When I was growing up in Central Otago, Sundays were spent baking in the kitchen to fill up the tins for the week, and Mum taught me well. Cinnamon was one of my favourite flavours, and these cinnamon oysters were what Mum made when she needed to take a plate to an event or make something flash.
They’re lovely soft cakes filled with a creamy, lush sweet cream.
Makes 12
Vegetarian
Time – 20 minutes, plus 45 minutes inactive
Ingredients
115g flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp cinnamon
4 eggs
170g caster sugar
1 tbsp golden syrup
1 cup cream
½ tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp icing sugar, plus extra for dusting
Preheat oven to 160°C and grease a 12-hole muffin tin.
Sift flour, baking soda, ginger, and cinnamon into a small bowl and set aside.
In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment or in a large bowl with electric beaters, beat eggs on medium speed for 5–10 minutes until light and fluffy. With the beater still on, add sugar gradually and beat until fully incorporated, then beat in golden syrup. Gently fold in flour until just mixed.
Divide batter into the holes in the muffin tin and bake for 10–15 minutes until the tops are set and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool cakes for 5 minutes in the tin before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Turn cakes upside down and slice halfway through horizontally.
Place cream, vanilla and 2 teaspoons of icing sugar in a bowl and whip together until thick.
Generously dollop cream into the cut of each cake. Dust with icing sugar before serving.
Reproduced from My Mother’s Kitchen, published by Potton & Burton, available nationwide
