cwa fluffs

tender, buttery little cakes with raspberry jam centre

i “borrowed” my dad’s 1991 edition of the cwa cookery book on a recent trip home and have been rapt with the baking recipes - there are raisins, pumpkins, and coconuts abound, lashings of margarine, and endless sponge cakes

the oven temperatures are ‘quick’ or ‘slow’, ingredients are measured in salt spoons or breakfast cups, and many instructions are left to the reader to interpret

these little ‘cwa fluffs’ caught my eye, mainly for their name and i just had to make them to understand exactly what they are

they’re a little cupcake, delicate and tender (from the rice flour), buttery, and not too sweet

adapted from the cwa cookery book (1991 edition)

yields six fluffs

ingredients

125g butter, softened

60g sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

60g rice flour (or blitz and sift raw rice in a nutribullet..)

90g self-raising flour

a few tsp raspberry jam

method

preheat the oven to 200C (fan-forced)

cream together the butter and sugar

add the vanilla and egg and beat together

sift in the rice flour and self-raising flour and fold together to a stiff mixture

spoon evenly between six muffin cups

flatten the tops, then use a 1/4 teaspoon measure to carve a hole in the centre of each one

drop in 1/4 teaspoon of raspberry jam to the centre of each fluff

bake for 10 minutes

let cool slightly before serving with a strong cup of tea, cwa style

variations

in true penny’s kitchen form, i must offer a few funky flavour options for these:

almond & fig: brown the butter first, add 1/4 tsp almond essence to the mixture in place of the vanilla, and use fig conserve in place of raspberry jam

sour cherry: add 1/2 tsp crushed fennel seeds to the mixture, and swap the raspberry jam for a single sour cherry (pitted)

lemon curd & poppy seed: add poppy seeds to the batter, lemon curd centre

coffee & hazelnut: add a splash of coffee essence to the batter, hazelnut butter (or nutella) centre

swap the raspberry jam for: kaya, quince paste, dulce de leche, or any other sweet spread your heart desires