D: Drizzled Honey Cupcakes

I told one of my `recipe advisors´ that I was planning on making `Drizzled Honey Cupcakes´ from my other Cupcake book, written by Susanna Tee. A friendly debate ensued where she insisted that having the word in the recipe that starts with `D´ be an adjective rather than the actual main ingredient was a cop-out.  Now this may be true but neither of us really felt like date loaf or a near repeat of last week with devil’s food cake or dark chocolate whatever, so drizzled honey cupcakes it was!

So far everyone who has had a chance to try the cupcakes (including my advisor) has been very happy with the result.  The cakes would probably be appropriate all year round.  The nutmeg, cloves, and cinnamon give them that holiday feel while the orange and honey make them lighter. De-lish!

Ingredients:

5/8 cups (approximately) self-rising flour

¼ tsp ground cinnamon

Pinch of ground cloves 

Pinch of grated nutmeg

6 Tbs butter (softened)

3/8 cup sugar

1 Tbs honey

Rind of 1 orange

2 eggs (lightly beaten)

¾ walnut pieces (finely chopped)

Topping:

1/8 cup walnut pieces (finely chopped)

¼ tsp ground cinnamon

2 Tbs honey

Juice of 1 orange

Preheat the oven to 375F/190C. Put 12 paper baking liners in muffin pan.

Sift the flour, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg together into a bowl. Put the butter and sugar in a separate bowl and beat together until light and fluffy.  Beat in the honey and orange rind, then gradually add the eggs, beating well after each addition.  Using a metal spoon, fold in the flour mixture. Stir in the walnuts, then evenly spoon the batter into the paper liners. 

Bake the cupcakes in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until well risen and golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool.

To make the topping, mix together the walnuts and cinnamon. Put the honey and orange juice in a pan and heat gently, stirring, until combined.

When the cupcakes have almost cooled, prick the tops all over with a fork or a skewer and then drizzle with the warm honey mixture. Sprinkle the walnut mixture over the top of each cupcake and serve warm or cold.

Makes 12 cupcakes