SUMMER CUPCAKE RECIPE RECIPES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan160°C/gas 4. Put one-third of the milk into a pan with the Earl Grey tea bags. Bring almost to the boil, then remove from the heat and steep for 30 minutes. Remove the tea bags and discard.
• Meanwhile make the cherry ripple flavouring. With a hand blender or liquidiser, whizz the cherry compote until smooth.
• For the cupcakes, line 2 x 12-hole cupcake or muffin tins with 4cm-5cm deep cake cases (or use silicone tea-cup cake moulds from https://www.oliverbonas.com/oliverbonas.com, as shown). In a big bowl, beat the butter with the caster sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition, scraping down the bowl with a plastic spatula. Add the vanilla, then sift over the flours. Whisk, then divide among 3 bowls. Add the Earl Grey-infused milk to one bowl and divide the remaining milk between the other bowls. Mix with a wooden spoon until the batter is at dropping consistency (it drops off the spoon in thick clumps).
• Next, add the flavourings. Mix the lemon zest for the lemon & Earl Grey flavouring into the bowl with the Earl Grey-infused milk. Gently fold the cherry compote into another of the bowls for a ripple effect. Fold the blueberries into the last bowl.
• Divide the mix among the cupcake cases (8 of each flavour). Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden, risen and a skewer pushed into the centre comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.
• For the icing, beat the butter until light and fluffy, then mix in the lemon juice, zest and icing sugar until spreadable. If it’s too thick, loosen with a little milk. You can pipe the icing on to the cakes as it is using ?a large disposable piping bag (from https://www.lakeland.co.uk/lakeland.co.uk) fitted with a large star nozzle, or divide it into 3 and mix a little blue food colouring into one of the portions and a little red into another. You can even pipe 2 colours at once, look out for piping bags with a clever split nozzle and two sections, with one section for each colour. Or, see our video for /how-to-make-a-piping-bag/how to make your own simple piping bag.