Gloverly Cupcakes

Before I started Gloverly Cupcakes, Becky and I discussed starting a blog with “Sugarplum” in the name. Why? Because it was my nickname when I was younger and it fitted in with the baking theme. I didn’t want to steal the name for a blog on my own, so I came up with Gloverly Cupcakes. Now Becky has joined me we want to keep the Gloverly Cupcakes name, but we also want to have a link to sugarplums. The first step was creating a new logo. The next step was to create a signature bake –

As usual, we spent most of the day talking about what we were going to make and then suddenly it was 4pm and we hadn’t even started making anything! The idea gradually evolved throughout the day. We started off by thinking of using a plain vanilla cupcake with pieces of chopped plum and topped with a cinnamon cream cheese frosting. This quickly changed to a cinnamon cupcake, swirled with plum purée, topped with cream cheese icing, a dusting of cinnamon and a homemade sugarplum pastille.

We had so much fun coming up the recipe and then making these. Our first attempt was close to being perfect so the recipe below is almost identical to the one we made, with just a couple of minor tweaks to make it even better.

Plum Purée (a Gloverly Cupcakes creation)

2-3 ripe plums (about 150g), stoned and chopped in half

1 cinnamon stick

1 star anise

1 vanilla pod

1 tbsp demerara sugar

To make the plum purée, place the plums, cinnamon stick, star anise, vanilla pod and demerara sugar on a baking tray and roast at 180 C for 30 minutes. Leave to cool and then purée and sieve.

Sugarplum Cupcakes (a Gloverly Cupcakes creation)

Makes 12

100g soft light brown sugar

85g unsalted butter

2 medium eggs

150g self raising flour

1/3 tsp baking powder

50ml milk

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 batch of plum purée

45ml water

45g caster sugar

1 cinnamon stick

1 star anise

1 cardamom pod

1 pinch of fennel seeds

1 pinch of caraway seeds

Preheat the oven to 170 C (fan) and place 12 muffin cases in a muffin tin.

Cream the butter, light brown sugar sugar and vanilla together until light and creamy. Then add the eggs one at a time and beat until combined. Add the flour, baking powder and cinnamon to the mixture and beat slowly until just combined. Finally add the milk and beat until smooth.

Place a spoonful of mixture into each case, then put a teaspoon of the plum purée in the middle of each and top with the remaining mixture.

Bake in the oven for around 20 minutes – check and turn the tin around after 15 minutes.

Once baked – they should appear golden on top and spring back when touched – take out the oven and place on a cooling rack.

While the cakes are baking, make the syrup by placing the water, caster sugar, cinnamon stick, star anise, cardamom, fennel seeds and caraway seeds in a saucepan over a low heat. Heat gently until the sugar has disolved. Remove from the heat and leave the spices to infuse in the syrup as it cools. Strain the syrup once it is completely cool.

Drizzle a teaspoon of syrup over each cupcake while they are still warm.

Once the cupcakes are cool pipe with cream cheese buttercream (see below), sprinkle with cinnamon and top with a sugarplum fruit pastille (see below).

Cream Cheese Frosting (from The Hummingbird Bakery Cake Days)

600g icing sugar

100g butter

250g full fat cream cheese (it must be full fat otherwise the icing will just be a runny mess!)

Beat the icing sugar and butter together on a very slow speed until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs and no lumps of butter remain. I always put a tea towel over the top of my KitchenAid to prevent icing sugar going everywhere! Then add the cream cheese and mix slowly until it is incorporated. Increase the speed and beat on medium until light and fluffy. Do not overbeat, otherwise you will end up with runny frosting.

 Sugarplum Fruit Pastilles (adapted from Sweet Things)

Makes 40-50 (you only need 12 for the cupcakes above but make a whole batch since you’ll want to eat the rest!)

450g plums, stoned and chopped

2 tbsp lemon juice

400g caster sugar

30g powdered pectin

150g granulated sugar

Lightly grease a 18-20cm square tin with sunflower oil and line with cling film.

Put the plums into a saucepan with 1 tbsp of the lemon juice and 2 tbsp of the caster sugar. Cook on a low to medium heat until soft and juicy. Sieve and pour into a clean pan with the remaining caster sugar and heat over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved.

Add a sugar thermometer to the pan and bring to the boil. Continue to cook slowly and steadily until the temperature reaches 107 C. Stir frequently to stop the mixture from catching on the bottom of the pan. Once it has reached 107 C add the remaining lemon juice pectin (and food colouring if necessary) to the pan and whisk to combine. Continue to heat, stirring frequently until the mixture returns to 107 C. It should be very thick and jam like. To test if it has reach setting point drop a small amount into iced water – it should set into a soft ball. If it does not form a ball then continue to heat checking every minute.

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and leave to cool. Once cool cover with cling film and leave to set overnight.

Scatter the granulated sugar on another baking tray and then tip the pastille out of the tin onto the sugar to coat evenly. Flip over and coat the other side. Using a round cutter cut out small circles and coat the edges in granulated sugar.