Bakewell Muffins (Baking)

Member Name: Darkstar101

Product:	Baking
Date:	16/07/09 (297 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Individual cakes look and taste great - a new twist on a classic British favourite.

Disadvantages: Calories.

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Introduction
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The PTA at my daughter's Primary school regularly holds cake sale days in order to raise money for school funds. On specially designated days throughout the school calendar, willing parents (Mums in other words - apologies gents!) are asked to bake and donate a dozen or so small individual cakes to be sold at the end of the school day. As a regular contributor to these cake sales, I often noticed that the majority of cakes donated were of the chocolate crispie covered with smarties variety, which obviously kids love, but there were no cakes aimed at adults. With this in mind, I went away and devised a cake that would not only be visually appealing to adults, but would taste great because after all, big people love cakes too! So let me share my easy to make Bakewell Muffin recipe with you, as it has been a big hit at school.

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Ingredients
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175g of self-raising flour (any brand)
50g of ground almonds
30g of flaked almonds
10 teaspoons of strawberry jam
1 teaspoon of baking powder
150g of caster sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons of almond essence
240ml milk (any will do)
90ml of vegetable oil

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Method
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1. Preheat oven to 190ºC and line a muffin tin with 10 paper muffin cases.
2. In a bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, caster sugar and the ground almonds (the almonds may need a little encouragement through the sieve - just use the back of a spoon).
3. In a measuring jug beat the egg with a fork, stir in the milk, and then add the vegetable oil and almond essence. Mix well.
4. Pour the contents of the jug into the dry ingredients and stir until a batter is formed.
5. This is the bit where you have to be quick because the quicker you get the cakes in the oven the better they turn out. Fill each muffin case with the batter until about 1/3 full. In the centre of each case drop a teaspoonful of strawberry jam taking care not to let it touch the sides of the case.
6. Divide the remainder of the batter between the muffin cases ensuring the blob of jam is covered.
7. Sprinkle the tops with flaked almonds.
8. Place near the top of the oven for approximately 20 minutes and cook until the risen sponge is golden in colour and the flaked almonds have toasted to a light brown colour.

Remove the tray from the oven and allow the cakes to cool on a wire rack before serving. Can be served hot or cold, with or without custard.

The end product is a visually appealing deliciously light, yet nutty almond flavoured cake with a sweet strawberry surprise jammy centre. It has the flavour of a Bakewell tart, but the texture of a muffin - sounds strange but tastes great. I cannot offer any nutritional information as it is my own made up recipe, but I'm guessing the calorie count is horrific. Please be aware that this cake does contain nuts.

When making cakes for the school, I go on to individually wrap and label my muffins in small clear cellophane food grade bags which I buy on e-bay and I tie them up with ribbon, partly for presentation and partly for hygiene purposes. There is nothing worse than buying a cake with lots of kiddie fingerprints embedded in the chocolate!

Enjoy first - diet later!

Summary: Visually appealing soft, light cake which tastes like a Bakewell tart.