One bowl passion fruit-yogurt cupcakes

I made macarons a couple of days back. Well..tried to make would be more apt. I started with major enthusiasm but by the time I was done with sifting the damn ground almonds twice, all I could think of was a nice glass of wine and a movie. I somehow wanted to get it over and done with, which resulted in macs with feet, oh yes, but crinkled tops and weirdly shaped ones. While the macs were set aside to rest for an hour, Ro came by the kitchen and he even had the audacity to say 'looks like rats pissed in small pools.' Thank you very much, you shall sleep on the couch today, was my reply! Anyhoo, the macarons were a disaster and they are still on my table, waiting to go into the bin, but I'm waiting, for what? I don't know. I should just go chuck it right this minute. 

So after my macaron disaster I was a bit bummed because the sun was out shining and it was perfect for photography. I had major plans with the macs and was a lil disappointed. And then, I decided to browse (my own blog that is, how vain right?) and I came upon my all time favourite recipe..the French Yoghurt Cake. Of course, I shall just make these to prove that some things do come out nice, was my first thought. So I went and did one quick check to see if I had all the ingredients. Other than 1 egg, I had everything else. And then my second thought, why not improvise? Something I'm not very comfortable doing, especially with cakes, but what the hell...if it was a day of disasters, then I shall add fuel to fire. 

So I got hold of some passion fruit lying around (begging to be used) and decided to make a cake. In between all this I convinced (begged) Ro to go out to the store and buy me eggs. The fact that he came back with a whole grocery bag full of rubbish is another story, but hey I got my eggs, I shall not complain. 

These lil darlings are so so so so so good, you will finish it all up in one go. They are also so easy to put together..no beating things separately, put it all into one bowl and there, you have the batter. You don't even need a beater. The recipe has never failed me and now that I know it can be improvised, its a winner. They are the softest, moistest cupcakes I have ever had and its because of this same reason that I use them as the base for all my upside down cakes. No fail recipe peeps, no fail. Even for amateur bakers, this is a brainless one, so do try it and tell me how it was. Here's the recipe.

Makes 7 to 8 medium size cupcakes or 1, 9inch cake

Granulated sugar- 1/2 cup

Eggs- 2 small

Vanilla extract- 1/2 tsp

Plain yoghurt- 1/4 cup (I used Total Greek Yoghurt)

Passion fruit pulp/juice- 2 1/2 tbsp * (from 3 small passion fruit)

Plain flour- 1/2 cup

Baking powder- 1 tsp

Salt- a pinch

Flavourless oil- 1/4 cup

 

Into a mixing bowl whisk together (using a wire whisk, or even a wooden ladle) the first five ingredients till pale and well mixed.

Sift over the flour, baking powder and salt and continue to whisk, making sure no traces of flour is visible.

Add the oil and fold it all together to get a smooth, slightly loose batter.

Arrange the cupcake liners into the tray and fill each cup with the batter, till about 3/4th full.

Place the cupcake tin on a tray and bake in an oven pre-heated at 175C for about 20 to 22 minutes. I accidentally keep it for about 3 minutes longer and the tops began to brown. You know your oven best, so bake accordingly.

Do the skewer test and if it comes out clean, take the tin out of the oven and leave to cool for about 5 minutes after which you can carefully remove the cupcakes from the tin and leave to cool completely on a wire rack.

Serve along with tea and biscuits or store in an air tight container at room temperature for about 2 to 3 

days.

 

Notes: Feel free to experiment with any type of fruit juice. Replace passion fruit with orange juice, lemon juice (maybe a little less than the mentioned amount), or even honey to get a different flavour.

Also add some lemon/ orange zest to the batter.

If you cant find fresh passion fruit, you can use passion fruit juice instead. May be a bit on the sweeter side, so adjust sugar accordingly. 

*Scoop out the flesh from the fruit and run it through a sieve to get the juice.

The seeds and pulp taste yum, so don't throw it off. You can eat it all up (like I did) or mix with some confectioners sugar to do a glaze and pour over the cupcakes.

PS: On a different note... in case you are wondering what all this Sponsored Posts and videos are doing on my blog, its just that I have registered with a few marketing sites and they pay me to put up articles on certain products. Its just some pocket money generation for the blog to quench my prop shopping, ingredients sourcing fetish. So on and off you will find these posts and please don't be disheartened by the recurrence. If it is becoming a hindrance, I shall be the first one to take them off. Thanks for understanding.

Passion fruit- two ways

K I admit it, I have a slight obsession for passion fruit going on :)

It all started when I discovered a brand of exotic fruit juices and there was no looking back. Passion fruit and mango are my current favs and once I was done with the mango obsession, I jumped to passion fruit. I'm sure the next is lychee, but till then I'm gonna over do the passion fruit juice a bit. Bear with me

I have been experimenting with a few cocktails and loving the outcome. Made passion fruit mojitos for the ladies when we had some family over last weekend, and it was a hit (If I may say so myself). And then this Indian Mojito which I came up with, after Ro taught me the only way to eat the fruit- slice it in half and onto it add some sliced green chillies, sprinkle loads of salt and using a spoon mix it all in and eat to your hearts content. Believe it or not, while I'm typing this, I'm drooling.

Apparently that's how he used to have it when he was younger..and one whole afternoon we spent eating passion fruits with salt and chillies. The combination is just so awesome, I wondered how it would be as a cocktail. Whipped it up one evening and I wasn't wrong. Its sooo good, I'm thinking I should patent it ;)

Indian Passion (Mojito with an Indian touch)- makes 1

Vodka- 50 ml

Lime wedges- 3

Mint- a few sprigs

Sugar- 3 tsp

Jal jeera mix- 1 tsp

Crushed ice

Passion fruit juice

Soda water

Green chilli- 1, half slit

Passion fruit- one half (optional)

Salt- for the glass rim (optional)

Take some salt in a saucer. Rub a lemon wedge lightly around the rim of a glass to moisten it and then turn it upside down and dip the rim in the salt. Slightly shake it, so all the excess falls off. You don't want it to be too salty.

Then into the glass add vodka, lime wedges, sugar and jal jeera mix along with about 4 or 5 sprigs of mint.

Muddle well to give out the lemon and mint flavours and then top with loads of crushed ice.

Pour enough passion fruit juice to fill about 3/4th of the glass and then top the remaining with soda water.

Using the slit chilli, slightly stir the contents and leave it in or take it out if you don't want it too spicy.

Spoon out the passion fruit pulp and seeds and add it to the drink, sprinkle some more jal jeera mix on top, garnish with mint and drink away.

Notes: Rimming the glass is purely optional. I have tried it both ways and it's really a personal choice.

Crushed ice is available to buy, but you can also make your own by putting some ice cubes in a freezer bag, wrapping it in a towel and then whacking the hell out of it using a mallet or rolling pin. Store it in the bag itself.

I ran out of crushed ice when I made the drink, so used ice cubes, which was absolutely perfect as well

The jal jeera mix also can be avoided if you are not that big a fan. In that case, rimming the glass is a must for that salt kick.

Go ahead and do a non alcoholic version without the vodka, and I'm sure it would be just as nice.

Passion fruit Iced tea

This was the outcome on one of those Saturdays the heat wave took over UK. Ro had somehow managed to sleep in spite of the dreadful heat and I was getting pretty agitated by that, and to keep myself sane, I whipped up this iced tea. It turned out pretty decent and although I may not really have to make them for the next 6 months, here I am adding it to the passion fruit madness.

Makes 3 to 4 tall glasses, recipe from here

Tea bags- 4

Boiling water- 1 litre

Caster sugar- 3 to 4 tbsp (adjust according to taste)

Lemon juice- 1/4 cup

Passion fruit juice- 3/4 cup

Lemon, 1 thinly sliced

Place the tea bags in a pitcher and pour in the boiling water.

Let it steep for about 3 minutes and then remove the tea bags.

Stir in the sugar till dissolved followed by lemon juice and passion fruit juice.

Refrigerate for at least half an hour.

When ready to serve, add the lime slices and pour into a glass filled with ice.

garnish with mint leaves and drink away.

Notes: Add some orange juice as well for more flavour.

I like it pretty sweet so I ended up adding more sugar. You can use honey as well.

Don't keep the tea bags in for long, it could turn out bitter