Happy almost Easter everyone, or happy half term to all the kiddies who are lucky enough to be on their school holidays right now. Whether or not you celebrate Easter, you can still use the bank holiday weekend as a time to celebrate the beginning of Spring and with these cupcakes you don’t even have to like chocolate. I am the biggest chocolate fiend you will ever meet but for lent I gave up chocolate and it has been a tough slog. As I have given up chocolate I decided to make Easter/Spring inspired sweet treats inspired by the BBC Good Food Lemon Drizzle classic recipe that I have used for years and years except I have added a zingy raspberry twist. I have strayed away from the classic chocolate treats you would normally expect at Easter time because with only a few days of Lent left I want to stick with it…and I knew I wouldn’t be able to resist if I created a chocolatey Easter blog post. These lemon drizzle raspberry surprise Easter cupcakes are to be a sure fire hit with the whole family…they didn’t last more than 2 hours in my house! They are also perfect to make with the kids over the Easter holidays.
INGREDIENTS
225g unsalted butter
225g self raising flour
225g caster sugar
4 eggs
2 lemons
12 raspberries
Icing sugar
Caster sugar
Frozen raspberries
Muffin/cupcake cases
I popped into my local £1 shop and Sainsburys to find the cupcake cases and decorations.
RECIPE
• Slowly mix together the butter and caster sugar until they are creamy.
• Mix in your 4 eggs one at a time.
• Add the self raising flour and the zest of 2 lemons.
• Once everything is mixed in, pour the mixture into your muffin/cupcake holders. Only half fill each cupcake case. Add a raspberry to each before topping up the cupcake case with more cake batter.
• These cupcake/muffins that I made are pretty hefty so I only managed to make 12 with my batter and these took about 18 minutes to cook. Stick a knife in the cakes every 10, 12, 14, 16 minutes to check if your knife comes out clean to know when they are ready to eat.
ICING
• Now it is time to make your sugary drizzle. I measured this by taste. Pour about a tablespoon of caster sugar into a jug then squeeze in 1 lemon and stir until the sugar dissolves.
• Pierce a fork into the cupcakes a couple of times so you can then pour your drizzle into the cakes.
• Place your cakes by an open window to dry out and cool whilst you make your lemon icing.
• I am not a fan of butter icing so I tend to use icing sugar whenever possible. I like to use icing sugar and mix it with lemon juice rather than water. Make sure your icing is quite thick so that it comes out white in colour rather than a transparent white.
• Once you spread your icing on your cake, make sure you immediately decorate that cake as the icing sets very quickly and you then wouldn’t be able to decorate with raspberries or sprinkles.
{Cake Stand : In the sale at Oliver Bonas for a crazy good price!}
I hope you all have a lovely Easter break. Let me know if you make these and tag me in any pictures
@itsmegantaylor
Adorable ?☀