Amarena Cherry Cupcakes for Sweet New Zealand, and remembering friends

Ingredients

120 g butter

3 eggs

130 g sugar

1/2 tsp lemon zest

200 g self-rising flour

60 ml milk

12 Italian Amarena Cherries (I used Toschi)

to sprinkle:

icing sugar

Fresh As Blackcurrant powder

Makes 12 cupcakes

Preheat the oven to 175°C. Line a 12-muffin tray with cupcakes paper cups.

Melt the butter in a jug, either in the microwave or in the oven (while the oven is warming up for the cupcakes). Place the eggs and sugar in a mixing bowl and whisk, using an electric beater, until the mixture looks light and pale yellow in colour. Slowly add the melted butter and the lemon zest. Keep beating at a low speed now; add half of the flour followed by half of the milk. Add the rest of the flour and milk and keep beating making sure that there are no lumps. Divide the mixture between the 12-cupcake cases and add one cherry on top of each cupcake, pressing it down lightly.

Bake for about 18-20 minutes, until golden brown at the top. You can also check by inserting a toothpick into the cupcakes: if it comes out clean the cupcakes are ready. Remove the cupcakes from the tin and let them cool down. Mix the icing sugar with the Fresh As Blackcurrant powder and dust the top of the cupcakes.

This recipe is for Sweet New Zealand, this month hosted by Bridget of After Taste. All Kiwi bloggers living in NZ or overseas can participate, for inspiration just have a look at last month's event, hosted by Sugar and Spice.

Blogger Arfi proposed to dedicate this Sweet New Zealand session to our fellow blogger and friend Barbara of Winos and Foodies, who passed away last Saturday. Barbara was a real lady, in every sense, and we will all miss her. She is also one of the first blogger I have met when I started blogging  (I guess that in those days we didn't have many NZ bloggers!), but among all of us Kiwi bloggers I think that Arfi was possibly the one who knew her better, so I will direct you to her words to farewell Barbara.

These are sad times, I have also lost another friend last week, he was only 49 and he left behind a wife and two kids, and a big hole in our hearts. I didn't really plan to talk about him here, in my blog, in a way it is so personal, as his wife is one of my closest and oldest Italian girlfriends, and a colleague too, and when we live all so far away from home we have become like an extended family. But cancer is such a terrible illness, and after so much crying I just want to say to all of us: please, let us look after ourselves.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©