Monday Recipe: Inca Berry Cupcakes

Ok so this recipe isn’t particularly Valentines in theme, but now seems as good a time as any to post this.

I stumbled across Inca berries (also known as physalis) while reading James Wong’s new book, Homegrown Revolution. As the title suggests this book is all about growing your own foods but this book focuses on distinctly more exotic fare rather than the traditional (and not cost/space effective) crops like potatoes and tomatoes. I have never had an interest in gardening until I read this book and it has given me some great new cupcake ideas, including this recipe. Seriously I suggest checking this book out it’s amazing.

Anyway I discovered lots of interesting new foods, including Inca berries and before I invested in a plant it seemed sensible to find out if I actually liked Inca berries first. Luckily my local Tesco supermarket happens to sell them and for only £1 a bag! Happily I do like them and thus set about playing with them. The result was the following cupcake recipe.

I decided to top these cakes with a cream cheese frosting mostly because I made these at the same time as the Red Velvet Cupcakes and I had made an awful lot of frosting... James Wong describes Inca berries as having a flavour like a ripe gooseberry with a hint of tropical fruit, followed by a bittersweet aftertaste. And I find the creamy flavour of the frosting makes a great contrast to the tangy flavour of the berries.

As usual this recipe is designed for use in a cupcake maker and will make 6 fairy cake sized cakes, the recipe can easily be scaled up and should work in an oven equally well. The quantities given for the frosting should be enough to cover 12 cakes but this is dependent on how you choose to cover them.

Ingredients
Cake
1 large egg
50g/2oz Self-rising flour, sifted
50g/2oz Caster sugar
50g/2oz Softened butter or margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5-6 Inca berries, leaves removed and chopped into quarters

Frosting
100g/4oz full fat cream cheese
50g/2oz softened butter
300g/12oz icing sugar, sifted
Vanilla extract

Decorations (optional)
6 Inca berries, leaves folded up

Method
Cream together the butter and sugar; then beat in the egg and vanilla extract. Fold in the flour and then mix in the chopped berries. Divide evenly between the cake cakes and bake for about 10 minutes in a cupcake maker  or for about 15 minutes in the oven at Gas Mark 4/180 C. The cakes are ready when a skewer inserted into the thickest part of the cake comes out clean. Leave on a wire rack to cool.

To make the frosting, first cream together the cheese and butter, then add the vanilla extract. I used about a teaspoon but add to your personal taste.  Then gradually add the icing sugar and beat it in, the frosting will look quite runny at first but it will thicken up. Once you’ve added all the icing sugar cover the cakes as you want and top each cake with an extra berry. If the frosting seems a little runny add a tiny bit more icing sugar or chill in the fridge for 10 minutes.

Well that’s it for now; if you try these out I’d love to know what you all think. Later in the year I hope to post some more recipes using crops I found through this book.