Rhubarb Compote Cupcakes - Baking On A Budget!
Not only are these rhubarb stuffed cupcakes tasty and easy to make, but also a money saving recipe. The rhubarb compote cupcakes are part of my Baking On A Budget series, with energy & money saving tips for your baking.
Equipment
- Scales or measuring cups
- Knife and chopping board
- Measuring Spoons (½ tsp, tsp, tbsp)
- Medium or Large mixing bowl
- Stand or hand-held mixer
- Sieve
- 12 Cupcake Paper Cases
- 12-hole/cup Cupcake or Muffin Tray/sheet
- Oven-prove small to medium dish (for rhubarb)
- Timer or Phone Timer
- Cooling rack
- Wooden Cocktail stick
- Small serrated knife (for cutting cupcake)
- Apple Corer (cupcake corer or piping nozzle - see notes)
- Palette knife (or butter knife)
Ingredients
For The Cupcake Batter
- 125 grams Butter, unsalted & softened (4½ oz, ½ cup less 1 tbsp, or 8½ tbsp)
- 3 Eggs (medium to large) (US large to extra large)
- 125 grams Granulated Sugar (4½ oz, ⅔ cup less 1 tbsp)
- 175 grams Plain Flour (6 oz, 1⅓ cups, All Purpose Flour)
- 2 tsp Baking Powder
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract (or vanilla paste, make your own vanilla extract)
- 2½ tsp Ground Ginger
- 2 tbsp Rhubarb Juice/liquid (from frozen rhubarb, or use other fruit juice)
For The Filling
- 374 grams Rhubarb (13 oz, ¾ lb, frozen or fresh* )
- 100 grams Granulated Sugar (3½ oz, ½ cup)
- ½ tsp Ground Ginger (or more to taste)
- Vanilla Extract - drizzle of (optional)
Decoration (optional)
- Icing Sugar, sieved (powdered/confectioners' sugar - for dusting)
Instructions
Prepare The Rhubarb
- Prepare the rhubarb by cleaning and chopping into pieces about 1cm (⅓"). If the rhubarb is quite thin, cut to about 2cm (¾"), just for even cooking. If using frozen rhubarb, defrost at room temperature, or overnight in the fridge. When defrosted, drain the rhubarb juice well and reserve 2 - 3 tbsp for later. Transfer the drained rhubarb to an oven-safe dish, add sugar and spices, mix together and leave to the side. Set your oven now for 180°c/160°c Fan Oven/350°f/Gas Mark 4.
Prepare The Cake Batter
- Line a 12 hole cupcake or muffin tin/tray with paper cases. Cream the softened butter & sugar till soft, spreadable & paler in colour. (Tip - cut butter to pieces about 1cm (⅓"), & this smaller surface area will come to room temperature and soften quicker. Or try this video hack for softening butter in 12 minutes, that I reviewed. Mix in one egg at a time, before adding in the vanilla extract and 2 tbsp of the reserved rhubarb juice, (or fruit juice, milk or hot water), & mix just till combined. Sieve the flour, baking powder & ginger on top of the wet mixture & mix just until all combined.
Bake Cupcakes & Filling
- Divide the cake batter between the 2 paper cases (you can add some sugar nibs to the top if you like). Tap the cupcake/muffin tray on the counter/worktop a few times, and bake the cupcakes and the rhubarb, in the pre-heated oven, for about 15 - 20 minutes. (My cupcakes were clean of crumbs with the cocktail stick test, after 17 minutes). Transfer the cupcake tray/tin to a cooling rack and check your rhubarb. If not ready, increase the temperature to 200°c/180°c Fan Oven/400°f/Gas Mark 6 and pop the rhubarb back in till cooked and fork tender. (My rhubarb needed another 10 minutes). Leave the rhubarb to cool on a rack and remove the cupcakes form the tin, leaving both to cool down completely.
Assembling
- Mash the rhubarb and add a tiny drop of food colouring if you want more 'red' filling. (Or add some cherries or strawberries to the rhubarb before cooking for a natural colouring).
- To assemble the cupcakes, remove from paper case, slice off the top half or third, and make a hole in the centre of the bottom layer, with a cake corer, apple corer, or a piping tip. Fill with the stewed rhubarb, then replace the cake piece. Spread a layer of the rhubarb on top, before placing the top cake layer back on to sandwich together. (See detailed process photos before this Recipe Card for reference). Alternatively, you can just have just a layer of rhubarb and no coring, but there is enough filling to do both. Repeat with the rest of the cupcakes and they are ready to be served with a simple dusting of sieved icing/powdered sugar.
Serving, Storage & Freezing
- Serve with just the icing/powdered sugar, but are lovely with any rhubarb that may be left-over, with whipped cream, custard or ice-cream. ( See my Pastry Cream recipe that you can make a little thinner in place of custard). Lemon Curd, or my Fig Anise Curd, or even salted caramel sauce would all work well.
- Store assembled rhubarb cupcakes in an airtight container (I use cake tins), at room temperature for about 2 to 3 days. In warmer weather, store in a cool, dark place, (not in the fridge, to avoid condensation). Unfilled cupcakes will last up to 5 days if stored properly.
- Unfilled cupcakes can be frozen up to 3 months1, if individually wrapped in baking/parchment paper, foil or cling film/plastic wrap on top, & then in a labelled food baggie. Several layers of protection, reduces freezer burn and 'freezer taste'. Defrost at room temperature, remove wrapping and leave at room temperature till fully defrosted, before filling.
Notes
Corer - an apple corer, cupcake corer or even the wider end of a medium sized piping nozzle, all work well for making a hole in the cupcakes.
Vanilla - use Vanilla Extract, paste or bean, not Vanilla 'Flavour'. Learn how to make your own Homemade Vanilla Extract, and save money in the long-run.
Rhubarb Juice - the cake batter is thinned slightly with some of the rhubarb juice/liquid, from when the frozen rhubarb was defrosted. Substitutes would be other fruit juice or even hot water.
Rhubarb - in the photos I used frozen rhubarb, but fresh is fine too. Be sure to fully defrost the frozen rhubarb and drain really well, but remember to reserve 3 tbsps of the liquid for the batter. If you are able to source canned rhubarb, these are usually cooked, so only need draining & mashing.
Energy & Money Saving - instead of stewing the rhubarb on the hob, you can easily cook in the oven, at the same time as when the cupcakes are baking. This also saves using and cleaning a saucepan. No need to blitz or process the rhubarb either, as once fork tender, the rhubarb can easily be mashed with a fork, (to a kind of 'shredded' texture). So this saves you energy and therefore money. The air fryer can also cook the rhubarb, taking about 15 minutes @170°c/325°f.
For more money saving, see before the recipe card, and my Air Fryer Traditional British Scones recipe, which saves energy & money, as well as not making your kitchen hot - so perfect for baking in the summer.
Check out my Rhubarb Pie With A Twist recipe if you love rhubarb.
Take a look at all my different types of cakes on the Cake Recipes Page.
Reference:
1 From Freezeit.co.uk