I am back from my stressful excursion of moving houses. Let me tell you what a headache it is. I am so exhausted and now, throughly irritated because I can’t seem to reduce the amount of boxes in my house. I swear, I go through one and two more take its place.

Last night, I decided that I was going to take a break from wading through boxes and bubble wrap and write up a post. Maybe once the unpacking is all done, I will post a picture or two (I have some Instagrams if you scroll down) The most important things are taken care of: satellite TV and the internet. If you have those two going, there is peace in the house.

Anyway, here is a recipe for a cupcake. For those of you who have been following me awhile will know instantly that I never post cupcake recipes because I think that this cupcake fad has taken over the true art and skill it takes to bake a beautiful cake. But, I am not a hater, I eat cupcakes when the need arises and bake them too when requested. If a cupcake is made from scratch using fine ingredients and then delicately topped with some light frosting, they are quite amazing. I just don’t care for those piled mile high with gloppy frosting.

There is, however, an occasion for me to be posting a recipe for cupcakes. A few weeks ago, I received an invitation to submit a cupcake recipe for the Paint it Purple Cupcake Recipe Collection project.

The Pixel Project is a virtual volunteer led non profit organisation working to end violence against women. The Paint it Purple campaign kicks off on October 1st and runs until November 24. It is to raise awareness worldwide and raise funds to end violence against women by “painting” the internet purple in creative ways.

It’s a great cause and I am happy to offer my purple Berrymisu Cupcakes for their online collection and to speak out in support of ending violence against women. There is absolutely no reason, ever, to be violent against anyone.

Hope you enjoy these Berrymisu Cupcakes. They are a wonderful basic sponge cake, filled with a mascarpone cream and fresh berries. They are then topped off with a light, mascarpone cream frosting.

Save Print Berrymisu Cupcakes Serves: 12 cupcakes Little Victoria sandwich cupcakes filled with mascarpone cream and fresh berries. Ingredients CUPCAKES 1 stick/113g butter

⅔ cup/150g caster/superfine sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

1¾ cups/220g all purpose/plain flour

1¾ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

⅔ cup/160ml milk MASCARPONE CREAM FROSTING 8oz/227g mascarpone cheese, room temperature

½ teaspoon vanilla

½ cup/60g powdered sugar

⅔ cup/160ml cold heavy whipping cream FILLING ½ cup mixed berries, fresh or frozen

½ cup prepared mascarpone cream frosting

Extra fresh berries for decorating

White chocolate to shave over the top (optional) Instructions CUPCAKES Preheat the oven to 350℉/180. Prepare a 12 hole cupcake/muffin tin, line with decorative paper liners. Mix the flour, baking powder and salt together in a bowl and put aside. Using a mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla. Add the eggs one at a time. mixing well after each addition. Add a ⅓ of the flour and mix. Add ½ of the milk and beat until incorporated. Add another ⅓ of the remaining flour and blend well. Add the last bit of milk. Finish by adding the last ⅓ of the flour and mixing well to ensure an even batter. Scoop the batter into the cupcake tin, filling ¾ of the way. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown and springy to the touch. Cool on a rack. MASCARPONE CREAM FROSTING Using a hand mixer beat the mascarpone cheese until soft and smooth. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla and beat till smooth. Using a whisk attachment, gradually add the heavy cream and beat until the frosting is whipped and can be piped. You may need to add more cream or sugar depending on the consistency. Chill in the fridge until needed. Have a piping bag ready if you are going to pipe on the frosting. FILLING Mash the berries slightly so they are not so chunky. You also want the pretty blue/red colour to seep and dye the filling. Add the ½ cup of the frosting and mix together. Keep as side as you prepare the cupcakes. Take a cooled cupcake and using a sharp knife, cut a circle about 1 inch/2cm digging into the cup cake a little to make an indent for the filling. Trim the underside of the tops you cut off and keep to top off the cupcake after filling. Put a teaspoon or so of the filling inside each cupcake indent. Replace the cupcake top and press gently to smooth top a little bit. Repeat with all the cupcakes. Once all the cupcakes have been filled, they are reday to be frosted. You can spread the frosting using a small spatula or you can do fancy rosettes with a piping bag. Decorate the top with some of the reserved fresh berries and white chocolate. Notes Use a heavy whipping cream for the frosting. If you suspect that your cream will not whip to stiff peaks, whip the mascarpone cheese and sugar, and cream separately and combine the two. Wordpress Recipe Plugin by EasyRecipe 3.5.3226

While we are on the topic of violence against women, I just wanted to get on my soap box for a minute. The media is constantly going on about women and women’s rights in the Middle East, Pakistan, Afghanistan or India, and unfortunately each time Islam is blamed.

What goes on in these countries and the stories you hear about women being mistreated is all cultural. It has NOTHING to do with religion and Islam. In fact, women have many rights in Islam and we always have been far ahead of the West when it comes to women’s rights. We have always had a vote and the head covering we wear is for modesty and for our protection. We wear it so that we are judged by our brain and intelligence and not how beautiful we may be or by what we are wearing.

Women in Islam are allowed to work and they are allowed to keep all their money. The husband has to provide for the family but the wife does not have to contribute. The woman’s job in a family is to be a good wife and companion to her husband and a good mother; she does not have to cook, clean or do chores (of course we all do it, but we don’t have to!) Women in Islam do not take their husbands name. They were born with their father’s name and they continue to honour him and keep their own name and identity (I hyphenate mine so I keep everyone happy ;))

We are encouraged to go to school and further our education and knowledge as much as possible and we are also encouraged to gain knowledge throughout our life and learn continuously.

So all this nonsense you hear about women not being allowed to do such and such, please understand it’s their culture that is influencing their choices and not their religion. Most of the time the people who commit these terrible acts and enforce such ridiculous rules have no clue about Islam and are not learned in any way.

I just wanted to mention that because Islam sure gets a bad rap because of a few nut jobs who know nothing of the faith they supposedly follow.

Hope you are all having a great week! I hope to get in the kitchen soon and get cooking but my motivation and inspiration are bit dry and stressed out. Very soon, I hope!

UPDATE: I should have mentioned that these cupcakes were the last thing made at my old house! All these lovely comments where people are thinking I’m a superwoman for having made them after I moved! Nope, these were made and photographed a couple of weeks ago. xx