Primrose Marmalade and Pecan cupcakes

For a second week running hub's selected this week's bake and so for a second week running i have baked cupcakes with ingredients i don't like. Whilst this in indeed good for my waist line, my opinion of the marmalade & pecan cupcakes from Primrose's cookbook may be a little skewed.

The blurb states that these are great for a post Christmas treat as they are a tad healthier than the traditional frosting heavy cupcakes. For me, part of the fun of a cupcake is that its sinful, there is absolutely no point in trying to make it healthy!

So firstly the sponge, which was pretty dry despite lashings of corn oil, i'm putting this down to the pecans. These really did taste like muffins rather than cupcakes and hubby ended up eating them for breakfast with his morning coffee.

There isn't much to say about the 'icing' which was hot marmalade except read the instructions carefully as you are supposed to spread the marmalade whilst the cupcakes are still hot. I left them to cool as usual and i'm sure the cupcakes may have been a little bit more moist had i spread the marmalade right away.

Considering my prejudice to marmalade i'd give these cupcakes 6/10, my marmalade loving hubby says 8/10.

Primrose Carrot Cupcakes with Orange cream cheese frosting

Wow! who'd have thought the humble carrot could be transformed into such amazing cupcakes? Carrot cupcakes with cream cheese icing almost sounds like something you'd choose if you were (unsuccessfully) dieting and I had been reluctant to attempt Primrose's carrot cupcakes, but these little guys have turned into my favourite recipe to date.

The sponge was moist, which i'm sure was down to the use of corn oil and of course the carrots! I also loved the use of raisins, orange zest and cinnamon. The recipe called for the sponge to be baked at 180c for 25 minutes, but i went for 170c as mine is a temperamental fan oven. I have absolutely no criticism of this recipe i followed it to the letter and it worked, just make sure you amend timings for your own oven, speaking of which i really must buy an oven thermometer...

Now i really wasn't sure about cream cheese icing, yes i know carrot cake is always made with cream cheese frosting, but i was a tad worried it would turn out um, too cheesy. Again, i was pleasantly suprised and the grated orange zest gave a delicate citrus taste which complimented the sponge perfectly. However, if i were to do the recipe again i would use around 50g more icing sugar as the buttercream was slightly too soft for my preference.

Overall i'd give these cupcakes 9/10, it's a good job they destined for hubby's work or i'd have scoffed the lot already!

Happy Baking xx