Jade: Bitemyberries

I read a lot of food blogs..and I mean a lot. You'd expect..or in my poor dad's case hope to find at least some clever journals or revision sites on my list of bookmarked sites..but the last time I had a look there was one page I'd saved on heart murmurs about 4 years ago...Food related sites, however..now that's a completely different story...there are about 6 pages on how to make bakwa...10 on ayam pongteh in my quest to find the most authentic version...and I'm not even going to bother keeping track of the memory space dedicated to cupcakes and cookies...I think the most interesting bit about all this, besides the odd 'why didn't I think of that' moments~coke float cupcakes anyone?..is observing the trends floating around. First there were cupcakes..then macarons..at some point I think everyone was making artisan loaves....and then came the fruit pastry cake. Beautifully arranged fruit glistening like little edible jewels enveloped in tender crumbs of cake..I don't normally follow trends..but this time,I just had to make an exception..

Fruit pastry cupcakes~

100g salted

100g castor sugar-I used vanilla sugar

50g yoghurt

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

Pinch of salt

1 tsp lemon zest

3 large eggs

210g SR flour

1 tsp baking powder

Fruit~ I used canned peaches and fresh strawberries because that's what I had

1. Preheat oven to 180'C.

2. Wash fruit and dry thoroughly

3. Add the zest to the sugar and rub to release the oils

4. Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy, then add eggs slowly

5. Add vanilla and salt, give it a quick mix and add yoghurt

6. Now either fold in the flour or beat on low speed..I wouldn't overdo the beating

7. Scoop the batter into paper cup

8. Cut your fruit into desired size, and go crazy with the arrangement, just don't press them into the batter or they'll just disappear when your cake rises

9. Bake for about 15 minutes, cover with tin foil to prevent over-browning and bake for another 10-15 minutes

10. Let cool and marvel at the sheer artistry of these little cakes. You could dust them with icing sugar..I was lazy