Jesse Steele, Cupcake Courier, and Taste of Home. For this month only we have an added bonus from Sweet Cuppin Cakes Bakery and Cupcakery Supply. Iron Cupcake: Earth is sponsored in part by 1-800-Flowers.

Voting starts Nov. 30 at http://mkecupcakequeen.blogspot.comBrandy Cranberries, almond cupcakes with marzipan filling topped with candied cranberries

Cupcakes
¾ c plain flour
¼ tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
60g butter
60gr brown sugar
1 tsp ginger
¼ tsp cinnamon
1 tsp mandarin zest
½ tsp lemon rind
1 ½ tbl golden syrup
1 egg
50g crushed almonds
50g ground almonds

Brandy Cranberries
2bl cherry brandy
1 ½ tbl whisky
100gr cranberries
100ml cranberry tea

Candied cranberries
50g cranberries, chopped
1 tbl icing sugar
2 tbl water
1 1/2 tbl cherry brandy

Marzipan Balls
100g ground almonds
100g icing sugar
enough water to form a dough
red food colouring


Brandy Cranberries
Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and leave to soak at least overnight. (I left them for about a day and a half)

Marzipan balls
In a small bowl mix the ground almonds and sugar together. Add food colouring to enough water, and add it to the mixture to form a dough. Taking a teaspoon form marzipan balls.

Cupcakes
In a bowl sieve the flour, salt, spices, baking powder and baking soda. Add the ground and crushed almonds. Set aside.
In another bowl beat the brown sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg until well combined. Add the golden syrup and the mandarin and lemon rinds.
Add the flour mixture till well combined. Fold in the soaked cranberries and any remaining liquid.

Fill seven cupcakes with some of the mixture. Place a marzipan ball in the centre and divide the rest of the batter between the cupcakes.
Bake in a preheated oven till they looked fully cooked and are light golden. Let cool.

Candied cranberries
Combine all the ingredients in a small pot and boil till cranberries are plump and the syrup is slightly thickened.

Decorate the cupcakes with a teaspoon of the candied cranberries and spread the remaining syrup on the cupcakes.

35 comments:

The Food Librarian said...

Wow! Wonderfully tasty and beautiful. Such an interesting and inventive was to use cranberries too!

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

SUCH a luscious cupcake!!!

anudivya said...

That is a cutie! I did an exact opposite recipe today with cranberries. :)
Would prefer yours because of my big bad sweet tooth!

Anonymous said...

I love this!! So festive and colorful!!!

CookiePie said...

Beautiful, and the flavors sound so delicious together!

Anonymous said...

Delicious, love the hidden marzipan!

Alessia said...

mmm,invitantissimi! che bella quella salsina color rubino che cola dal muffin!anche la decorazione è deliziosa, brava come sempre! bacioni!

Yasmeen said...

Awesome presentation of delectable cup cakes,YUM!

Calamity Cookie said...

mmmm, those cupcakes look nice and moist and I like how they have a little secret inside:) Good luck.

Maria said...

I am a big cranberry fan! I love everything about these!

How To Eat A Cupcake said...

Mmmm FANTASTIC recipes!!

Anonymous said...

OOoh loving the luscious drips on these cupcakes! I think my heart skipped a beat in excitement :)

Jacque said...

Mmmmm, those look fantastic! I like the idea ball of marzipan inside. I'll bet that was delish :)

Adam said...

Whoa, those look wonderful. There's cranberries coming from all angles, I wish I was a taster judge for this challenge :)

i dolci di laura said...

golosissimo! che voglia di assaggiarlo! baci

My Ricettarium said...

Ciao! garzie di esere passata a trovarmi... verrò anche io spesso da te.. dovrò imparare un pò di inglese però.. anzi meglio il traduttore di google va.. hihihihih Caspita.. solo a vederlo il tuo cupcake è stupendo!:-))))

Unknown said...

ha un aspetto magnifico questo cupcake, lo sciroppo colato sopra è golosissimo!

Dolcetto said...

Ma sono una vera goduria!! Complimenti!
Ti auguro un bellissimo fine settimana!

Andrea said...

Wow. I love marzipan and seriously, those soaked cranberries sound way better than even the fresh kind! These look so good!

Steph said...

That looks gorgeous! I love the addition of the marzipan ball.. mmm.. almonds!

Micaela said...

Snooky questi sono super super golosi!!!! se potessi trapasserei il monitor!!! complimenti, mi copio la ricetta! un bacione e buon weekend

Anonymous said...

Those look delicious! I love love love the marzipan filling. And the marzipan leaves. They look very pretty :)

Anonymous said...

Hi! Thanks for your comment on my blog! These cupcakes are so creative. I'll be back!

Jaime said...

wow that looks so good, esp w/the cranberry sauce dripping over the sides :)

Sophie said...

Soaking the berries was an awesome idea :)! These look moist and berry yummy :D! Great submission!

Mary said...

Fantastic this cupcake, so delicious allthe way through ....a real treat for anyone , a hug and a kiss till my next visit!!!!

Unknown said...

Those look incredible!

Sheetal Kiran said...

Absolutely spectacular!! the warm cranberry colors are so pretty ... love the syrupy photos, especially love the idea of soaking the cranberries .. so delicious!

Anonymous said...

wow, these are insane!!

Anonymous said...

wow, these are insane!!

Sharon said...

Gorgeous photos and delicious looking cupcakes! I think it's a very creative recipe!

Nic said...

Those are incredible, I'm going over to vote for you!

Nic said...

Ooops, voting's not open yet. Please post a reminder, don't want to forget.

Haley said...

I didn't get around to this months challenge (again). Yours look fantastic! I'll be sure to go by and vote for you :)

Emily said...

What a beautiful cupcake!