I was recently invited to participate in the Festival 21 bake sale by Fully Booked Women. Festival 21 is a two-day celebration championing food and inspiring positive change. It brings to light issues involving wasting food & how it affects our own health, social systems & planet. The Sandro Demaio Foundation puts on these types of festivals for free in our community; which is why I felt honoured to participate in this bake sale to raise money for this foundation.
The bake sale was themed “cakes I grew up with” & I jumped at the theme though to be honest I wasn’t sure what to bake, as I didn't grow up eating much cake! However, as I read through the form my eyes lay on “customer favourites” which immediately took me to these strawberry & lychee muffins which were a firm favourite at my old cafe.
Quite a number of old customers voiced how much they missed these muffins so I thought I would also post the recipe for them to try! I’ve shrunk the recipe from the epic cafe proportions for at home enjoyment! You can substitute the strawberries & lychee for any other fruit or filling you feel like; by replacing w around 180-220g of your choice.
Makes 12 cupcake-sized muffins, or 6 regular sized muffins
Ingredients
275g plain flour, sifted
13g baking powder, sifted
150g caster sugar
250ml whole milk
200ml vegetable oil
1 egg
1 punnet of fresh strawberries, chopped into small pieces
½ can of lychees, drained & chopped roughly
Method
To begin, preheat oven to 160degC, place muffin liners in tins. You can buy already folded muffin liners from the local supermarket (normally sold in packs of 24). In a large mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients and lightly whisk together. In a big jug, combine wet ingredients and beat together.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, mix until just combined. Lightly fold in strawberries & lychees. Carefully fill muffin tray & bake for 35 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the centre of muffin.
To finish, they’re delicious on their own or with a dusting of icing sugar! I finished mine with a little dollop of white chocolate & half a strawberry!
Muffins keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to five days.
