Spectacular Cupcakes 2008 – Rosewater and cardamom yellow cake cupcake with marzipan flower

I never knew there was a thing called yellow cake until I read about it on Mansi’s Fun and Food. The yellow in the cake comes from using egg yolks instead of whole eggs, how interesting….

So when I needed to make some cupcakes for Arfi’s Spectacular Cupcakes 2008 I decided to use the concept of yellow cake. I didn’t use Mansi’s recipe but used a basic recipe for pound cake and used egg yolks instead of whole eggs. With the egg whites missing in the recipe I added a little baking powder to compensate for this.

The cakes are flavoured with rosewater and cardamom. I’ve seen many recipes for cakes with rosewater but the amount used varies greatly. Trying to avoid a soapy taste I didn’t put too much in. The end results were cupcakes with a hint of rose but nothing overpowering. I thought it was just right for the combination with the marzipan. If you’re a big fan of rosewater you might want to use a little more. The cardamom is subtle too btw. I really liked the use of egg yolks, it seems to make the cake moister (more moist?) and richer. And of course more yellow (sorry no inside-of-cupcake photo).

I actually made â…“ of the recipe below because there’s a limit to the amount of baked goods one can eat or should eat 😉 I used 2 medium egg yolks and weighed them, they were 35 g (1 ¼ oz). I needed 50 g (1 ¾ oz), adding an extra yolk would have been too much (have to be careful not to add more egg yolks than flour in weight). So I added a tbs of milk (=15 ml=15 gram (½ oz)…well nearly). So I’m not sure how much egg yolks you’d use for the recipe below. Best to weigh them till you have (nearly) 150 g (5 oz) and if necessary fill up with milk.

The decoration is made out of marzipan. My favourite molding material 😉 and also in my favourite colour combination.

Note – be sure to use fresh marzipan or well stored marzipan, mine was a little bit on the dry side as is visible in the flower.

Rosewater and cardamom yellow cake cupcakes

makes 12

150 g (5 oz) flour

½ ts baking powder

½ ts cardamom powder

150 g (5 oz) caster sugar

150 g (5 oz) butter, diced and room temperature

150 g (5 oz) egg yolks (about 6 large I think)

milk (if needed to get to 150 g of egg yolks – see text above for explanation)

1 ts rosewater

green and pink marzipan

Preheat the oven to 150°C (300°F). Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners.

Mix the flour, baking powder and cardamom. Sift the mixture.

Cream the sugar and butter. Add the yolks one at a time, mixing it in well before adding the next. (Add the milk). Add the rosewater. Add the flour in 4 additions and carefully fold it in. Fill the muffin pan and bake for 25 minutes or until pale yellow with a hint of brown. Allow to cool on a wire rack.

Knead the pink marzipan until smooth, trying not to overheat it. Roll out the marzipan to 2-3 mm (1/16 – 1/8 in) thickness. Cut it into 12 rectangles of about 15 cm x 7 cm (6 in x 3 in). Lightly mark a line about 1½-2 cm (½ – ¾ in) on the long side of each rectangle. Repeatedly cut the marzipan up to the marked line, about ½ cm (1/5 in) wide. Fold the marzipan double lengthwise. Roll up the marzipan to create a flower. Adjust ‘petals’ that might come loose. Cut off part of the bottom to get a flatter flower.

They are not difficult to make, just use your common sense and forget about my horrible explanation 😉

Knead the green marzipan until smooth, trying not to overheat it. Roll out the marzipan to 2-3 mm thickness. Cut out a round that will fit on the cupcake.

‘Glue’ the marzipan circles onto the cupcakes using whatever ‘glue’ you like (or no glue like I did 😉 You could use melted white chocolate, some heated apricot preserves or royal icing.

‘Glue’ the flowers on top.