- Makes 24 - 28 muffins - Ready in 2 hours -
This adaptation is taken from my Courgette Nutty Fruitcake recipe, which makes a large 9-inch cake - hence the vast number of muffins produced. You could halve the recipe, but then it wouldn't use up very much marrow. These baked muffins freeze and defrost well, so batch baking 20+ muffins in one go works for us.
*uses up 1/3 of a large marrow*
Gather together…
225g butter, very soft / grated / warmed in heating-up oven for 2 minutes.
225g brown sugar.
225g self-raising flour.
1 tsp baking powder (sieved).
¼ tsp salt.
1 tsp mixed spice.
1 tsp ground cinnamon.
100g chopped mixed nuts e.g. hazelnuts, almonds etc (or bash up whole nuts in a bag with a rolling pin).
250g mixed dried fruit / sultanas.
3 medium eggs (beaten) .
1 tsp vanilla extract (the Taylor & Colledge brand is fairtrade certified / the Dr Oetker brand is alcohol free).
250g marrow (skin, ends and seeds removed before weighing) coarsely grated. NOTE - I hate grating so I always blitz (for a very short time) in a food processor, to do this you must chop the marrow into bitesize chunks first or else the food processor will turn the flesh to liquid if it is trying to deal with large chunks.
Serve with...
1 tbsp brown sugar.
Get baking...
1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 C (160 C fan) or Gas 4.
2. Slice the 225g of butter and put it in a heat-proof bowl in the oven to soften for two minutes, whilst the oven heats up - set a timer so you don't forget it is in there!
3. Set out 24 - 28 muffin cases. The size of the reusable silicone cases that I use are: 7cm across the top, 2.5cm deep and 5cm across the base. I put the cases into the holes of a muffin tin, but you can just put them on a flat baking tray (if you don't have a muffin tin with holes in).
4. In a large food mixer bowl (or just mix by hand in a big bowl), mix together the 225g of very soft butter and the 225g of brown sugar, for 1 minute.
5. Sieve in the 225g of self-raising flour and sieve in the 1 tsp of baking powder (to avoid unpleasant lumps). Then add the ¼ tsp salt, the 1 tsp of mixed spice and the 1 tsp of ground cinnamon. Don't stir yet.
6. Add the 100g of chopped mixed nuts, and the 250g of dried fruit / sultanas. Stir slightly to coat the fruit and nut additions in flour, to help to stop them sinking to the base of the cake.
7. Add the 3 medium eggs (beaten) and the 1 tsp of vanilla extract.
8. Mix in the 250g of coarsely grated marrow. Beat until smooth (for approximately 30 seconds).
9. Spoon the mixture into the cupcake cases.
10. Bake for 35 minutes until the muffins are risen slightly and are golden brown. Do not overbake or they will be dry.
11. Sprinkle on the 1 tbsp of brown sugar (dividing it fairly equally between all the muffins) and bake for a final 5 minutes. This will melt the sugar granules slightly and 'glue' them onto the surface of each muffin.
12. Cool the finished cupcakes on a wire rack.
13. Delicious served still-warm or when fully cold.
14. Store the (fully cooled) muffins in an airtight container at room temperature and eat up within three days. They can be frozen and enjoyed at a later date too.
Adapted from this Hazelnut Fruitcake Good Food recipe.