Saturday 5 July 2008

rhubarb & passionfruit crumble cupcakes...fabulously light and summery!

when the summer weather doesn't appear as hoped for, one has to make do with creating their own taste of summer and this is where the idea for these cupcakes came. i love rhubarb...my grandma used to make rhubarb pie when i was younger and home in Ireland for summer holidays and we'd eat big slices of it with fresh cream or ice-cream and i just loved the tartness of the rhubarb with the sweetness of the cream. for the cupcakes though, i wanted it to be more of a crumble taste but still have that contrast of tartness and sweetness. so i settled on a rhubarb cupcake, with a passionfruit filling, a thin layer of vanilla buttercream icing and a layer of biscuit crumbs.

i used sauces that i had bought at the local market that runs every sunday in Howth - the passionfruit curd was the same as the one i used as the topping for the brownie cupcakes i made recently and the rhubarb was a gingered rhubarb jam. i mixed the rhubarb jam straight into the batter exactly like the marmalade cupcakes i made some time ago so click through to that for the recipe. they were really moist and soft. using the cone method for each cupcake i cut out a piece and filled it with the passionfruit curd. the vanilla buttercream went on top in a thin layer as buttercream can often be overpowering and i didn't want it to be such a predominant flavour in the cupcake. then the biscuit crumbs (crushed up digestive biscuits...about 4) were pressed on top. i piped a little buttercream on top and popped a sugar swirl to decorate.

the taste was fantastic. i loved it! the flavours combined together to make a lovely light, summery cupcake that you felt you could easily eat 4 or 5 more. the great thing was that no flavour was too dominant - they all kinda blended together perfectly.

so if the summer isn't going the weather-way you want it...create your own little bite of summer!

13 comments:

MsC said...

Beautiful and summery!

Unknown said...

thank u MsC...one has to get creative with creating their own summer when living in this gloomy corner of europe!

Nikki @ NikSnacks said...

Beautiful! The cupcake on the plate looks the best.

Unknown said...

thanks nikki...the one in the cupcake wrapper? hmmm, ya cupcakes look best usually after i've taken a big bite outta them ;)

Unknown said...

i wonder if rhubarb is actually a plant of winter or summer? because my rhubarb is enjoyed in winter while summer is quite neglected because we have plenty of stone-fruits and berries hehehe... anyway, the filling in the cupcake is the star!

The Caked Crusader said...

Delicious - I love rhubarb. It's so nice to see it finally getting the recognition it deserves in the cake world!

Unknown said...

hi arfi...come to think of it i'm not sure either...but with the weather being the way it is here, it probably is a winter fruit and we get to enjoy it all year round cos it's basically winter all year round here! i really must figure out how to make that passiofruit curd for myself too!

hi caked crusader - you are so right! rhubarb is seriously under-explored in the baking world and it is so good!

Big Fat Cupcake said...

I love your blog. Your recipes and pictures are really great. Keep them coming. Kathleen

www.bigfatcupcake.blogspot.com

Unknown said...

hi kathleen, thanks and welcome! I can spend ages on taking photos and take so many of one cupcake...my family thing I'm a bit nuts! yup...nuts about cupcakes! love that name - big fat cupcake! how great!

Debbie Schramer said...

I just love your blog and am so glad that I found it. I am sure that I’ll visit it often!! I thought you might like to know about our Fairy Art!! My husband and I make beautiful little Fairy Furniture, Houses and Characters from nature and now we are also working in film!! One of our movies is an instructional dvd on how to create our beautiful Fairy Furniture and the other film is called “The Enchanted Treehouse”. It is about a little girl who discovers a magical Fairy House in the forest and meets the charming and curious characters who live there. To see more about our movies, just go to my blog at: http://beautiful-art.blogspot.com or my Etsy store at: sunflowerhouse.etsy.com. They are really wonderful! Have Fun!

Unknown said...

hi sunflower...i absolutely adore fairies...(obviously!) and will be sure to check out your fairy delights! thanks for stopping by :)

KALVA said...

Wow its really fairy cake.. looks delish

Unknown said...

thanks kalva...it really was good...a great combination of flavours all in one bite!