T

his weekend I was pleased enough to be able to indulge in creating some pretty, girlie, sweet and dainty little cupcakes for a friends engagement party! A chance to get out the edible glitter and pink sprinkles for a little celebration!

Lemon sponge topped with a rose of vanilla buttercream and all exaggeratingly sprinkled with freeze dried raspberries and edible glitter. I don’t have a sweet tooth so I’m not a huge baker as such but I do appreciate a good buttercream icing. And this piping bag vat of the creamy sweet icing was probably the best buttercream I’ve ever made. Using an unrefined icing sugar (Billington’s Golden Icing Sugar) worked a treat. Not only did it not need sieving which is always a bit of a dull and trivial kitchen chore but it has a natural honeyed molasses flavour which added a beautiful depth of flour and golden colour. Freckled with the seeds of some bursting ripe vanilla pods it sat swirled and temptingly onto of these fluffy lemon sponges.

A great party and lovely celebration! Although I seem to have volunteered to make the wedding cake now…

Makes around 60 mini cupcakes

Cupcakes

• 220g unsalted butter
• 220g caster sugar
• 220g self raising flour
• 1 large 1stp baking powder
• 4 eggs
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Buttercream

• 250g unsalted butter
• 400g ‘Billington’s Golden icing sugar’
• 2 vanilla pods
• Freeze dried raspberries (optional)
• Edible glitter optional

1. Preheat the oven to 180 and line a mini muffin tray with some mini muffing cases (you can also use normal cupcake size but it will obviously make less)
2. Cream the butter and caster sugar together until fluffy.
3. Beat in the eggs one by one. Add the vanilla
4. Sieve in the flour and baking power and stir to combine well.
5. Finally stir in the lemon zest.
6. Spoon about 1 tbsp of mixture into each muffin case and bake for 13-15 minutes until just golden and cooked.
7. Remove from the tray and leave to cool. Repeat using the same tray until you have used up all the mixture. Leave all the cakes to cool completely.
8. Meanwhile make the butter cream. Cream the butter with half the icing sugar until creamy.
9. Cream in the vanilla seeds and the rest of the icing sugar.
10. Add a few splashes of milk to thin out the mixture if it is a bit thick.
11. Spoon into a piping bag with a nozzle shape of choice.
12. When the cakes are cold, pipe the icing on top.
13. Sprinkle with the raspberries and edible glitter if you like

A

utumn spices! There is nothing I love more than an apple crumble overdosed with cinnamon, studded with butter chunks of crumble and drowned in (cold) Ambrosia custard. Heaven in a warm bowl on a winters evening by the fire. But with the Bake Off still dominating our papers, TV’s interview and food magazines like Slade at Christmas how could I not make a cake? With a visit to Granny planned for Sunday the excuse was inexcusable. And so the creation began. I absolutely adore this apple butter-jam which I used on various recipes such as my apple crumble ice cream. It is so richly flavoured and soothing. Cinnamon and mixed spice add a beautiful warmth and the substation here of some caramel flavoured muscavado sugar in the sponge keeps this cake amazingly moist and richly flavoured. I’ve added a hint of fresh lemon zest to the buttercream to cut through some of the sweetness and I’d suggest either using homemade granola as you can adjust the sugar levels appropriately.

Cake

• 6 oz softened butter
• 3 oz caster sugar
• 3 oz light muscavado sugar
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 6 oz self raising flour
• 1 heaped tsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp ground cinnamon

Apple Jam

• 4 large crunchy apples, peeled and cubed
• 100g light muscavado sugar
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp each mixed spice and ground ginger
• 1 knob butter
• 100ml water

Buttercream

• 125g butter
• 100g icing sugar
• Zest of 1/2 lemon
• 1 large handful of granola (recipe here) or baked crumble topping (recipe here)

1. Line 2x 6 inch cake tins with parchment and preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. Begin making the apple jam which can cool while you make the cake. Add the chopped apples to a saucepan and add the water. Over a low heat, bring the water to a simmer and gently soften the apples for about 10 minutes or so until the apples are soft and tender. Add a touch more water if needed. Once soft, drain the majority of the water keeping a little in the pan to enable it to puree well and add the sugar, spices and the butter. Mix and then blend thoroughly in a food processor until smooth and well combined.
3. Tip back into the saucepan. If it is too thin (note it will thicken on cooling) heat gently on the hob for 5-10 minutes to thicken a little and reduce. Set aside to cool
4. For the cakes, cream the butter and sugars until soft. Add the eggs one by one.
5. Sift in the flour, cinnamon and baking powder and combine well.
6. Spoon the mixture into the tins and bake for around 30 minutes until cooked. Leave to cool in their tins once done.
7. Meanwhile, make the buttercream by combining the butter, icing sugar and lemon zest in a food processor then spoon into a piping bag if you want to pipe this onto the cake.
8. Once all elements are cooled, assemble the cake! It is pretty open to interpretation here. Pipe the buttercream or simply spread on top. Start however by spreading a layer of apple jam on the base layer cake. Top with butter cream.
9. Place the second cake on top and top with another layer of apple jam. Finally, sprinkle over your homemade granola, cooked crumble or similar.
10. Enjoy the flavours of Autumn!