Spiced muffins with pineapple flowers
By:
Jen Bedloe
Former head of food delicious.
- Published: 24 May 22
- Updated: 18 Mar 24
Pretty as a picture, these spiced muffins are easier than they look. Top with a swirl of luscious cream cheese frosting and a dried pineapple ‘flower’.
Keep it retro with our classic pineapple upside-down cake.
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Makes 12
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Hands-on time 25 min, plus cooling. Oven time 18-20 min
Ingredients
- 160g unsalted butter, softened
- 160g golden caster sugar
- 150g self-raising flour
- 3 medium free-range eggs
- 2 tbsp whole milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp mixed spice
- Grated zest 1/2 orange
- 75g currants (or use mixed fruit and peel)
For the cream cheese icing
- 75g unsalted butter, softened
- 180g full-fat Philadelphia cream cheese (see Know How)
- 75g icing sugar
For the pineapple flowers
- 1/2 small pineapple, peeled, eyes removed and thinly sliced into 12 rounds (slice as thinly as you can or use a mandoline, and don’t remove the central core)
- A few drops food colouring in various colours (optional)
You’ll also need
- 12-hole muffin tin lined with paper cases or a lightly greased silicone muffin tray
Method
- Heat the oven to 130ºC fan/gas 2. For the flowers, dry the pineapple slices with kitchen paper, then arrange on 2 baking trays lined with baking paper. Mix a few drops of food colouring into 1 tbsp water for each colour, then drop a little of it onto the middle of a few flowers using a teaspoon. Bake for 20 minutes, then flip and bake for 20 minutes more or until the pineapple feels dry to the touch. While the slices are still warm, push each into a mini muffin hole to set it in a flower shape (see Make Ahead).
- For the cupcakes, turn the oven up to 170°C fan/gas 5. Put the butter, sugar, flour, eggs, milk, vanilla, spice and zest in a large mixing bowl and beat using an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Stir in the currants.
- Divide the mixture among the cupcake cases in the tin and bake for 15-18 minutes or until the cakes have risen and spring back when lightly pressed. Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool.
- For the icing, beat the all the ingredients until smooth, then ice the cupcakes – use a piping bag if you like. Decorate each muffin with a pineapple flower.
- Recipe from May 2022 Issue
Nutrition
- Calories
- 354kcals
- Fat
- 21g (12.9g saturated)
- Protein
- 4.4g
- Carbohydrates
- 36.3g (26.8g sugars)
- Fibre
- 1.1g
- Salt
- 0.3g
delicious. tips
The pineapple flowers will soften over time. If you want to make them ahead, store in an airtight container until ready to use.
Un-iced muffins can be frozen for up to 3 months in a sealed container, though the paper cases may come loose. Defrost before adding fresh paper cases and decorating.
Make sure the butter and cream cheese are both at room temperature and the butter well softened for the icing or it might go lumpy
Buy ingredients online
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