Table of Contents

• Ingredients
  • For the Shortbread Crust:
  • For the Pecan Filling:
• Preparing the Tin
• Making the Shortbread Crust
• Making the Pecan Filling
• Recipe

Ingredients

For the Shortbread Crust:

• Unsalted butter

The butter needs to be very cold for this recipe, so use it straight from the fridge. I prefer to use unsalted butter, so that I can control how much salt goes into the bars, but feel free to use salted butter and omit the salt in the recipe.

• Plain flour

You don’t want the shortbread to rise/puff up, so it’s important to use plain flour (also known as all-purpose flour), not self-raising!

• Cornflour

A small amount of cornflour (also known as cornstarch) is added to the shortbread to make it extra tender. If you don’t have cornflour on hand, just leave it out and increase the flour to 110g- the shortbread will still be delicious.

• Icing sugar

I use icing sugar in the shortbread base, instead of caster sugar, because I think it gives a softer, more tender result.

• Salt

A small amount of salt is added to the crust, just to offset the sweetness and balance the flavours.

For the Pecan Filling:

• Unsalted butter

Much like with the crust, I prefer to use unsalted butter, so that I have control over the amount of salt in the bars. If you would prefer to use salted butter, just omit the salt in the recipe. Unlike the crust, this butter does not have to be cold from the fridge, because we’re just going to be melting it anyway.

• Maple syrup

I like to use maple syrup for these bars, because I love the flavour and think it compliments the pecans really well. You can substitute the maple syrup with an equal amount of honey or golden syrup, but the flavour will be different and the filling may be paler in colour.

• Double cream

You only need a small amount of double cream for this recipe, but it really helps to give the pecan filling a smooth, moreish texture.

• Light brown soft sugar

Brown sugar helps to give the filling a deep, caramel-y flavour. You could also use dark brown soft sugar, if you prefer, for a deeper, more treacle-y flavour, but I wouldn’t recommend using caster/granulated sugar.

• Toasted pecans

To make pecan bars, you obviously need pecans! Gently toasting the pecans beforehand really helps to heighten the nutty flavour, so don’t skip that step. You can toast the pecans in the oven/air fryer (180°C for about 3-5 minutes, until golden) or in a dry pan on the hob.

• Egg

Adding egg to the filling helps to bind the ingredients and set the filling, so that you can easily cut the pecan bars into squares.

• Vanilla extract

A dash of vanilla extract gives the pecan bars great flavour and really highlights the caramel-y notes.

• Salt

Salt is a really important ingredient in this filling- it helps to balance out the sweetness, but also works really well alongside the nuts to emphasise their flavour.

Preparing the Tin

For this small batch recipe, I like to use a 900g (2lb) loaf tin (about 21cm x 11cm x 7cm). With this size tin, you’ll get 8 square pecan bars (but you can cut as many or as few bars as you want!).

It’s very important to line the tin for this recipe, so that you can get the bars out! Because the filling is very sugary, it will stick to the tin if you don’t line it and you’ll be left with a big mess. Trust me: line the tin!

A really easy way to line a loaf tin (or any rectangular tin) is to cut a piece of greaseproof paper larger than the tin itself and place it underneath the tin.

Make 4 cuts into the paper towards the shorter sides of the tin, as pictured. Each cut should go right up to one corner of the tin.

Next, I like to fold the paper to help it slot into the tin more easily. Fold it twice: once along the two leftmost cuts and once along the two rightmost cuts.

Now, you can just push the greaseproof paper into the loaf tin, bending the longer sides around so they sit behind the shorter flaps, as pictured. Now, your tin is ready to be filled with delicious pecan bars!

I like to line the tin like this because a) it’s super quick and easy to do, b) it ensures the whole tin is covered, so the filling has nothing to stick to and c) it doesn’t require any extra butter to keep the paper in place. Because pecan bars are inherently very buttery, it’s nice not to have to add any more!

Making the Shortbread Crust

Start by preheating the oven to 170°C.

Place the flour, cornflour, icing sugar and salt into a bowl.

Then add the diced butter. Remember, the butter should be very cold- straight from the fridge. This helps the shortbread stay flaky and tender.

Using your fingertips, rub the butter into the flour ingredients until the mixture resembles the texture of breadcrumbs and there are no big lumps of butter left.

Tip the mixture into your lined tin and spread it out into an even layer.

Then, use the back of a spoon to compact the shortbread, pressing it down into an dense, even layer.

Bake the crust in the preheated oven for 10-15 minutes, until the shortbread is just starting to turn ever so slightly golden around the edges. Don’t worry if you get some cracks (or lots, if you’re anything like me and this particular test batch), you won’t be able to tell once the bars are baked! While the shortbread is baking, you can make the pecan filling.

Making the Pecan Filling

Making the pecan filling requires a few extra steps, but it’s still a pretty simple process. The important thing is to not scramble the egg, so take extra care when incorporating the hot mixture!

Start by roughly chopping the pecans. This will make it easier to chop the bars later and will ensure that the pecans are evenly distributed throughout the filling.

Next, put the butter, maple syrup, double cream, light brown soft sugar and salt into a small saucepan over a medium-low heat.

Allow the mixture to melt, stirring every now and then to help combine the ingredients and ensure you have a smooth mixture.

Once the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved, increase the heat to medium and allow the mixture to come to a boil. Allow the mixture to boil away for 3 minutes, while you prepare the egg.

In a small, heatproof bowl, whisk the egg well, until the white and yolk are completely combined. This will help to make sure the egg incorporates evenly into the rest of the mixture and minimises the risk of cooked egg white!

Once the mixture has boiled for 3 minutes, you can add it to the whisked egg. It’s very important that you do this gradually, while whisking constantly, so that the hot mixture does not scramble the egg. Pour the hot filling into the egg in a slow, steady stream with one hand and vigorously whisk it into the egg mixture with the other hand (or you can get someone to give you a hand). Once all of the hot sugar mixture has been added to the egg, you can add the vanilla extract and whisk well to combine, making sure the mixture is completely smooth and combined.

Finally, add the chopped, toasted pecans to the filling mixture and stir in with a heatproof spatula, making sure that the nuts are completely coated in the filling mixture.

By this point, the shortbread crust should have finished baking, so pour the warm filling directly onto the hot base and use your spatula to level the nuts out into a nice, even layer.

Place the whole thing back into the oven to bake for a further 20 minutes, or until the filling is just starting to caramelise around the edges of the pan.

Remove the bars from the oven and allow to cool completely in the tin, before transferring to a chopping board and cutting into squares.

Recipe

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Small Batch Pecan Bars

Pecan pie in bar form: these pecan bars have a shortbread base and a delicious maple filling. This recipe is specifically formulated to make a small batch- for when you're craving a pecan hit, but don't want to be overwhelmed by bars!

Course Dessert, Snack

Cuisine American

Keyword Maple Syrup, Pecan bar, Pecans, Shortbread

Prep Time 25 minutes minutes

Cook Time 35 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour

Servings 8 bars

Equipment

• 1 900g (2lb) loaf tin (21cm x 11cm x 7cm)

Ingredients

For the crust:

• 105 g plain flour
• 2 tsp cornflour (see Note 1).
• 45 g icing sugar
• 1 pinch of salt
• 50 g unsalted butter, cold from the fridge and diced.

For the filling:

• 60 g unsalted butter
• 40 g maple syrup (see Note 2).
• 3 tbsp double cream
• 50 g light brown soft sugar
• 1 generous pinch of salt
• 1 egg
• 1 splash vanilla extract
• 120 g pecans, toasted and roughly chopped.

Instructions

Make the shortbread crust:

• Preheat the oven to 170°C (conventional oven). Line the loaf tin with greaseproof paper and set aside.
• Place the flour, cornflour, icing sugar and salt into a bowl, then add the cold, diced butter.
• Rub the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
• Tip the mixture into the prepared tin and use the back of a spoon to press it down into an even, compact layer. Bake the crust in the oven for 10-15 minutes, until just starting to turn slightly golden around the edges.

Make the pecan filling:

• While the crust is baking, make the filling. Place the butter, maple syrup, double cream, brown sugar and salt into a small saucepan and place over medium-low heat. Stir every now and then as it heats up, to combine everything.
• Once the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved, increase the heat to medium and bring to the boil. Leave the mixture to boil undisturbed for 3 minutes.
• While the mixture is boiling, whisk the egg in a small heatproof bowl, until the white and yolk are completely combined.
• Once the filling has boiled, pour it into the egg mixture in a slow, steady stream, whisking constantly to prevent the egg from scrambling.
• Add the vanilla extract to the filling mixture and whisk well until the mixture is completely smooth. Finally, stir in the chopped pecans.
• By this point, the shortbread base should have finished baking. Pour the warm filling onto the hot crust and level it out with a spatula. Then, place back into the oven and bake for a further 20 minutes, until the filling is just starting to turn a deeper colour around the edges.
• Allow the bars to cool completely in the tin before removing and cutting into squares. Serve immediately, or store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Notes

1. Adding cornflour helps to make the bars a little more tender, but you can omit it, if you prefer. Just increase the amount of plain flour to 110g and continue with the recipe as normal.
2. I like to use maple syrup, because I love the deep flavour and colour, plus I think it compliments the pecans really well. If you prefer, you can substitute an equal amount of golden syrup or honey, but the flavour will be less intense and the bars will be paler in colour.

Table of Contents

• Bakery-Style vs Regular Muffins
• Muffins: 101
• Making the Streusel Topping
  • Ingredients
  • Method
• Making the Pumpkin & Coffee Muffins
  • Ingredients
  • Method
• Making the Maple Glaze
  • Ingredients
  • Method
• Recipe

Bakery-Style vs Regular Muffins

If you missed my last muffin post, I did a deep dive into how to make the perfect, bakery-style muffins. Bakery-style muffins are big– they have super domed muffin-tops and that perfect, fresh-from-an-artisanal-bakery look. When I bake bakery-style muffins, I like to use tulip muffin cases, because a) they’re bigger, so there’s more room for all of the extra batter and b) they look fancy. You can make bakery-style muffins from any muffin recipe, including this one!

However, I realise that, sometimes, home-bakers would rather just make standard-sized muffins. Not only does baking regular-sized muffins help with portion control (who is she? I definitely don’t know her), but it also means that you can bake more muffins at once- when baking bakery-style muffins, you can only bake 6 muffins at a time (instead of 12), because bigger muffins need extra space to grow and puff up! So, with that in mind, I’ve written this post with instructions for both muffin styles!

For this recipe then, here’s a rundown of the two muffin types:

I found that the bake time was pretty much the same for both muffin styles. While you might expect the bakery-style muffins to take longer, you’ll always be baking fewer at a time, so the heat can circulate more easily, which evens out the times.

All of this to say that, with a few little changes here and there, you can make these muffins in whichever way you want!

Muffins: 101

Whether you are making bakery-style or standard muffins, there are some rules in the muffin-verse that you should always follow:

• Don’t over-mix the muffin batter.

Over-mixed muffin batters produce tough, dense muffins. Don’t worry if you’ve got a few lumps/streaks of flour left in your batter- just go with it!

• Use the fan setting on your oven to bake the muffins.

Muffins are best baked quickly and at a high heat (at least, to begin with- more on that in a sec!), so the fan setting is your friend.

• Bake the muffins at a higher temperature for the first 5 minutes.

Bake the muffins at a high temperature (200°C fan, in this recipe) for 5 minutes. Then, turn the oven down (to 150°C fan, in this recipe) for the remaining time, to finish off the baking process. The initial high temperature helps to activate the raising agent in the muffins, which helps them to rise up and become big and fluffy, then the lower temperature helps to ensure that the muffins are fully and evenly cooked through.

Making the Streusel Topping

This cinnamon & pecan streusel topping is super quick and easy to make, but adds great texture and flavour to the finished muffins. If you just want plain muffins, you can absolutely leave it off, but I think it’s a really great addition (plus, it makes these muffins feel even more autumnal, which is a definite plus in my book!). The topping isn’t overly sweet, but, when paired with the super-sweet maple glaze, the flavours balance out perfectly.

Ingredients

To make the streusel topping, you’ll need the following ingredients:

• Plain flour

Don’t use self-raising flour, or your streusel won’t be crisp and crunchy.

• Granulated sugar

I usually use caster sugar in my baked goods, but granulated sugar is preferable here for its crunchier texture.

• Light brown soft sugar

Brown sugar adds a caramel-y depth of flavour to the streusel.

• Ground cinnamon

A small amount of ground cinnamon gives the streusel a warm, autumnal flavour, which compliments the spices in the muffins perfectly.

• Salt

Just a little pinch of salt is added to the streusel to balance the flavours and make it extra tasty.

• Unsalted butter

I prefer to use unsalted butter, so that I can be in control of how much salt goes into my baked goods, but if you only have salted butter, you can just omit the salt.

• Toasted pecans

Chopped pecans are tossed through the streusel topping to add even more crunch and nutty flavour. To get the most flavour out of the nuts, toast (or roast) them first and allow them to cool before mixing into the streusel. I do this in the airfryer (about 5 minutes at 180°C should be perfect), but you could also do it in a dry pan on the stove, or in the oven.

Method

To make the streusel, start by whisking together the flour, both sugars, the cinnamon and the salt, just until everything is nicely combined.

Next, melt the butter and add it to the dry ingredients.

Use a fork to mix everything together. The mixture should form little clumps and crumbles.

Finally, tip in the chopped, toasted pecans and mix until the nuts are evenly distributed throughout the streusel.

That’s it! Now your streusel is ready, you can set it aside while you make the muffin batter.

Making the Pumpkin & Coffee Muffins

This muffin batter is super easy to whip up- you don’t even need a mixer!

Ingredients

To make the pumpkin & coffee muffin batter, you will need the following ingredients:

• Plain flour

Make sure to use plain flour, not self-raising, otherwise the raising agent ratios will be off!

• Baking powder

One of the two raising agents in the muffin batter, this helps the muffins to puff up and be extra fluffy.

• Baking soda

The second raising agent in the muffin batter, baking soda is used alongside baking powder because of the acidic ingredients in the batter.

• Salt

A small pinch of salt helps to balance all of the flavours in the muffins.

• Spices

I’ve used a traditional combination of ‘pumpkin pie’ spices in these muffins: ground cinnamon, ginger, cloves and freshly grated nutmeg. These spices give the muffins a lovely, warming flavour.

• Caster sugar

Back to caster sugar for the batter- I prefer baking with caster sugar because it is finer and so dissolves more easily into batters than granulated sugar.

• Light brown soft sugar

Brown sugar adds depth of flavour and extra moisture to the muffins.

• Sunflower oil

Oil is used instead of butter in this batter to make the muffins extra moist.

• Pumpkin purée

You can buy pumpkin purée in cans in most supermarkets, or you can use homemade purée, if you prefer. If you use the canned stuff (like I did), just make sure it is 100% pumpkin (and no other flavourings/ingredients)!

• Eggs

I always use large eggs.

• Greek yoghurt

Greek yoghurt adds extra moisture to the muffins. If you don’t have greek yoghurt, you can use sour cream instead.

• Vanilla extract

Just a small amount of vanilla extract helps to bring all of the other flavours together.

• Instant coffee granules

Instant coffee granules are used to make these muffins into Pumpkin Spice Latte Muffins! Dissolve the granules in hot water before mixing into the rest of the wet ingredients, to ensure the coffee flavour is evenly distributed throughout the muffin batter.

Method

Start by preheating the oven to 200°C fan. Line your muffin tin(s) with cases and set aside. Remember- if you’re baking regular-sized muffins, you can go ahead and line every cavity in the tin with a muffin case, giving you a total of 12 muffins. If you’re planning to make bigger, bakery-style muffins, you’ll need to space 8 muffin cases out over 2 x 12-hole muffin tins, to give them plenty of room to puff up! You’ll have to bake the trays one at a time, but the muffins will be extra big and fluffy for it.

To make the muffin batter, start by placing all of the dry ingredients (the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices) into a bowl.

Whisk the dry ingredients together to combine them, then set aside.

Place the remaining ingredients (the ‘wet’ ingredients) into another, large bowl.

Whisk well until a smooth mixture has formed.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, then fold together, being careful not to over-mix the batter (it’s okay if there are a few streaks/lumps of flour left!).

And that’s it! The batter is now ready to be baked.

Divide the batter between the muffin cases. The muffin cases will be pretty full- for regular-sized muffins, I fill each case with 1 heaped, regular-sized ice cream scoop’s worth of batter. For bakery-style muffins, I fill each case with 2 level regular-sized ice cream scoop’s worth of batter!

Crumble a generous layer of the streusel topping over each muffin, making sure to get some pecan pieces on each muffin. It will seem like a lot of streusel topping, but the muffins will expand a lot, so it will look a little more sparse on the finished bakes!

Place the muffins into the preheated oven and bake for 5 minutes at that initial, high temperature, then turn the temperature down to 150°C fan and bake for a further 20 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the muffins comes out clean, or with only a few moist crumbs.

If you’re making bakery-style muffins, remember to turn the temperature back up to 200°C fan and wait until the oven has heated back up after baking the first tray of muffins! Then you just need to bake the second tray in exactly the same way.

I like to remove the muffins from the baking tin as soon as they come out of the oven, to prevent the bottoms of the cases from becoming greasy. The tulip cases make this super easy to do, because you can hold onto the papers and not have to worry about burning yourself on the hot muffins! Transfer the muffins to a wire rack to cool completely before icing.

Making the Maple Glaze

This maple glaze is only 3 ingredients and is so quick to make! It adds an extra hit of autumnal sweetness to these cupcakes and helps to balance the flavour of the streusel topping.

Ingredients

All you need to make this sweet, maple glaze is:

• Icing sugar

You need to use icing sugar, or powdered sugar, for this- caster sugar isn’t fine enough!

• Maple syrup

Maple syrup adds a lovely flavour and texture to the icing.

• Water

Water is used to thin out the icing slightly, so it can be drizzled onto the muffins. You could use milk instead, if you prefer.

Method

To make the glaze, start by sifting the icing sugar into a small bowl.

Add the maple syrup, along with a splash of water, and stir to combine.

Check the consistency of the icing- you’re looking for a thin(ish) glaze that you can drizzle over the muffins, but that won’t all run off immediately! To make the glaze thinner, add a little more water. To make it thicker, add more sifted icing sugar.

Once the glaze is ready, you can drizzle it over the cooled muffins. The muffins can be enjoyed at room temperature, but they’re extra lovely if you warm them slightly in the microwave, before serving!

As with all muffins, these are best enjoyed the day you make them, but leftovers can be stored in an airtight container for a day or so at room temperature.

Recipe

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Pumpkin Spice Latte Muffins

Spiced pumpkin and coffee muffins, topped with a cinnamon & pecan streusel and drizzled with a maple glaze. The perfect autumnal treat!

Course Dessert, Snack

Cuisine American

Keyword Cinnamon, Cloves, Ginger, Maple Syrup, Muffin, Nutmeg, Pecans, Pumpkin, Streusel

Prep Time 45 minutes minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 10 minutes minutes

Servings 12 muffins (or 8 bigger bakery-style muffins)

Ingredients

For the cinnamon & pecan streusel topping:

• 90 tbsp plain flour
• 2 tbsp granulated sugar
• 2 tbsp light brown soft sugar
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 pinch salt
• 60 g unsalted butter, melted.
• 40 g pecans, toasted and roughly chopped.

For the pumpkin & coffee muffin batter:

• 190 g plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg, freshly grated.
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/8 tsp ground cloves
• 135 g caster sugar
• 135 g light brown soft sugar
• 120 ml sunflower oil
• 340 g pumpkin purée (see Note 1).
• 2 eggs
• 60 g Greek yoghurt
• 1 splash vanilla extract
• 4 tsp instant coffee granules, dissolved in 2 tbsp hot water and cooled.

For the maple glaze:

• 60 g icing sugar, sifted.
• 2 tsp maple syrup

Instructions

Make the streusel topping:

• In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, both sugars, cinnamon and salt. Add the melted butter and stir together until the mixture forms crumbles. Stir in the chopped, toasted pecans and set aside for later.

Make the muffins:

• Preheat the oven to 200°C fan. Line muffin tin(s) with muffin cases (12 cases in 1 x 12-hole tin for regular-sized muffins, or 8 spaced out over 2 tins for bigger, bakery-style muffins) and set aside.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves until well combined.
• In a separate, larger bowl, whisk both sugars together with the oil, pumpkin purée, eggs, yoghurt, vanilla extract and the dissolved instant coffee granules, until you have a smooth mixture.
• Fold the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture, being careful not to over-mix the batter.
• Divide the batter between the prepared muffin cases (about 1 heaped regular-sized ice cream scoop's worth for regular-sized muffins, or 2 level scoops for bakery-style). Sprinkle each muffin with a generous layer of the streusel topping, then bake one tray of muffins at a time in the preheated oven for 5 minutes, before turning the temperature down to 150°C fan and baking for a further 23-27 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the muffins comes out clean, or with a few moist crumbs.
• Once the muffins are baked, remove them from the tins and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before icing.

Make the maple glaze:

• In a small bowl, mix the sifted icing sugar and the maple syrup, along with 1 tbsp of water until a smooth icing has formed. The icing should be thin enough to drizzle over the muffins, but not so thin that it runs off immediately. If the icing is too thin, add a little more sifted icing sugar. If the icing is too thick, add a little more water.
• Drizzle the icing over the cooled muffins, then serve. The muffins are best eaten the same day that they are baked, but leftovers will keep for a day or two, if stored in an airtight container at room temperature.

Notes

1. You can buy ready-made pumpkin purée in cans from the supermarket- just make sure you get one that is 100% pumpkin (i.e. not pumpkin pie filling).

 

Muffin recipe adapted from https://www.brownedbutterblondie.com/pumpkin-muffins-recipe/

Streusel topping recipe adapted from https://celebratingsweets.com/pumpkin-crumb-muffins-with-cinnamon-icing/#recipe

A quick notes before we get into it: this recipe can be very easily adapted to accommodate whatever shape/size cake(s) you would like to make. As a general rule of thumb, I like to go by number of eggs, and scale the other ingredients proportionally, i.e. this recipe uses 3 eggs and makes 12 full-size cupcakes, 4 eggs will give you enough batter to make 2x 8-inch circle cakes, 2 eggs will make 12 fairy cakes (flatter versions of cupcakes- I think this might be a British thing?) or 24 mini cupcakes. I’ve made all sorts using the ratios from this recipe (see below, for a couple of examples), and they all taste great!

I’m hoping to make a post at some point about scaling cake recipes, where I can talk about quantities, cooking times and temperatures, so let me know if you think that would be helpful!

For now, though, let’s discuss the cupcakes. They are maple syrup sponges with chopped pecans folded right into the batter. The cupcakes are then decorated with a maple syrup icing and a mixture of pecan halves and chopped pecans.

The batter uses 1 part brown sugar to 4 parts caster sugar. This just enhances that intense, maple-y flavour, but the cupcakes will still work if you replace the brown sugar with caster sugar. However, it won’t work if you replace the caster sugar with brown sugar! You’ll end up with a dense, solid cake that just doesn’t have the fluffiness that a cake should. Believe me, I’ve tried.

Now, let’s talk butter (an excellent topic, no?). I spent a lot of my childhood watching the Food Network, so I was essentially raised by Ina Garten (who, by the way, was the one who taught me to toss heavier mix-ins, like the nuts in this recipe, in flour before adding them to cake batter, so they don’t sink while baking!). She loves butter. I love butter. However, I was actually raised by my mum (and my dad, but he bakes bread, not cake). Growing up, we never made cakes with actual butter, but with Stork, which is a brand of baking margarine here in the UK. My mum swears that Stork produces a lighter, fluffier cake and, honestly, I have to agree (bonus! Stork is already quite soft, so you don’t need to worry about softening it/bringing it to room temperature before baking, which is a definite win in my book). I know that a lot of people have strong opinions about using baking spreads/margarines, and you by no means have to use it- this recipe will work fine if you use softened, unsalted butter instead, your cupcakes might just be a little less soft and fluffy.

Finally, I wanted to talk a little bit about the icing technique I used in this recipe. I tried my best to explain it within the recipe, but it makes it sound a lot more complicated than it actually is! I love icing cupcakes like this because of how simple the process is- there’s no piping, no needing to be perfect, no finicky decorations. You literally slap on the icing, give it a spread, straighten off the edges and roll it in chopped nuts (which truly cover a multitude of sins). A few tips: I like to use an offset spatula to do this because it helps with the movement and has a fine, straight edge, but a knife can also work. Put more icing on than you think you’ll need- you’ll end up scraping a lot off when you straighten up the sides anyway. When you’re straightening off the sides, hold your cupcake in your non-dominant hand, and, using your dominant hand, hold the offset spatula/knife vertically against the cake and run it around the circumference of the cake, turning the cake to help you.

Right, I think it’s time for the recipe, don’t you?

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Maple Pecan Cupcakes

Maple cupcakes with pecan chunks, topped with maple buttercream and decorated with more pecans

Course Dessert, Snack

Keyword Cake, Cupcake, Maple Syrup, Pecans

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Baking Time 25 minutes minutes

Total Time 45 minutes minutes

Servings 12 Cupcakes

Ingredients

For the cupcakes:

• 150 g unsalted butter, softened (I use Stork baking spread)
• 120 g caster sugar
• 30 g soft brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 150 g self-raising flour
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1 pinch salt
• 100 g pecans, finely chopped
• 1 1/2 tbsp milk
• 3 tbsp maple syrup

For the icing:

• 150 g butter, softened
• 300 g icing sugar, sifted
• 3 tsp maple syrup
• 2-4 tbsp milk

To decorate:

• 100 g pecan halves

Instructions

For the cupcakes:

• Preheat the oven to 190°C (170°C fan). Line a 12-hole cupcake tray with paper cases and set aside while you make the batter.
• Place the butter and both sugars into the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat on high speed for 3-5 minutes until pale and creamy.
• With the mixer on medium speed, add the eggs, one at a time, making sure each is fully incorporated before adding the next.
• Combine the chopped pecans with 1 tsp of the flour (this will prevent the pecans from sinking to the bottom of the cupcakes during baking). Sift together the remaining flour with the baking powder and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the mixer bowl and mix on medium speed until just combined.
• Add the milk and maple syrup to the mixer bowl and mix for a few seconds, until combined. Gently fold in the flour-coated chopped pecans.
• Divide the batter between the cupcake tins (I like to use a regular-sized ice cream/cookie scoop for this- it fills the cupcake cases perfectly and ensures all of the cakes are even. You want to fill the cases about 2/3 full.
• Bake the cupcakes in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, until they are golden brown and spring back when touched. Because of the higher sugar content, these cakes will be slightly darker than a typical vanilla sponge- don't worry about this! Allow the cupcakes to cool for a few minutes in the pan, then transfer to a wire wrack to cool completely.

For the icing:

• Place the softened butter into the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat on high speed for 4-5 minutes, until the butter is soft and significantly paler (almost white), scraping down the edges of the bowl with a spatula as needed.
• Add half of the sifted icing sugar to the butter and mix on low-medium speed until fully incorporated. Increase the speed to high and beat for 2-3 minutes.
• Add the maple syrup and 2 tbsp of the milk. Beat on high speed for another 2-3 minutes.
• Add the remaining icing sugar, mix on low-medium speed until combined, then beat on high for a final 3-5 minutes, until fluffy and airy. Check the consistency at this point, you're looking for a buttercream that holds its shape, but is still soft and spreadable. If the buttercream is too stiff, add more milk, a little at a time, until your desired consistency is achieved.
• Turn the stand mixer to low speed, and mix the icing for 1 minute. This will make for a smoother, silkier buttercream.

To decorate:

• Set aside 12 pecan halves for later and finely chop the remaining pecans. Spread the chopped pecans out, in an even layer, on the chopping board.
• Place a generous amount of buttercream on top of a cupcake. Using an offset spatula or knife, spread the buttercream out past the sides of the case. You're looking to get a flat surface, right across the top of the cake, with excess at the edges. Then, holding your spatula vertically (perpendicular to the flat surface of buttercream), scrape around the circumference of the cake to achieve a thick, buttercream 'disk' atop your cupcake.
• Before the buttercream has a chance to firm up, gently roll the straight edge of the buttercream 'disk' in the chopped pecans, right around the circle. Finish the cupcake by placing one of the reserved halves in the centre. Repeat for the remaining cupcakes.

Let me know if you try these out, I’d love to hear about it!

Gemma

xxx