Christmas Cupcakes with Nougat Icing: A New Take on a Tradition
A few weeks ago I read an article about nougat – a sweet made of sugar, honey and egg whites mixed with dried fruit and/or nuts, very popular in Italy and France. It is really lovely and making it doesn’t seem to be difficult so I definitely try making it one day.
This article made me think I could use an adjusted version of the nougat to create a snow-like icing. And because of the season, I opted for using it on top of cupcakes based on an idea of a British Christmas cake – full of nuts and dried fruit. The first time I made them, the icing worked perfectly – fluffy and delicious but I felt the cupcakes were a bit too dry and there should be more fruit there. So when I made them for the second time I changed the recipe slightly. Additionally, I also soaked the raisins in rum. This time everything worked perfectly and the cupcakes with nougat icing disappeared into happy smiling mouths very quickly!
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- <div class=”nobullets”>Cupcakes:</div>
- 60g raisins,
- 3 tbsp rum,
- 120g butter (at room temperature),
- 110g light muscovado sugar,
- 2 eggs (at room temperature),
- 140g plain flour,
- 2 tsp baking powder,
- 0.5tsp cinnamon,
- 0.5 tsp nutmeg,
- 140g mixed dried fruit (cranberries, figs) and pistachios, cut into smaller pieces.
- <div class=”nobullets”>Icing:</div>
- 50g + 1 tbsp sugar,
- 75g liquid honey,
- 1tbs water,
- 1 egg white,
- extra pistachios and cranberries for decoration.
- Put the raisins to a cup and pour the rum over them; leave to soak for at least 1 h.
- Preheat an oven to 190 Celsius degrees (or 170 for fan ovens) and prepare a 12-hole muffin baking tray by either greasing it lightly or putting in paper cases (if you are using silicon forms you don’t have to do it).
- In a food processor or with electric mixer beat the butter and sugar until fluffy and pale; add eggs one by one beating the mixture after adding each egg; beat for a while longer.
- In a bowl mix the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg; and sieve to the batter.
- Stir with a spatula, add the raisins with rum, dried fruits and nuts, stir and divide the mixture into cases (approx. 1 tablespoon for each one).
- Bake in the hot oven for 15 minutes (check if baked by inserting a wooden stick).
- Make the icing: put the honey, water and 50g of sugar to a small pan stir and heat on medium until the sugar is dissolved, then increase the heat to medium high and cook for 5 minutes.
- Beat the egg white till stiff and add the 1 tbsp of sugar, beat for a minute longer.
- Gently pour the hot honey-sugar mixture to the egg white while beating, whisk for 2-3 minutes longer.
- Generously spread the icing on top of cooled down cupcakes and decorate with cranberries and pistachio nuts.
