Rhubarb Cordial & Cup Cakes
Makes 1litre of Cordial and 15 – 20 Cup Cakes
Important note – you need to make the cordial first to then have the ingredients for the Cup Cakes
Rhubarb Cordial Ingredients
800g Fresh rhubarb
400 ml Water
1tsp Vanilla paste or 1 fresh vanilla pod split length ways
1 Star anise
140g Caster sugar
Method
Chop your rhubarb into 3cm chunks and put in a large pan along with the water, vanilla and star anise.
Put on a medium heat and bring to the boil then reduce to a simmer until the rhubarb is soft and has fallen apart. Sometimes this is very quick or can take around 10min depending on your rhubarb.
Line a bowl with a tea towel and put the mixture in to it, then tie the tea towel up and let it hang over a bowl to drain for around an hour or until it stops dripping. You can squeeze the juice out of the mixture but your cordial will have a slight cloudiness to it.
Put the liquid in a clean pan with the sugar and slowly melt it together bring to the boil and simmer for 5min, Keep the rhubarb pulp to one side for making CupCakes or a pie filling.
Remove from the heat and carefully pour into a sterilised bottle and seal, the cordial will keep in a fridge for up to 6weeks or you can freeze some into ice cubes.
Great to have as a refreshing drink or add to some gin for a cocktail.
Rhubarb Cup Cake Ingredients
230g Self-raising flour
230g Margarine
230g Caster sugar
4 eggs
Rhubarb pulp (left over from cordial recipe) remove star anise
Method
Mix your margarine and sugar together in a large bowl until light and fluffy.
Add your the eggs one by one mixing well between each egg, the mixture will look quite wet.
Then add your flour and mix well, I recommend doing this in two batches to make sure it is fully mixed in.
Finally fold in your rhubarb so that it is rippled though the mixture, using a spoon drop mixture into cup cake cases.
Bake at 180 degrees for 20-24 min remove when lightly golden and leave to cool
To finish you can ice or frost your cupcakes or simply eat them plain, the flavour is very delicate perfect for afternoon tea.
