Cinnamon Oysters

I had a Tupperware party on Sunday (oh, glorious storageware - tell me I'm not the only one excited by the prospect of neatly labelled rows of containers in my pantry!) and of course used it as an excuse to bake up a storm. The Chocolate Caramel Slice of Awesome was in aid of this, and when I was brainstorming ideas a friend suggested cinnamon oysters. As I had labelled the party with a 50's theme this seemed to fit well, and I knew my trusty Alison Holst "100 Favourite Biscuits, Cakes and Slices" contained a recipe for these, and was intrigued so put them on the menu.

It is an interesting recipe, as there is no fat (aside from what is in egg yolks) - pretty unusual for spongy little cakes. The book warns, though I didn't have the opportunity to test this, that unfilled they will become rubbery and unpleasant. However, the cream filling (oh, there's the fat!) changes the texture - I love this kind of magic, where the filling isn't a separate component but alters the consistency of the item. The buttercream in macarons infuse flavour and texture into the shells, making them chewy and delicious; I love how cream softens brandy snaps to chewy perfection (though I realise many of you probably prefer them hard - you can send your soggy ones my way!); meringues work much the same way.

The process also felt unusual to me - whipping up egg whites and sugar is normal enough, but adding golden syrup to the fluffy goodness seemed weird. It looked delicious, though - like brown sugar meringue - and only served to increase Mr Cake's desire to eat the mixture raw. The egg yolks are then added to this mixture - another step that felt odd to me, as I'm more accustomed to beating these first and then just folding through the whites.

The recipe advised shallow muffin pans be greased, but I don't have shallow ones, so used my normal muffin/cupcake pans, and I didn't want last-minute-sticking-to-the-pan nightmares, which are pretty much guaranteed when you try a recipe for the first time a couple of hours before your guests are due, so I lined them with cupcake papers. I am certain I overfilled the cups - I think they should be more flat - but they cooked well and were fluffy. They were pretty tasty straight out of the oven (you understand I had to sample for strictly scientific purposes!), but I can see that once cooled they might be texturally odd without the filling.

I'm not a huge cream fan so would be keen to try them with pattisserie cream or something similar, but they were still pretty good. I'd also probably amp up the spice next time - would be interesting to try more nutmeg to create a more festive flavour - I bet these would be great Christmas treats for a summery southern hemisphere Christmas day.

 I had also made chocolate caramel slice (which I raved about here - and it is soooo good, you should definitely try this recipe!) and ginger kisses.

And it was fun, if slightly weird - Tupperware do have some fabulous products, though they tend on the pricey side. Are you a Tupperware fan or do you think the regular cheapo storage stuff does the trick?