Rhubarb and custard cupcakes

When Duerr’s kindly offered me a sample of their new range of baking jams and told me they would send me the rhubarb and custard flavour, I was very excited as these are two of my favourite things!  I started thinking about what to use it for.   Since we have moved I haven’t fully unpacked all my baking boxes and every time I walk from the kitchen to the dining room I see boxes of cupcake paraphernalia staring at me as if they’re saying, ‘hey, what about us?  We want to move into our new home too!’  To placate my cupcake overlords I decided to make some cupcakes.

The jam is amazing.  It messed with my head a little bit because it was jam that tasted like rhubarb and custard boiled sweets....yes, that good!

I nearly didn’t post these cupcakes.  They were meant to have a custard buttercream I’d successfully made before...but it was one of those days were everything felt against me.  Lots of anguish and an abandoned buttercream later I decided to top them with a simple glace icing.  I was so fed up at this point I didn’t even let it set properly before photographing the cakes.  It would be a fair assessment to say I was in a bit of a mood (ahem).  You can see how angry I was by the fact I didn’t even stick a wafer daisy on top to pretty them up!

Summary: yes, they look like they were made by a particularly un-artistic five year old but, in their defence, they taste amazing.  The sponge was so fluffy, the jam so sweet and sticky and the simple glaze was actually all they needed.  I still wasn’t going to post them, but Mr CC took them into work and they turned out to be one of most popular bakes for a long time.  I’m a little ashamed by how they look but I shall bow to my eaters on this one!

Ingredients

For the sponges:
175g unsalted butter at room temperature
175g caster sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 eggs
175g  self raising flour
2 tablespoons milk
6 teaspoons jam – I used Duerr’s rhubarb and custard jam

For the icing:

200g icing sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Enough hot water to make a thick icing – add a teaspoon at a time – mine took 3 teaspoons

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C/ fan oven 160C/350F/Gas mark 4.

Line a cupcake pan with 12 paper cases.

Start by making the sponges: beat together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.  The mix should look almost whipped – don’t be tempted to skimp on this stage.

Beat in the vanilla and the eggs, one by one.

Fold in the flour.

Stir in enough milk to get a dropping consistency batter.

Spoon into the cupcake cases and bake for about 12-14 minutes or when a skewer inserted into the cakes comes out clean – better to be a little under than over, as they will continue to cook as they cool.  Don’t worry if they take longer (mine took nearer to 20 minutes) – they are big cupcakes.

Remove from the baking pan as soon as you can do so safely (the heat from the tin may cause them to overbake), and leave to cool completely on a wire rack.

Use a cupcake corer or knife to remove some of the sponge.

Spoon half a teaspoon of jam into each cupcake.

Now make the icing: beat together the ingredients until you have a really thick, glossy icing.

Spoon over the cupcakes.

Leave to cool and firm up.

Bask in the glory of the wonderful thing you have created.

Eat.