Cherry Bakewell inspired cupcakes

I’m not immune to the desire to diet in January, but I have always been someone who baulks at following the crowd. So in single years gone by I’ve laughed in the face of abstinence from alcohol, butter, sugar and wheat come January time and instead rather enjoyed the emptier bars cities have to offer, the quicker service and ease of finding a seat to park my ample rear.

This year I find myself pregnant for the first time in the month of January and so I shall consume (almost) whatever I want and worry about losing those pounds at a later, sunnier, salad friendly date. So, I give you my cherry Bakewell inspired cupcakes. You may or may not remember these from the Great British Bake Off, for they are what I baked in the first week when I still retched every time the director shouted ‘action.’

NB: This recipe also appears on the BBC website here in case some of you are thinking you’ve seen it before.

One year ago: Dough balls and Leek, potato and ham soup and Roasted celeriac, carrot and parsnip soup and My lightest Yorkshire puddings

Two years ago: Diet friendly roast pork and Jelly and ice-cream meringue roulade and Good flapjack and Banana, butterscotch and fig traybake

Three years ago: Treasure hunt ice-cream and Rhubarb and ginger chutney and Carrot cake

Cherry Bakewell inspired cupcakes

Makes 12

Ingredients:

• 150g soft butter or margarine
• 150g castor sugar
• 100g self raising flour
• 60g ground almonds
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp milk
• 3 large eggs at room temperature
• 90g raspberry jam
• 250g icing sugar
• 3 tbsp lemon juice
• 12 glace cherries, washed and dried

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cases. For the cupcakes, cream the butter/margarine in a bowl until light and fluffy. (Use the flat beater if using your KitchenAid.) Add the sugar, flour, almonds, baking powder, milk and eggs then mix until well combined.

Spoon the mixture into the cases and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until risen and golden-brown and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack. For the icing, mix the icing sugar and lemon juice together in a bowl until smooth.

Using an apple corer, carefully remove the middle of the cupcakes and eat/discard. Fill the holes with the raspberry jam using a teaspoon. Carefully spoon the icing onto the top of each cake until the icing reaches the sides of the cake case and top with a cherry. Leave to set before serving.

Beautiful photography courtesy of Lyndsey James.

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