Of all the cookbooks I own, the most thumbed, the most flour coated, the one with the most pages stuck together with icing is The Edmonds Cookery Book. It’s to this veritable kiwi institution that Dave and I turn for every tried and true family favorite. There has been no greater compendium of the smells and tastes of my childhood with which to introduce my American husband to the food of New Zealand.
So, with a little recipe modification on the cards, I knew I could rely on the rock solid foundation of the traditional Edmonds cupcake recipe. I had never tried a sugar substitute before as I’m quite a full fat, butter, gluten and sugar loving kind of girl, but, why consume extra calories when you don’t have to right? Natvia sent me a box of their products to try, all natural sweeteners derived from the stevia plant. I thought what the heck, might as well jump in the deep end and try and replicate the very traditional Edmonds Cup Cake recipe (modified for use with Natvia), complete with vanilla buttercream icing.
First challenge: cupcakes.
Following the tips that were included in my package of Natvia, I switched out butter for oil 1:1, I increased the milk content from 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup and increased the baking powder content by 1 teaspoon. Result: Perfect cupcakes! These were moist, well formed, rose just the right amount and nice and flat, making icing easy.
Next challenge: Buttercream icing.
So one of the tips for using Natvia successfully in baking is to cream the butter on its own before adding sweetener. Did this and made the recipe on the box of Natvia Icing Mix, and….. not bad. A little grainy – you can see this in the image above – and there was a slight aftertaste present that is absent in the baked cake. But, would I use it again? Totally. How many cupcakes do you, should you, eat in one sitting anyway? I love that I could serve these to my kids and not worry about the sugar content. Nixie loved his cupcake by the way – and no mental-toddler-sugar-rush to deal with afterwards. Win. Win. Win.
Today sees the release of Edmonds Classics, a revised edition compiling New Zealand’s favorite Edmonds recipes as surveyed by The New Zealand Woman’s Weekly late last year. New additions to the Top 20 include the classic Pavlova – of course – and Cinnamon Cream Oysters {?!}. You can pick up this must-have kitchen essential wherever good books are sold for $29.99 or you can win one on my Facebook page by commenting on the competition image with your favorite Edmonds recipe! Winner drawn Monday 20th April.
- [yumprint-recipe id=’8′]
