Rhubarb muffins with a vanilla-mascarpone topping

IMG_5106Yay for rhubarb! You might have noticed that I really really like rhubarb. Which is why it should be no surprise that I am presenting you another rhubarb-recipe today. I mean, you gotta take advantage of the season. Soon enough it´ll be time for strawberries, blackberries, raspberries…Gosh I love the fruits of summer!

IMG_5084I started my baking career with muffins. When I was younger I would get together with friends and we would get baking. And anytime there was a birthday, fundraiser or any other occasion that required sweet treats, I would make some muffins. The good thing about muffins is that you can adapt them according to season. All you need is a basic batter and from there you can add whatever you like best. The batter is important though. Over the years I learned from a lot of mistakes and by now I know some tricks to make the fluffiest muffins. First of all, prepare the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, cocoa powder…) and the wet ingredients (eggs, butter, milk…) separate from another before mixing them all together. Use buttermilk or yoghurt instead of milk, it makes the batter softer. Stir only until the ingredients are well mixed, don´t keep stirring, otherwise the muffins will become dry. You can also put a little bit of water into one muffin cup. This will cause more humidity while baking and the muffins will turn out soft and fluffy.

IMG_5091Using rhubarb for muffins is kind of a genius idea. To make the whole thing even better, I mixed some mascarpone, yoghurt and vanilla bean and added that as a topping. With just a hint of homemade jam, each one of these muffins tastes like heaven. Seriously!

IMG_5119Makes about 12 muffins:
200 g rhubarb
275 g flour
3 tbsp. baking powder
1 tbsp. cinnamon
150 g sugar
1 egg
250 ml plain yoghurt or buttermilk
80 g butter

For the vanilla-frosting:
200 g plain yoghurt
200 g mascarpone
1 vanilla bean
50 g sugar

1) Wash the rhubarb and cut into little pieces. In a bowl, mix flour, baking powder, sugar and cinnamon. In another bowl, mix the egg, yoghurt and the melted butter. Add the flour mixture and rhubarb and mix well.
2) Place the batter into the muffin cups. Bake in the preheated oven at 175° C for about 20-25 minutes. Let cool completely.
3) For the topping, mix yoghurt, mascarpone, sugar and the core of the vanilla bean using an electric mixer or a kitchen aid. Spread the topping generously on the muffins using a knife or a piping bag.

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Carrot cake cupcakes with cream cheese topping

IMG_4859Holidays are great. I never really appreciated them, If you are a lazy college student like me, it doesn´t really make a difference if it´s Tuesday or Sunday. But since I have to get up early every day to get to my internship I am really thankful for weekends and days off. I am using this long weekend to sleep in and get busy in the kitchen. We are having a big brunch with the family and I wanted to make an Easter recipe. I wasn´t exactly sure what to make though, I am no expert when it comes to traditional Easter recipes. I did however had a huge craving for carrotcake-cupcakes. And if carrots are good enough for the Easter bunny, they sure are good enough for cupcakes. So here we go!

Technically I am kind of cheating with this recipe because I have posted it before. But I love it so much and didn´t want to try a different recipe and be disappointed afterwards. Plus, the cream cheese topping is perfect. I have to admit, I think cupcakes are super cute but sometimes they are just to sweet and sugary. I am not a huge fan of the traditional topping made with butter and sugar but everybody is different. Feel free to try a different topping with this recipe and let me know how it goes.

IMG_4852Makes about 24 cupcakes:

375 g carrots (about 4-5)

250 g flour

3 TL baking powder

275 g sugar

1 tbsp. vanilla extract

Salt

250 g butter

1/2 TL cinnamon

4 eggs

100 g chopped almonds

100 g ground almonds

1) First, peel the carrots and grate them finely on a grater. In a bowl, mix flour, baking powder, sugar, vanilla extract, cinnamon and salt. Add the butter and the eggs. Finally add carrots and almonds. Divide batter among muffin cups, filling each 3/4 full.

2) Bake the cupcakes in the preheated oven at 175° for about 25 minutes. Let the cool completely before adding the topping.

IMG_4906For the topping:

200 g cream cheese

2 tbsp. cream

100 g powdered sugar

1) Mix cream cheese with the cream. Add powdered sugar and mix well with a mixer until you get a fluffy topping. Spread the topping generously on the cupcakes using a knife or a piping bag.

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by Ineke