Butternut Pumpkin Cupcakes

Butternut Pumpkin cupcakes may sound a little strange, but think of the other vegetables you use in cakes - Beetroot, Carrots, Zucchini, so why not Butternut Pumpkin? In fact, this recipe is very similar to a Carrot Cake recipe.

These cup cakes are so simple to make- basically you just whiz everything up in a food processor and you're ready to bake.

I have to say, these cupcakes are probably the best cakes I have ever made! I really fell in love with the sweet pumpkin cake and the zesty, sour cream icing. Give them a try!

Ingredients:

For the muffins

• 400g butternut pumpkin, skin on, deseeded and roughly chopped
• 350g light soft brown sugar
• 4 large free-range or organic eggs
• Sea salt
• 300g plain flour, unsifted
• 2 heaped teaspoons of baking powder
• A handful of walnuts
• 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
• 175ml of extra virgin olive oil

For the frosted cream topping

• Zest of 1 Orange
• Zest of 1 lemon and juice of ½ a lemon
• 140ml of soured cream
• 2 heaped tablespoons of icing sugar, sifted
• 1 vanilla pod, split lengthways and seeds scraped out
• Optional: lavender flowers or rose petals

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4. Line your muffin tins with paper cases.

2. Whiz the Pumpkin in a food processor until finely chopped. Add the sugar, and crack in the eggs. Add a pinch of salt, the flour, baking powder, walnuts, cinnamon and olive oil and whiz together until well beaten. You may need to pause the machine at some point to scrape the mix down the sides with a rubber spatula. Try not to overdo it with the mixing - you want to just combine everything and no more.

3. Fill the paper cases with the cake mixture. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes. Check to see whether they are cooked properly by sticking a wooden skewer or a knife right into one of the cakes - if it comes out clean, they’re done. If it's a bit sticky, pop them back into the oven for a little longer. Remove from the oven and leave the cakes to cool on a wire rack.

4. As soon as the muffins are in the oven, make your runny frosted topping. Place most of the Orange zest, all the lemon zest and the lemon juice in a bowl. Add the soured cream, icing sugar and vanilla seeds and mix well. Taste and have a think about it - adjust the amount of lemon juice or icing sugar to balance the sweet and sour. Put into the fridge until your cakes have cooled down, then spoon the topping on to the cakes. Serve on a lovely plate, with the rest of the Orange zest sprinkled over. For an interesting flavour and look, a few dried lavender flowers or rose petals are fantastic.