Spring 2017 Update - Falooda cupcakes - Vanilla, cardamon, rose syrup and pistachio Mothers Day cupcakes

Hello everyone, first let me apologise for the lack of post over the last few months. The end of 2016 saw us take our last family holiday of the year to South Africa followed by a very busy festive holiday period spent with friends and family.

Unfortunately the beginning of 2017 was marked by some of the most tragic news my family has dealt with by the passing of a very close family member.  This took everyone by shock and it took time to process and recover.

However this weekend saw the start of british summer time with clocks going back by an hour and we could even see the beginnings of spring, with the sunshine, daffodils and longer evenings already emerging.

It was also Mother's Day, an extra special one this year for me as we are also expecting our second little bubs due in late summer this all gave me the perfect excuse to bake and also get back to blogging about it.

We had a family birthday BBQ planned for Sunday afternoon so I baked my Chocolate brownies to take along and also for the mums created a special new recipes based on one of my favourite Indian milkshake flavours - falooda. This is often served as a desert in Indian and Pakistan and consist of rose syrup flavoured milk, topped with vermicelli noodles, nuts, fruit and seeds. Very refreshing and filling.

The cupcakes combine vanilla, rose water, cardommon and pistachios topped by a fresh strawberry icing, the colours of pink and green making them a delicious springtime girly treats.


Makes 12

Ingredients
Cupcakes

150g Stork
150g Golden Caster Sugar
3 Eggs
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
150g self- raising flour
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp rose syrup
6 cardommon pods freshly friended
70g pistachios finely chopped

Topping
3 ripe strawberries
1/2 tsp rose syrup
70-100g icing sugar
20g pistachios finely chopped

Method
Preheat oven to 160 fab
1.Line a 12 hole cupcake pan with your choice of cupcake covers
2.Cream together the stork and caster sugar for 4-5 minutes
3.Whisk up eggs along with vanilla extract and add to mixture
4.Add in flour, baking soda,rose water and cardamom powder
5.Stir in pistachios and spoon into cases
6.Cook got around 15-17 minutes
7.Whilst cooling, mash up strawberries and pass through a seive
8.Add rose water and icing sugar to strawberry liquid and whisk until smooth and spreadable consistency reached
9. Top cupcakes with icing and chopped pistachios- farm animals are optional - part of the joys of baking with a toddler.



Everyone loved the taste of this yesterday so I hope you can recreate them in your own kitchens and enjoy them too. Unfortunately I do not have many pictures as my camera battery had died and they did not last long enough for me to charge it up.

Look out of more post this week including our South Africa trip, Morrocan Buddha bowls and my experience meeting Gordon Ramsey last week.