Strawberry Gum and Geraldton Wax Cupcakes
Rustle up a batch of these fluffy moist cupcakes topped with a perfumed Strawberry Gum icing to celebrate the final day of Naidoc Week 2025. The recipe is courtesy of First Nations Food Companion by Damien Coulthard and Rebecca Sullivan, an encyclopaedic guide to indigenous Australian ingredients.
About this Recipe
While most of the ingredients will be readily available in your pantry cupboard, please note these subsitition options:
– Light nut oil or light olive oil for the Macadamia oil.
-Lemon zest for the Geraldton wax.
-Freeze dried fruit powder for the Strawberry gum.
‘Images and text from First Nations Food Companion by Damien Coulthard and Rebecca Sullivan (pictured opposite), photography by Josh Geelen. Murdoch Books RRP $49.99.’
Ingredients
Makes 10 – 12
- plain flour, 2 cups (300g)
- baking powder, 2 1/2 teaspoons
- ground strawberry gum leaves, 3 teaspoons
- butter, 125g
- milk, 1 cup (250ml)
- large free range eggs, 4, at room temperature
- caster sugar, 1 1/2 cups (165g)
- macadamia oil, 1 tablespoon
- Edible flowers and leaves, to decorate
- STRAWBERRY GUM ICING:
- milk, 1/3 cup (80ml)
- ground strawberry gum leaves, 3 teaspoons (or 6 whole leaves)
- 1 sprig Geraldton wax, leaves picked
- melted butter, 220g
- pure icing sugar, 1/2 cup (60g), sifted
Preheat oven to moderate (180C/160C fan-forced). Line a 12-hole muffin tray with paper liners.
Put sifted flour, baking powder, ground strawberry gum leaves and a pinch of salt into a large bowl and mix to combine. Melt the butter and milk together in a saucepan over medium heat (or in a microwave).
Whisk eggs in a stand mixer until fluffy. With the motor running, slowly pour in sugar and keep whisking until mixture double in volume and turns pale, almost white, in colour. Mix in the flour micture bit by bit with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon until fully combined. Slowly add milk mixture, then the oil, stirring until combined. The batter should be pourable, if not, add a bit more oil.
Pour batter into paper liners, filling them two-thirds of the way up. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre of a muffin comes out clean.
For the Strawberry Gum Icing:
Heat milk in a small saucepan until just below boiling point. Remove from heat, add strawberry gum leaves and Geraldton wax and leave to infuse and cool.
Pour melted butter into a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat briefly until smooth, then add icing sugar, a tablespoon at a time, beating until very light and fluffy. Add infused milk a tablespoon at a time, beating between additions until fully incorporated. Beat until icing is thick enough to pipe or spread.
Pipe or spread icing onto cooled cupcakes and decorate with edible flowers or leaves to serve.