Vanilla Honey Cupcakes with Rosewater Mint Icing (GF!)

Vanilla Honey Cupcakes

1/4 cup unsalted butter

1/4 cup sugar

3/4 liquid honey*

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk (I use soy milk and it's lovely!)

2 tsp vanilla

256 g gluten free flour**

pinch of guar gum

15 g baking powder

1 tsp. salt

* I used liquid honey from Cosman and Whidden, a beekeeping farm in the Annapolis Valley that produces the most fantastic honey.

** I must be honest here. I have tried gluten-free flour mix recipes and they are usually crap, mostly because the measureInstead, I just pop a bowl on the scale and mix the flours. Generally I will use mostly white rice flour for baked goods and then add sorghum, corn or potato to make up about a third of the total weight. I am sure this goes against the canon of gluten-free baking but sometimes I like to be reckless.

1. Cream the room temperature butter and add: sugar, vanilla and the honey. The colour will be a rich caramel and if I didn't know what it was I might want to eat it on ice cream.

2. Combine and weigh your flours, then add the rest of your dry ingredients.

3. To the creamed butter mix alternately add the dry mix and milk in equal parts.

4. Fill a lined cupcake pan and bake at 350º for 12-15 minutes. I baked mini cupcakes, if making standard-size bake for 20-25.

Rosewater Mint Icing Recipe

5 fresh mint leaves

2 cups water

1/4 cup sugar

1 tbsp. white wine

2 tbsp. butter

1.5 cup icing sugar

.5 tsp rosewater

This is not a very stiff or thick icing because the mint water is quite hot. I made the mint essence because I didn't have any, what that also means is that there is a bit of trial and error with this recipe.

What I did: Brought the mint, sugar and water to a boil and let it simmer. To bring out the mint flavour I splashed in the wine. What I didn't foresee (and I begrudgingly admit this) was that I would make candied mint leaves with a liquidy candy. The liquid ended up making clear little cracks of mint candy throughout the icing, and while it was delicious it didn't really look as appealing. I might do it again this way simply to experiment with colouring the mint candy.

The candied mint:

What I think I should have done: Boiled the mint leaves with the wine and water and then add the sugar at the end. Possibly.

What I probably should have done: Bought mint essence.

1. Cream the butter with the rosewater, add the sugar and mix well.

2. If you decide to do the candy experiment, add it at the end when the icing is almost mixed. Whip it quickly.

Success!