Raspberry Cream Cheese Buns

What with my new cupcake books arriving from Amazon, one look at the Raspberry Cream Cheese buns on someone elses's site (made with blackcurrant there) and I had to make them. Knowing full well my family wouldn't touch them. Four of these babies were therefore made with big dollops of lemon curd instead, which made delightfully caramelly messes of the tin, but also on the buns, not that I get to touch those - I have eight buns to eat!

The original recipe is from Buttercup Bakery book (New York) and one of these days I'll try the dried cherry one from Magnolias (since I own the book...)

What you need to know about these is that the recipe is easy - as easy as muffins are, but they sink like heck given the amount of preserves you're putting in them. What they give back though, is something so moist and rich you just want to sink yourself into them. And since I've eaten two of them, I'm doing quite well!


As you can see, massive craters. If you don't want that, use less stuff (see one on right). I chose not to use preserves, but to mush raspberries over the stove with a bit of icing sugar. It causes the proportions to be more damp and I guess, results in the intense cragginess. Not that it's a bad thing. I flooded the ones I ate with leftover sauce at the end. Reasons unknown, I just wasn't in the mood for another jar of jam in the fridge. It's loaded with maple syrup, apricot and lemon curd as it is.


My version:
1 3/4 cup plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
200g pack of soft cheese
1/2 cup marg
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup of raspberry slush (chuck in saucepan, heat with some icing sugar, smush in a sieve)

Method:
1. Cheese, marge, sugar, eggs, vanilla. In that order.
2. Add the dry stuff and the milk, mixing in a bit of each till you've run out.
3. Fill your muffin tin (I lined with papers because I don't want to scrub. I admit it's prettier without and you won't have people thinking you have cupcakes gone wrong.)
4. Put splodges of jam/curd/raspberry slush on top and swirl in with a knife/spoon etc.
5. Gas Mark 5 for 25 minutes. They'll sink on the way out.
6. Enjoy.