Apricot and Rosemary Syrup Cupcakes

      apricot and rosemary syrup cupcakes with mascarpone whipped cream

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Herbs and flowers make a lovely addition to your dessert baking, the trick when using them is a light hand; whilst too much rose water can leave you with a soapy taste, too much rosemary or sage can leave you with a "oh, wow it's roast chicken!"

Spring has arrived in Australia and our rosemary plant is sprouting new growth, the soft sprigs are a perfect addition to poached dried apricots. 

Poached Dried Apricots with Rosemary

Ingredients

12 dried apricots halves

2 small sprigs fresh rosemary

1 cup water

1/2 cup sugar

Method

Combine the water and sugar in a small saucepan, stir over low heat until the sugar is dissolved. Add the apricots and rosemary, bring to the boil then reduce heat to a simmer. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes or until fruit is soft and plumped. Remove from heat. Allow to cool.  

Mascarpone whipped cream topping

Ingredients

1 cup heavy cream

1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla essence/extract

1/2 cup mascarpone cheese, room temperature

1/4 cup sifted icing sugar (confectioners sugar/powdered) 

Method

Mix mascarpone, vanilla and icing sugar together, in a separate bowl mix cream until soft peaks form. Fold cream into mascarpone mixture. Chill.  

Cake 

Use your favourite vanilla cupcake as the base cake or as I've used smaller cases today I've included a basic small quantity "Australian" type cake... it's firmer which suits toppings that are moist. 

Preheat oven to 180C/350F 

Line two 12 cup trays with paper liners (the small patty/fairy cake size)

Ingredients

125g butter (4.4oz)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup (150g) castor sugar (superfine)
3 eggs
1½ cups (225g) self-raising flour
¼ cup milk (60ml)

Method

Beat butter, extract, sugar, eggs, sifted flour & milk on low speed with an electric mixer until ingredients are just combined. Increase speed to medium & beat for 3 minutes until smooth and pale in colour.

Drop spoonfuls of mixture into the paper liners. Bake about 18 to 20 minutes. Allow to cool in tins for 5 minutes removing to a wire rack to cool.

Assemble

brush syrup over cake top

Brush tops of cakes with syrup from the poached apricots, top with a spoonful of mascarpone whipped topping and a poached apricot half, drizzle a little extra of the syrup on if desired. Decorate with a small sprig of rosemary.

Whether it's strawberries and basil, lemon and sage, apple and thyme or apricots and rosemary: enjoy playing with herbs in your desserts, cookies and cupcakes. 

Happy Baking :) 

Comments

[Liz (It's a Cupcake World)]

These cupcakes look so beautiful... I love the flavor combo, apricot and rosemary, sounds delicious!

[The Lone Baker]

Thank you Liz :)