Peach Purée Cupcakes

Who doesn’t enjoy a cupcake from time to time?  Certainly I do!.  So today I decided to make some.  I had bought some White Peach purée, which was supposedly to be used for making cocktails but which I thought would be ideal for baking too.  

So I looked around for a recipe that might work and I found a few, but the one I liked best was from a blog Cathlincooks which looked ideal.  However I adjusted the recipe slightly, with more purée, no water and I added an egg to help with the rising.I also swapped out the oil for butter as I prefer the taste.  The recipe also uses vinegar to activate the baking soda to help with rising too.  The vinegar is added right at the end and it makes the batter froth a little so that it expands somewhat, so you know it will do its’ job well.

Of course you don’t need to use ready made purée, if you have some ripe peaches, white or not, you can easily blend them to make a puree and pass it through a sieve, adding some water if it is too thick.

So, whether you make your own puree or buy some in this recipe is very simple.  The resultant cakes are very good just as they are, but even nicer with a peach buttercream on top.

The recipe makes about 18 cupcakes, which is more than I needed, so I froze 6 of them, without buttercream, to use at a later date.  I will be able to thaw them and add the buttercream whenever I wish.

I must say I am mighty pleased with how the cupcakes turned out they are light and moist with a subtle peach flavour.  With the buttercream added they taste fantastic.

• 300g plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 150g caster sugar
• 360ml peach purée(I used bought in white peach puree, but you could make your own)
• 125g melted and cooled butter
• 2 tsp vanilla extract 
• 2 tbsp white vinegar
• 1 medium egg(large in USA)

For the buttercream:

• 190g softened butter
• 190g icing sugar
• 60g peach purée
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 190C/170C Fan/375 F.
2. Line a muffin tin(I used a 12 hole and a 6 hole tin) with paper cases.
3. In a large bowl place the flour, sugar, baking soda and baking powder and mix them together until nicely combined.
4. In a separate bowl mix the peach purée, melted butter, egg and vanilla extract.
5. Add the wet ingredients into the flour mixture and beat until fully combined.
6. Then add the vinegar and quickly beat until it is well incorporated and the mixture has started to froth up(it sort of expands).
7. Divide the mixture into the 18 paper cases, to just below the top.
8. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes until the cupcakes are springy to the touch and a skewer poked into the centre comes out clean.
9. Allow the cakes to cool for a few minutes in the tins and then transfer a wire rack to cook completely.
10. Place the softened butter, icing sugar, 60g peach purée and teaspoon of vanilla extract into a bowl and whisk until all is fully combined.  Add more icing sugar if necessary to get the consistency you need for piping.
11. Place the buttercream into a piping bag with a large star nozzle and pipe onto the cakes.