These little cupcakes are full of good things, including fresh and dried fruit and even a vegetable too! The surprise ingredient is pumpkin, handy when they are in the shops at Halloween, but at any other time butternut squash is fine too.
Keeping sugar to a minimum, there's no sweet icing on these fruit cupcakes but I'm sure you won't miss it as they're already scrumptious and much healthier too!
Ingredients Makes 12 cupcakes
Zest and juice of an orange
100ml sunflower oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
75g light brown muscovado sugar
200g peeled pumpkin or butternut squash
100g sultanas
200g self-raising flour
1 level tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 level tsp cinnamonMethod
Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan/Gas Mark 4. Place 12 paper cupcake cases in a muffin tray.
Coarsely grate the peeled pumpkin or butternut squash.Pour the sunflower oil into a large bowl and add the grated zest and juice of an orange, the vanilla extract and the sugar. Whisk the ingredients together and then add the grated pumpkin.
Mix in the other ingredients - the sultanas, flour, bicarbonate of soda and the cinnamon.
The mixture should be moist but not wet. If it seems too dry, just add a little cold water.
Spoon equal quantities of the mixture into the paper cases. Give the tin a few light taps to settle the cake mixture.
Bake for 25 minutes until the cupcakes are golden and feel springy in the centre.
Transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool. Eat fresh or freeze for later.