Cappuccino Cupcakes

Okay, so these aren't exactly a health food, but they're not bad for you either (in moderation of course) as they are made up of a third grated sweet potato, third ground almonds and a third rice flour. This gives a really moist springy cake that tastes every bit as naughty as it looks, but will all those extra vitamins from the hidden veggie content. YUM.

This recipe comes from my favourite book of the moment Harry Eastwood's Red Velvet & Chocolate Heartache and I promise you, if you love a good coffee-flavoured cake then these are little bites of heaven! I should add that they look far more like a traditional coffee and walnut sponge (only without the walnuts!) rather than the blond crumbed cake with a pale coffee hint I'd imagined just reading the title; but as I love Coffee and Walnut cake, I wasn't disappointed with the result. Anyway, they're a doddle to make and sadly very easy to eat too so here they are...

Cappuccino Cupcakes - Harry Eastwood (Red Velvet & Chocolate Heartache)

Makes 12

2 medium free-range eggs

160g caster sugar

200g peeled and finely grated sweet potato

100g rice flour

100g ground almonds

2tsp baking powder

1/4tsp salt

3 tbsp coffee essence (such as Camp)

Icing:

50g unsalted butter, cold and in cubes

200g icing sugar, sieved

50g marscapone

2 tsp coffee essence (such as Camp)

• Preheat the oven to 180.C/350.F/gas mark 4. Line a 12-cup muffin tray with paper cases.

• Whisk the eggs and sugar in a large mixing bowl for 5 minutes, until pale and quadrupled in volume. Add the grated sweet potato and whisk again. Whisk in the flour, ground almonds, baking powder and salt, as well as the coffee essence, until they are well introduced.

• Spoon the mixture into the cupcake cases, aiming for it to come four fifths of the way up each case. Place in the oven for 20 minutes until the cakes are risen and cooked. Don't be alarmed that they are flat on top rather than dome shaped.

• Whilst the cupcakes are cooking, make the icing. Whisk the butter with an electric whisk until pale and fluffy. Next, add 100g icing sugar and whisk together to create a paste. Beat for an extra 10 seconds at this stage to stabilize and appease the butter.

• Add the marscapone and coffee essence, along with the rest of the icing sugar, and mix by hand with a wooden spoon until all are combined in a happy and unified mixture. Refrigerate until the cupcakes are ready.

• Once cooked, remove the cakes from the oven and cool them in the tin for 15 minutes. I (the author, that is) usually put them into the fridge to finish cooling right down so that they are cold by the time you want to ice them. Ice the cakes, using about 1 tablespoon of icing for each one. Decorate with chocolate coffee beans before serving.

*MY MAKE AHEAD TIP: I found that putting these cakes in a tin overnight before icing the following day (popping the icing in the fridge overnight too) made for a sticky top that made the job of icing almost impossible! On my second batch though, leaving the cakes out overnight (icing still in the fridge) left them dry enough to ice the next day whilst not drying the cake out at all.

If you love baking, do check out Harry's book. It's a divinely beautiful looking book if (like me) you love to devour recipe books like novels, but it also contains some stunning cakes, scones and so on, all containing vegetables like courgette, potato or sweet potato (there's even a parsnip fudge) instead of the usual butter. All in all, gorgeous little sweet nothings for any occasion (or everyday) when you hanker for a slice of something sweet to soothe the soul.