Pistachio Cupcakes With Chocolate Rose Buttercream

I will keep this post short but sweet, inshAllah.

I recently made a promise to myself, that I would leave off baking cupcakes for a while…..yeh er promises are made to be broken right?! Maybe I should have named this blog 'sugar rush' or' sugar high' as no one could possibly go away from here without being on or wanting to be on one!

Less so when you have to face removing pistachios from their shells, my least favourite task of this bake.

I recently bought an oven thermometer,  today i discovered my electric fan oven is running 20 ˚C-30 ˚C hotter than normal, so I reduced my oven temperature accordingly which in turn resulted in super light and fluffy cupcakes! An oven thermometer is really worth investing a few £/$ in, especially when you bake regularly. I used to think to myself, really can oven temperature make such a big difference, wouldn’t what you bake just bake faster? But honestly baking at the right temperature makes a hug a difference on how your cakes rise and the overall texture, you certainly won’t regret purchasing an oven thermometer, now onto the recipe.

Recipe

Makes 10

Ingredients

For the cupcakes:

120g unsalted butter, softened

160g caster sugar

1tsp rosewater

2 large eggs, room temperature

200g self-raising flour

1tsp baking powder


2tbsp milk or water

50g chopped pistachios, toasted

For the buttercream:

150g unsalted butter, softened

300g icing sugar

160g bittersweet / plain chocolate, melted

2tbsp milk or water

1tsp rosewater

Method

1. For the cupcakes: Preheat the oven to 160 ˚C (fan)/180˚C/350˚F/gas 4. Line a 12-hole muffin tin with only 10 cases.
2. Sift the flour and baking powder together in a large, clean bowl and set aside.
3. In a separate large, clean bowl cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the rosewater.
4. Fold in half the sifted flour, then the milk/water, then the rest of the flour, gently folding well to combine after each addition.
5. Gently fold in the pistachios.
6. Spoon the cupcake mixture into the cupcake cases and bake for 18-20 minutes or until a cocktail stick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove the cupcakes from the oven and place on wire racks to cool completely.

1. For the buttercream: Melt the chocolate over a bain marie or short bursts in the microwave, leave to cool to room temperature.
2. In a large, clean bowl cream the butter, then gradually add and stir in the sugar until smooth and creamy.
3. Add the cooled melted chocolate, rosewater and milk/water.
4. Pipe the buttercream onto the cupcakes using a piping bag and then, garnish with crushed pistachios.

This cake flavor combination works well but I didn’t get much rosewater coming through, maybe next time I will use more rosewater in the cake batter.

Another idea would be to use white chocolate instead of plain, as chocolate can sometimes take over the show and even more so when your over generous on the buttercream.