Alice in Cupcakeland

These cupcakes obviously have their origin in Persia, which is why I wanted to give them a go! There's a lot of preparation time involved in these compared to normal cupcakes, but they're certainly worth it. Try them plain or with thin layer of Rosewater Icing (made simply with icing sugar and rose water).

Ingredients

250 g all-purpose flour
5 g baking powder
4 eggs
250 g white sugar
340 g butter, melted
235 ml plain yogurt
3 g ground cardamom
15 ml rose water
70 g blanched slivered almonds
10 g chopped pistachio nuts

Preheat the oven to 175C. Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl and set aside. Place your cupcake liners into 2 x 12 hole cupcake tins.

Combine the eggs and sugar in a large heatproof bowl and set on top of a pan of simmering water. Beat an electric mixer on medium speed until thick and pale (about 8 minutes). Remove from the heat and continue to beat until cooled, which should take about 10 minutes. Mix in the butter, yogurt, cardamom and rose water and then stir in the flour mixture by hand and fold in the slivered almonds.

Fill your cupcake tray, taking each one to about 3/4 full.

Bake in the oven until firm to the touch and golden brown which should take about 25 - 30 minutes.