LEMON AND ELDERFLOWER CUPCAKES
October 12, 2018
This cake is delicious and light with a delicate pairing of lemon and elderflower in both the cake and buttercream. For the finishing touch, we decorated them with a white chocolate flower and sprinkling of crushed lemon sherbets. The lemon sherbets were a last-minute decision but they work soooo well! They add a lovely crunch and sharp lemony zing that cuts through the sweetness of the buttercream. They are almost too pretty to eat, almost, but we devoured them pretty quick! Keep scrolling for the recipe...
Ingredients:
(makes 12)
For the cakes...
4oz butter
4oz caster sugar
2 eggs
1 lemon, zest and juice
1 tbsp elderflower syrup
1 tsp baking powder
4 oz self-raising flour
For the buttercream...
4oz butter, unsalted
8oz icing sugar
zest of 1 lemon
1 tbsp elderflower syrup
For decoration...
100g white chocolate
lemon sherbets, crushed
Creating the decoration from scratch is completely optional, but if you want to decorate with these super cute chocolate flowers then here's how...
To make these chocolate flowers set and stay shiny and hard at room temperature you will need to temper the chocolate. To do this chop up the white chocolate into small pieces and place about 1/3 into the fridge. Melt the other 2/3 either in the microwave or over a pan of hot water and bring it up to 45-50°C. When it reaches this temperature, quickly take it off the heat, add your cold chocolate and stir to reduce the temperature down to 26/27°C as quickly as you can. Standing the bowl of melted chocolate in a bowl filled with cold water (not too cold though), can really speed up the process. When you have it down to 26/27°C, you want to bring it back up to 28/29°C but make sure not to heat it up any higher or you will have to start all over again.
Pour the chocolate into a piping bag and pipe your flower shapes onto a sheet of greaseproof paper. Put aside to set and harden.
Preheat your oven to 200°C/180°C Fan/Gas mark 6 and line a cupcake tray with cupcake cases.
Beat together the butter and caster sugar until light and fluffy. Then, beat in the eggs, elderflower syrup and zest and juice of 1 lemon. Finally, add in the flour and baking powder and mix until combined into a smooth batter.
Beat together the butter and caster sugar until light and fluffy. Then, beat in the eggs, elderflower syrup and zest and juice of 1 lemon. Finally, add in the flour and baking powder and mix until combined into a smooth batter.
Spoon the batter into the cupcake cases filling each to about 3/4 full. Bake in your pre-heated oven for around 15-18 minutes or until golden brown and an inserted skewer comes out clean. Set aside on a wire rack to cool.
While the cupcakes are cooling you can begin to make the buttercream. Beat the butter until soft and then beat in the lemon zest and elderflower syrup until fully combined. Then, beat in the icing sugar a bit at a time. You may need more icing sugar than stated - it really depends on the butter you use - so keep adding a tablespoon at a time until you have the right consistency. It needs to be thick enough to keep its shape but not too thick that it's too hard to pipe. Pipe the buttercream onto the cupcakes swirling from the outside in. Decorate with your white chocolate flower decorations and sprinkle with your crushed lemon sherberts.
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