Rhubarb and Ginger Crumble Cupcakes

Many thanks to Holly for this latest recipe. You can find others by clicking here.

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In this season one of my favourite things to eat is rhubarb, specifically the forced rhubarb that comes in a fantastic bright pink shade. The tender pink stems and sharp flavour are delicious and I think rhubarb is wonderful in a variety of dishes, although I prefer it in sweet recipes. Here is a recipe for some gingery cupcakes with a sweet pink pool on the top to celebrate this most colourful of stems.

Makes 12 good sized cupcakes

Rhubarb sauce

• 100g sliced pink, forced rhubarb
• 2 tbsp sugar
• Squeeze of lemon juice
• 1 tsp corn flour
• 1 tbsp liquid from stem ginger jar

Cupcake ingredients

• 125g caster sugar
• 125g butter, softened
• 125g self-raising flour
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp ground ginger
• 2 eggs
• 2-4 tbsp milk
• 1 ball stem ginger, finely chopped

Topping

• 30g plain flour
• 25g sugar
• ½ tsp mixed spice
• grating of nutmeg
• 2 tbsp butter

1. To start, make the rhubarb sauce. Take the chopped rhubarb and put it into a small saucepan along with the other ingredients. Heat gently and stir to make sure nothing becomes stuck. Cook until the rhubarb starts to break down and the mixture isn’t too liquidy!
2. Secondly, make the cake mixture. This just follows a basic cupcake recipe. Beat the butter and sugar together in a bowl until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs to the sugar mixture a little at a time along with a spoonful of flour and beat well. Once all the egg has been added, sift in the remaining flour, baking powder and ground ginger and fold to combine. At this point mix in the stem ginger along with some of the milk if the mixture is too stiff.
3. To make the crumble topping combine the dry ingredients together in a bowl. Melt the butter in a saucepan and then stir into the rest of the ingredients with a fork until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
4. To assemble the cakes, place 12 paper cases in a baking tin and divide the cake mixture between them before adding a good teaspoonful of the rhubarb sauce and a scattering of crumble topping.
5. Bake the cakes for 15 to 20 minutes until golden brown and risen.

(n.b this is actually the recipe for February – apologies for it coming out slightly later than planned!)