Poached Pear & Almond Cupcakes

Desserts Food Vegetarian

Shalini Sriskandarasa www.eatlovelycakes.co.uk

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6 Servings

Ingredients

POACHED PEARS

Pears 3 small and peeled

Caster sugar 150g

Vanilla bean paste 1 tsp

Water 250ml

ALMOND CUPCAKES

Sponge flour 75g sifted

Ground almonds 25g

Caster sugar 100g

Butter 100g

Eggs 2

Cold water 2 tsp

Almond essence ¼ tsp

Flaked almonds toasted

Espresso powder to dust

BUTTERCREAM

Unsalted butter 75g

Icing sugar 175g

Salt ½ tsp

Vanilla bean paste ½ tsp

Milk as needed

Method

POACHED PEARS

- Place the caster sugar, vanilla and water in a saucepan on a low heat until the sugar melts
- Put the pears into the syrup and simmer for 15-20 minutes until cooked. Leave to cool before slicing into two and removing seeds
- Heat 50ml of the syrup until it thickens. Leave to cool
ALMOND CUPCAKES

- Preheat oven to 180ºC/gas mark 4
- Cream the butter and sugar together, add the eggs, water and almond essence and beat together
- Fold the flour and ground almonds into mixture
- Put a heaped tablespoon of batter into each case and half a pear
- Bake for 20 minutes until golden. Leave to cool
BUTTERCREAM

- Beat butter until soft. Add icing sugar and beat until it turns pale
- Add the vanilla bean paste and salt and beat again
TO ASSEMBLE

- Pipe little peaks of buttercream onto each cupcake
- Drizzle some cooled syrup over the buttercream peaks, sprinkle some toasted
almond flakes on each cupcake
- Dust lightly with espresso powder