Brûlée crusted Fig cupcake
Sunday, February 1, 2015 at 7:28PM 
Brûlée crusted Fig cupcake
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Fresh fruit brulee crust ... yummm!
Not too exciting if you are located in the UK but for Australian's "Yay" a range of Billingtons Sugar is available from Woolworths (at least in Victoria). The range includes the much coveted muscovado and golden caster sugar.
Now you can bake cake, desserts and the like from your Nigella, Jamie, Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood books without substituting ingredients. Plus the golden caster sugar makes for a fabulous brûlée crust when sprinkled on cut fresh fruit and given a quick torch.
Sprinkling cut fruit with *golden caster sugar and "torching" makes for a quick dessert cupcake topper.
Whether from a kitchenware store or the hardware shop, mini blow torches make quick work of melting sugar into a caramel crust.
Very ripe fruits only hold the brûlée for a few minutes before they start to dissolve into a lovely caramelly drizzle... perfect topper for dessert cupcakes, cheesecake or even a pavlova. My stepson (when he was old enough to wield a torch) loved making brûlée crusted banana slices to serve with vanilla ice-cream. Brûlée fruit is wickedly good on cornflakes, your porridge or morning yoghurt.
Today I used fresh figs, but halves of small ripe plums, or apricots, wedges of fresh peach, banana slices, orange segments and the like make a fab quick dessert. Cupcake bases that work well include almond sponge, vanilla sponge or butter cake, spiced and nut flour cakes. Ummm, something creamy for the topping is good, whipped cream, cream fraiche, a yoghurt whipped cream combo or perhaps your favourite butter cream.
Have your cupcakes ready and just before serving lay you pieces of fruit cut side up on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with golden caster sugar, liberally (but don't go crazy!!). Light your torch, pass the flame over the sugared fruit pieces (almost like spray painting, even sweeps) holding the tip of your torch 7-8 cm (around 3 inches) away from the sugar. You sugar will start to bubble and caramelise. All done, just wait a few minutes before handling, sugar drips burn! Enjoy.
Happy Baking :)
* can't get golden caster sugar? raw or white caster sugar work well or just plain white sugar in a pinch.
Ready to stretch your sugar skills? How about a toffee dipped hazelnuts or banana chips how to...
Want to know more about brown sugar? Updated chart here