Courgette Cupcakes with Pistachio and Lime

Adapted from an existing recipe in the Susannah Blake's Cupcake Heaven (see below) I have made a few adjustments to ensure that this is a full vegan recipe, yet still holds together without the addition of an egg. The tangy lime topping is what really makes this an usual cupcake variation.

Image: zmkstudio / FreeDigitalPhotos.net


Oven 160C, makes 12

Seeds from 3 cardamom pods, crushed
70ml of ground nut oil
50g of caster sugar and 50 g of dark brown sugar
100g of courgette, coarsely grated
50g of chopped pistachio nuts (I do these until a fine, almost breadcrumb like texture in the blender, but chopping will suffice)
120g of self raising flour
Half a teaspoon of baking powder

Mix together crushed seeds, oil and sugar until thick and sandy in texture. Add the courgette and nuts, then sift in the flour and baking powder.

Spoon into paper cases and cook for 20 minutes, checking after 15. Skewer centre of cake to ensure it's done, turn out onto wire rack to cool.

To decorate:

Finely grated zest and juice of two limes
85g of caste sugar
50g of shelled pistachio chopped (more coarsely than for the cupcake mix)

Gradually heat the zest, juice and sugar in a saucepan until sugar is dissolved (rolling the lime under hand for a few seconds before cutting and squeezing makes juicing easier).

Whack the heat right up and boil rapidly for about a minute, before removing from the heat. Allow to cool slightly, stir in the nuts than as it begins to thicken, spool onto the cupcakes.

The original version and other great cupcake recipes can be found in Cupcake Heaven, available via Amazon.

Pumpkin Parkin

This is an adaptation of a Banana Bread recipe that I've used a couple of times and has always gone down really well. It is very simple to make too. If the flesh of your pumpkin is particularly squishy, you could use it neat, but I think that a quick roasting (for about 20 minutes on 200C) with a generous sprinkle of cinnamon, really helps bring out the sweetness of the pumpkin, so I'd advise you do this anyway. Plus you'll need the heat for melting the butter.

Ingredients

• 285g/10oz plain flour
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 110g/4oz butter, plus extra for greasing
• 225g/8oz golden caster sugar
• 2 free-range eggs
• flesh of one small/medium pumpkin (aprox 200g), roasted and mashed with about 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
• Squeezed juice of half a lemon
• Optional pinch of grated nutmeg

Method

Cream the butter, sugar and still warm pumpkin until melted and runny. If you still have any large or hard lumps of pumpkin, blitz in a food processor or use a had blender to smooth out. You can still have a few smaller lumps in, this won't affect the finished product.

Shift together the flour, bicarb or soda and nutmeg and add a little to the pumpkin/butter mix, then add a little of the beaten egg. Take turns with each until they are all combined. Finally add the lemon juice and stir.

Pour out into a small greased loaf tin and bake in an oven pre-heated to 180C/350F/Gas 4, for about 50 minutes. Should be golden and well risen, use a skewer to check that it is done through. Turn out onto wire rack.

You can icing if you like, an aromatic orange flower water icing goes particularly well, or perhaps even toast up some pumpkin and sunflower seeds, then glaze them onto the cooled loaf using honey or syrup.


Image: Arvind Balaraman / FreeDigitalPhotos.net