Butterless Pistachio and Cardamom Cupcakes
These are healthy, spongy, no butter... you heard right, no butter pistachio cupcakes! They are delicious topped with crème fraiche. The crunchy pistachios and aromatic cardamom are a perfect match!
Ingredients
For the cupcakes
- 100 g self-raising flour
- 4 eggs
- 50 g pistachios finely ground
- 75 g sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 10 cardamom pods deseeded and crushed
- 100 g Crème fraiche
- Chopped pistachios for garnishing
For the drizzle sauce
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 cardamom pods deseeded and crushed
Instructions
- Whisk the eggs: Preheat the oven to 170c. In a mixer add the eggs and vanilla and whisk on high for 5 minutes until the mixture has doubled in size. Slowly add the sugar while whisking for another 5 minutes. The mixture should now have tripled in size.
- Add dry ingredients: Sieve a third of the flour in the mixture and using a spatula carefully fold it in, making sure you don’t knock out too much air. Repeat until you’ve used all the flour.
- Add spices: Add the Pistachio and cardamom, and fold in very gently.
- Bake: Spoon the mixture in greased cupcake cases and bake for 15-20 minutes until a skewer inserted in the cake comes out clean.
- Make the drizzle: Meanwhile make the drizzle sauce. Add all the ingredients in a pan and bring to the boil. Simmer for 5 minutes until the sauce thickens.
- Add the sauce: As soon as the cupcakes come out of the oven brush the sauce on top so they soak it up. As the cupcake is spongy it will absorb the sauce quickly.
- Serve: Leave to cool. Serve with a good dollop of crème fraîche and a sprinkle of crushed pistachios.