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Pistachio & Almond Cupcakes with Pomegranate Buttercream

Dina Macki

These cupcakes were inspired by a bag of pistachios I received from Iran as well as the spirit of Pomegranate Season. So light and fluffy with such a rich nutty flavor I added in almonds to enhance on the pistachio flavor, you could just use double the quantity of pistachios but I know in the UK they are super expensive so I wanted to make sure I could find a recipe that gave you the same nutty flavour without ruining your bank balance!

As for the green sponge, well the pistachios make it very green however I did add in a few drops of colour to real enhance on the colour (the gram made me do it!). So don’t panic if the colour isn’t as bright as mine.

Ingredients:

Sponge:

  • 200g Self Raising Flour

  • 50g Ground Pistachios

  • 50g Ground Almonds

  • 250g Room Temperature Dairy Free Butter (or Normal, your choice)

  • 50ml of Coconut Milk (any milk of your choice)

  • 2 Large Eggs

  • 200g Caster Sugar

  • 1 TSP Vanilla Extract

Buttercream:

  • 500g Icing Sugar

  • 90g Dairy Free Butter (Butter of your choice)

  • 3 TBSP Pomegranate Molasses

  • 2 TBSP Coconut Milk (Milk of your choice)

  • Fresh Pomegranates for Decoration

Method:

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°c and line a 12 cupcake hole tin.

  2. In a mixing bowl combine all the ingredients for the sponge.

  3. Whisk it all together as quickly as possible, try not to do it too long as you risk losing the air and allowing the eggs to be over beaten.

  4. As soon as your batter is nice and smooth stop.

  5. Distribute the batter evenly across the 12 cases. Ideally you want the batter to fill up to 3/4 of each cupcake case.

  6. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until the sponge has cooked through.

  7. In the mean time prepare the buttercream.

  8. Make sure your butter is at room temperature. Whisk it in a bowl to allow it to become to become fluffy and pale.

  9. Then sieve in the icing sugar and whisk/beat it to incorporate it all. If it starts to look crumbly add in the milk 1 tablespoon at a time to help smooth it out.

  10. Then add in your molasses.

  11. Mix it all in well, and you should be left with a nice creamy buttercream.

  12. Remove the cupcakes from the oven and allow to cool.

  13. To pipe your buttercream is really up to you. I used a 1B piping nozzle and did basic swirls. These would also look lovely as roses too.