Cupcakes: (adapted from Recipezaar)
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
2/3 tsp backing powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
zest of one orange
1 egg
Sift flour, salt and backing powder in a bowl. Add 7/8 cup sugar, oil, milk and beat with an electric mixer for 1 minute. Add orange juice, zest, egg yolk and beat for another minute.
In another bowl beat egg white with the remaining sugar (1/8 cup), and then carefully fold it with a spoon into the dough.
Bake in a preheated oven on 180°C for about 15-20 minutes, or until cupcakes are done.
Frosting:
1 egg white
a pinch of salt
1/2 cup of green pine needles syrup
Beat the egg white with salt and set aside. Boil syrup for just a few minutes.
While syrup is still hot, pour it carefully into the egg whites while beating with an electric mixer constantly. When the mass start looking like a meringue it’s done and then frost the cupcakes (do not wait frosting to dry out).
Note: This is a part of Weekend herb blogging event, this week hosted by The Houndstooth Gourmet.
- More cupcakes recipes:
- Hibiscus marshmallow cupcakes
- Chicory cupcakes
23 Comments
i am loving your cupcake recipes!syrup of pine needles, huh? i will have to find that. i’ve never heard of it before and i love new ingredients. what else would you use it in?
Never heard of pine needle syrup…can you tell us more about it? Is it traditionally Serbian?The cupcakes look delicious.
Very interesting recipe… and great blog.Margot
Very interesting recipe… and great blog.Margot
Very interesting recipe… and great blog.Margot
Very interesting recipe… and great blog.Margot
Very interesting recipe… and great blog.Margot
Yes Linda, this syrup is traditionally Serbian, but I don’t think people make it at home anymore. I first had a chance to taste it when this product showed up in the stores and loved it! Right now I’m in a search for authentic recipe to try make it myself.
Marija, this looks fantastic! I live in Bulgaria and we have pine needle syrup too – it’s “borov med” here, maybe the same thing in Srbski. It is still made at home in lots of villages – basically, you dump a bunch of pine needles and pine cones in a vat with tons of sugar and water and boil it for a week. One of my favorite Balkan foods – I will miss it dearly when I move back to the U.S. this summer.I’m excited to see a recipe with this stuff and can’t wait to try it!
pine needle frosting! what a wonderful idea! these look amazing!
You might want to check this out. I recognized your photo, and wasn’t sure if you knew about this or not. http://www.recipezaar.com/recipe/gallery.php?rid=163500
wow! these are beautiful. i also haven’t heard of pine needle syrup and am fascinated!
Pine needle syrup? Facinating! I’m going to have to try that sometime.
Yes, that is my photo on Recipezaar, I uploaded it myself, since I used that recipe for my cupcakes.
What a great post for WHB! I love it that you’ve managed to write about a completely unique ingredient. Never heard of this before, but it sounds very interesting.
such an interesting ingredient. it sounds great. i would love to try it one day.oh, and the cupcakes look great too
http://www.henriettesherbal.com/archives/best/1996/juniper.htmlhas a recipe, but I don’t know how authentic it is.
Thank you so much Stonemaven, I’ll check it out.
They look wonderful! Really original! I’d love to know where to find such syrup in Switzerland…Cheers,Rosa
My friend discovered pine needles are edible not too long ago and has been curious to try them ever since. I’m planning on making your cupcakes for his birthday next month! ^_^ I’m having a bit of trouble finding the pine needle syrup though. Is it the same thing, or similar to, pine tree honey? Thanks!~ Tristin
@Tristin – I’ve been researching about that some time ago and the term pine needle syrup is used for the both. But most of the honey makers agree that those are completely two different things. Anyway, I think you can find a recipe for honey frosting and use pine needle honey in there, and pine needle honey instead of sugar in the cupcakes.
I live in Slovenia and I made this pine needle syrup for the first time this year. I just tried it with some tea and wow! it is great. Glad to find another way to use it!
Hi Camille,I so envy you on making that syrup by yourself! Would you share the recipe? Please
I would love to make it.Marija
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