Quince Cupcakes

Better late than never... Here is the recipe for the Quince Cupcakes I made for Little Miss 5's birthday party. My lovely colleague Linda brought us over a bag of quinces from her tree. Quince is a beautiful, old fashioned fruit. It's hard and gritty texture make it impossible to eat raw. Traditionally it is made into jelly or paste, or it can be slow roasted. Last year I made a quince cake. This year I thought the cupcake version would be a great party treat.

Quince Cupcakes

1 cup caster sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup canola oil
1 1/2 cups grated quince
1 heaped cup of flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt

Beat the eggs and sugar together until light and fluffy - just like a sponge mixture.

Now fold in the oil. 

Fold in the grated quince, no need to peel it first.

Sift together the flour, soda and ground ginger. Fold the dry ingredients into the batter. 








Place the mixture into cupcake cases. Fill each case only half way. 
Bake for 10 to 15 minutes until well risen and golden brown. 










Lemon Frosting

200g butter

1 cup icing sugar

2 tablespoons boiling water

the juice of 1 lemon

Cream the butter and icing sugar until pale and fluffy. With the beater motor running, add the boiling water and beat until fully incorporated. Add the lemon juice and beat again. 

Once the cupcakes have cooled, use a piping bag and round nozzle to decorate the cakes. 

Because it was a girly's party, I topped them with round pink sprinkles. 

Hope you're all warm and dry. xx

Lovely Quince Cake

 Today we had a lovely morning tea catch-up with some friends on their lifestyle block. They have an amazing and lovely array of fruit trees, and a fabulous outlook on the country side. Weighed down with feijoas and quinces, and a huge and impressive pumpkin, we headed back to the city dreaming of all the possible recipes to make.

While the man of the house can take or leave them, Little Miss 4 and I love feijoas. We have already eaten several, raw of course, so I turned my attention to the quinces. This humble and, some might say, old fashioned fruit is traditionally made into jelly. It's a very firm fruit that requires long slow cooking. Straight from the tree they are covered in a fine furry coating. If your planning to eat the flesh of the fruit, then its a good idea to peel off the tough skin and roast the fruit with sugar and a little water. 

Given the quinces really firm density, I thought it might try baking them in a cake. I considered using the feijoas, but given their high moisture content I decided that more thought needed to be given to their cake formulation. With friends coming for tea, and the need for speed, I pulled out my trusty Carrot Cake recipe and simply substituted the quince for the carrot.

Quince Cake

2 cups caster sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups oil - I used rice bran oil

Beat the eggs and sugar until light, fluffy and doubled in volume. Fold in the oil.

Add 3 cups of washed, peeled and grated quince flesh and 3/4 cup of sultanas.
Sift together: 2 heaped cups of plain flour, 2 teaspoons baking soda, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, 1 teaspoon mixed spice and 1 teaspoon salt.








Gently fold the flour mixture into the wet mixture and place into a lined cake tin. The cake will rise a bit so make sure their is enough room for expansion.
Bake for 40 minutes at 180deg. C until a cake tester comes out clean.







I was worried the quince would be too fibrous, but it turned out really well. The quince added tartness to the cake, which mixed with the spices and sultanas was delicious. 

I served the cake with Deep South Rum and Raisin ice cream and raspberry puree made from heating frozen raspberries and a little icing sugar.