White Nectarine / Banana Mini Cupcakes

The inevitable has happened to me........ my Indian curry puff  pictures were used, without my consent, by a company to promote its baking course in its Facebook page. I discovered it only because I happen to 'like' the page. When I first saw the posts in which my pictures were used, I could not believe my eyes! Just to be sure, I had to ask my husband if he recognised the pictures!

I've read about other bloggers whose pictures have been used by others in facebook pages, magazines, restaurant menus & banners, but I just could not believe myself when a registered company which obviously has invested a substantial amount of funds in it, boasts a fully-equipped kitchen for rental & has more than 10 000 fb page likes, would steal pictures from a small fry like me! Clearly, this company has integrity issues!

What makes me more furious is, it was a double whammy for me. Not only did the company steal my pictures, it also deceived me & more than 10 000 fans by using beautiful pictures, that I now realise are not all theirs, to sigh up for their courses! After dropping a few comments all over the page, I received an apology from  the company & it explained that it had "overlooked" the use of my pictures. 'Overlooked', to me, is an understatement....

Anyway, now my pictures have all been removed from the page, so I'm done with this unpleasant episode. It's my first, & hopefully, it'll be my last.

And now to my baking episode.......  I baked White Nectarine mini cupcakes two weeks ago. Had wanted to post the recipe last week but my hectic schedule was in the way. I had wanted to use up some fragrant white nectarines in the fridge, so I baked these delightful mini cakes. Since there were not enough nectarines to top all the cakes, I used sliced bananas for some. Not surprisingly, the ones with bananas tasted sweeter & turned out more fragrant. I like the banana topping better. So here is the recipe.

The cupcakes with sliced banana topping,  I prefer these....

White Nectarine Mini Cupcakes

Ingredients:
1 cup cake flour or all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup (125g) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
orange zest from 1 orange
1/3 cup milk + 1/2 tsp vinegar (or 1/3 cup buttermilk)

3-4 ripe white nectarines (or other fruits like peaches, bananas or strawberries), peeled and sliced thin
3 tablespoons turbinado  sugar (I used dry demerara sugar.)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Grease mini muffin tin (for 24 muffins) with baking spray or butter.
2. Combine milk & vinegar & leave aside. The mixture will curdle after a while.
3. Whisk together the flour, baking powder & salt in a small bowl.
4. In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the brown sugar & butter together for several minutes until light and fluffy. Add the egg, vanilla and orange zest on low speed. Scrape down the sides.
5. With the mixer running on low speed, alternate between adding the flour mixture and milk until just combined. Scrape down the sides and stir by hand briefly to make sure the batter is evenly mixed.
6. Distribute the batter into the muffin cups and flatten the tops. Place a few slices of nectarine on top of each cake and press slightly into the batter. Sprinkle the turbinado sugar generously on top of each cake.
7. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

Makes 24 mini cakes.

Recipe adapted from Savory Simple.