Boho Chic Organic Coffee Crumble Blueberry Cupcakes

A while back I received a letter about a fun blog event paying tribute to baking trends throughout the decades called The Great Australian Bakeline....... my mission if I chose to accept it was to bake something reflective of  the 00's.

I did a quick search on food trends for the 00's and among many other things found that Cupcakes, Organic produce, Blueberries (as a flavor) and the rise of the coffee shop were big news.

Which isn't really that surprising to me, 'cause you know - we pretty much just lived it.

In fact I think those couple of things I listed are quite enduring and I am not sure why they ever went out of favor.

Take the cupcake.

I don't know how many times I have read a certain food is the new cupcake, but I've yet to see anything knock them down off their pretty little pedestals.

On the other hand I completely decided to ignore a few of the other big trends such as low or no carbs.

In truth I'm thinking the obsession with the low carb diet could probably also probably explain the extreme popularity of the cupcake. I've never tried a low carb diet, but I'm guessing that while your on one a cupcake has never looked soooo tempting.

Anyhoo back to the Bakeline......I decided to create a delicious recipe that combined the four noughties food trends I liked.

So I give you the organic coffee crumble blueberry cupcake, inspired by the noughties, delicious in any decade. As a nod towards another trend instead of fancy towering frosting I topped them with struesel that is actually made from the cupcake mixture to give them a boho chic relaxed feel.

I used Baker's Secret muffin tins ( which I actually use all the time for cupcakes), and I didn't even line or grease the muffin tin......that's right no cupcake papers I just popped the cupcake batter straight into the tin with no other preparation. Plus they're dishwasher safe - I know -nice! Y'all know with 3 kids that type of stuff is pretty important to me.

Not using the cupcake papers gave the finished cupcakes a nice rustic look so I decided to finish them off with a length of organic jute.

The finished cupcake was not overly sweet with a moist texture which made it more a cupcake than a muffin despite it's appearance. Perfect for morning tea, afternoon tea or a snack it makes a delicious treat for any occasion no matter the decade.

Coffee Crumble Blueberry Cupcake recipe makes 12 cupcakes

I used all organic produce (except the macadamia oil), however if you can not find any of the ingredients I used you can just substitute regular.

1 1/2 cups self raising flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup strong black coffee (espresso machine or mix instant coffee with hot water)
1/4 cup yogurt
1/4 cup macadamia oil
1 large egg
1 cup blueberries
30 grams unsalted butter softened


Preheat oven to 180 C (350 F). Place a 12 hole non stick muffin tray on the bench ready to use.


Sift the the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. into a large bowl.

Remove 1/2 cup of the flour mixture and reserve for topping.

In another smaller bow mix together the coffee,  yogurt, oil and eggs.

Add the wet mixture to the flour and mix until just combined, gently fold in the blueberries.

Divide the mixture between 12 muffin cases.

Rub together the 30 grams butter with the reserved 1/2 cup of flour mixture until it comes together in a coarse mixture then sprinkle a couple of teaspoons of mixture over the top of each muffin. Don't worry if you have a little left over.

Bake for 18 - 20 minutes.

Puple Carrot and Blueberry cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Why does purple taste so good.

When I asked my friends on facebook to guess what flavor this cake was (mentioning that the sprinkles were a clue) I don't think there was one guess that was not delicious.

Lavender, Violet, Mulberry, Grape, Cherry, Blueberry, Purple Carrot.

Yup Purple Carrot.

Mr Sweet went grocery shopping the other day and brought home some purple carrots which I cooked up for dinner and the water turned so purple I thought it would make a fabulous cake.

However as you can see from the sliced cake, that purpleness did not translate into the cake batter.

But the experiment was not a total loss in the end......'cause carrot cake with cream cheese frosting :)

I decorated the cake using a Wilton 2C tip and CK purple sprinkles.

It was so pretty.

Sometimes I forget how simple frosted cakes can look so good.

If you would like more info about Purple Carrots check out this site

Also must mention that there is a lovely interview with ME over on the Alison Lawson Cake Blog, check it out to find out what my favorite recipe is, my all time favorite party and other mildly interesting information about me ;)

Alison Lawson Cakes is also running a marshmallow decorating competition and the prize is a copy of Sweets on a Stick so you must pop on over and make sure you enter.

Purple Carrot and Blueberry Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

I used 2 X 15cm (6") tins to bake my cake but it tastes just as lovely made in 1 large 23cm (9") tin an you will only need half as much frosting.

1 cup  self-raising flour
1 cup plain wholemeal flour (whole wheat flour)
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
1 cup macadamia oil
1 cup brown sugar lightly packed
1/2 cup golden syrup (or dark corn syrup)
4 eggs
2 cups grated purple carrot
1/2 cup mushed blueberries

Preheat oven to 160C (315 F). Grease and line a 23 cm (9")round cake tin or 2 X 15cm (6") tins.

Sift together the flours, cinnamon and bicarbonate soda (baking soda), making sure you retain all the wholemeal husks and tip them back on top of the sifted dry ingredients.

Whisk together the oil, sugar, syrup and eggs and stir into the dry ingredients until smooth.

Stir in the carrots and blueberries and mix until just smooth.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared tins and bake for 1 1/2 hours or until a skewer comes out clean. Cool in tin for 10 minutes and then turn out on a rack to cool.

Once cool cover with cream cheese frosting (recipe below).

If you would like your cake to look like mine use the 2 X 15cm (6") tins and then make up a double batch of frosting. Trim the tops of the cakes until they are flat and even and cover them with a crumb coat and chill. Add a generous amount of frosting to the top of one cake and place the other cake on the top, then chill.

Cover both cakes generously with frosting and then smooth sides and top.

Pipe swirls of frosting around the top and bottom using a 2C tip. Decorate with purple sprinkles.


Cream Cheese Frosting - I doubled this recipe for the highly frosted and decorated cake in the picture. If you are just making one cake layer a single batch of this frosting will be ample.

125g (4 1/2 oz) cream cheese  (not low fat or spreadable)
50g (1 3/4 oz ) unsalted butter
2 cups sifted icing sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Add all ingredients to a large bowl of an electric mixer and mix on low speed until combined. Increase speed to high and mix for 3 - 6 minutes until very light and fluffy.

Macaron Marshmallows and a chance to win Sweets on a Stick

Yup - I'm just sticking macarons on everything now :)

While I was whipping up my macaron cake pops earlier in the week I thought that macarons on marshmallows would be just as cute.

Macaron Cake Pops from earlier in the week CLICK HERE for post and instructions

Of course I was right......really everything looks cute on a marshmallow and even cuter when you pop it onto a stick. It's so cute you just have to smile.

Which brings me to another thing I wanted to mention.

Alison Lawson Cake's is running a competition over on her blog for decorated marshmallows, with a theme of make us smile and the prize is a copy of Sweets on a Stick.

Amazon link to Sweets on a Stick

Or Fishpond (Aus/NZ)

So take these little macaron marshmallow pops as a bit of inspiration and whip up your own fantastic marshmallow on a stick to delight us.

and make us smile of course, well specifically me as Allison has kindly asked me to help her judge the competition.

Competition details are over at the Alison Lawson Cake's Blog HERE.

Looking forward to seeing all your fabulous marshmallowy creations, entries close Friday 20th July.

Marshmallow Macaron Pops

12 marshmallows

12 mini macarons - CLICK HERE for a macaron recipe, just pipe them a bit smaller

100g (3 1/2 oz)white chocolate melted (or wilton candy melts)* mixed with copha or paramount crystals in a shallow bowl

12 lollipop sticks

Holding one end of a lollipop stick, dip about 1cm (1/2") of the end into the melted chocolate and then push it into the center of a marshmallow (see picture for example), repeat for remaining marshmallows.

Allow to set.

Once the marshmallow pops are set, pick up the end of the lollipop stick and dip the top half of the marshmallow into the chocolate. Lift it out carefully and allow any excess chocolate to drip off before turning the whole pop upright so the marshmallow is at the top and setting the stick into a styrofoam block (or cake pop stand).

When the chocolate is nearly set pop a macaron on the top (see picture for example) and hold until is it secure. Repeat for remaining pops.

*I used nestle white chocolate melts mixed with a ratio of 10 (chocolate) to 1 (copha) and then mixed in flo-coat and violet americolor with a ratio of 5 (flo-coat) to 1 (food color). When I use Wilton candy melts I use a ratio of approx 7 (melts) to 1( copha).