Cupcake #5: Berry Vanilla – The Bohemian Kitchen

Spring is here with its warm breezes, blue skies and shoots of green poking through the earth. The emergence of sunlight and shedding of winter coats has a certain abandon to it, like breathing fresh air for the first time in months. It puts me in the mood for a cupcake that is cheerful and refreshing.

The berry vanilla cupcake is exactly what I’m looking for. There is tartness from the raspberries and sweetness from the smudge of mango jam and drizzled icing, not to mention the soft fluffy feel of cupcake in your mouth. The splash of red contrasts nicely against the lightly browned cake, making it nice to look at too.

They are easy to make because any vanilla cupcake recipe will do. Simply bake the cupcakes and wait for them to cool. Next, spread some jam across the tops. You can use any kind. Next, top it up with any type of fresh, sliced fruit.

The plain icing is optional. All you need is icing sugar and milk. Add about a cup of icing sugar to a bowl and add about 1 teaspoon of milk. Stir until you have a paste that is just thin enough to drizzle on the cupcakes, but not so thin it will drip down the sides. Add more milk or icing sugar until you have the desired consistency. Add as much of the icing as you like to the cupcakes.

I chose to use mango jam with raspberries, but any combination is possible. You can try

• strawberry jam with fresh blackberries
• raspberry jam with blueberries
• lemon curd with fresh mango
• orange marmalade and sliced kiwi
• mango jam topped with pineapple

 Experiment, and enjoy!

D.