I am so honoured to partner up with Stork Bake again this year to bring you my best bakes.
In celebration of World Baking Day, I came up with these naartjie and vanilla cupcakes. If you don’t have naartjies available, create a dried powder from the rind of your favourite sweet citrus.

Photography: Hein van Tonder

Naartjie and Vanilla Cupcakes
(Developed for Stork Bake)

Cake:

  • 1 ½ cups sugar
  • 1 cup Stork Bake
  • 4 eggs
  • 3-4 teaspoons ground dried naartjie zest
  • 2 ½ cups flour
  • 2 ¼ tsp baking powder
  • scrapings of one to two vanilla pods/1 tsp vanilla powder
  • 1 cup milk
  • ½ cup of castor sugar
  • 1 teaspoon ground dried naartjie zest

Light Cream Frosting:

  • 2 cups Icing Sugar
  • 250g Stork Bake
  • 5ml Vanilla Essence

Decorate:
Candied Citrus Pieces
Canned Citrus Fruits

Preheat fan-forced oven to 160 degrees Celsius. If using a conventional oven, preheat to 180 degrees Celsius. Line muffin trays with paper cases.

Cake:

  1. Beat sugar and Stork Bake until light and creamy.
  2. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
  3. Combine the naartjie zest, sifted flour, baking powder and vanilla powder.
  4. Add these dry ingredients along with the milk, a little at a time to the egg mixture, until all is well combined. Pour into the paper cases.
  5. Combine the castor sugar with naartjie zest and sprinkle a little over each cupcake.
  6. Bake for about ten minutes or until done.
  7. Makes about 24 cupcakes (can also be baked as a loaf cake).

Frosting:

  1. Add 2 cups of icing sugar combined with 250g of Stork Bake.
  2. Add 5ml Vanilla essence. Add more as desired.

Decorate:
Top with crushed candied citrus if desired.

An alternative presentation if serving immediately; top with a canned mandarin segment.