Lemon and Elderflower Cupcakes

With what feels like an eternal winter finally drawing to a close, I decided that these cakes were the only thing suitable to bake for the week of sun we've been promised (optimistic, I know).

Lemon cakes are one of my all time favourites and elderflower pairs so well that I can't believe I haven't made this combination before.

I used my go to cake and butter icing recipes and just added in the flavours as needed. They're baking in the oven as I type and I'm not sure I'll be able to wait for them to cool before icing in a desperate need to eat them* - I'm not a very patient person.

Ingredients;

• 8oz Stork (or unsalted butter/margarine)
• 8oz Self raising flour 
• 8oz Caster sugar
• 4 Eggs
• 1tsp Baking powder
• 2tbsp Elderflower cordial 
• Zest of 1 lemon 

• 200g Unsalted butter (softened)
• 300g Icing sugar
• 4tbsp Elderflower cordial (or less to taste) 
• Juice of 1/2 lemon 

Method; 

1. Begin by preheating your oven to 180degrees C and lining a 12 hole muffin tin. 
2. Next, weigh out your butter, flour, sugar and eggs into a bowl and beat well (I use a freestanding mixer but feel free to put your arm muscles to work). 
3. Once these are well combined, add in the baking powder, cordial and lemon zest and continue to beat until lighter in colour. You should start to see bubbles of air forming. 
4. Now divide the batter between the cupcake cases and level, give the tin a few taps on the counter before putting in the oven for between 12 - 15 minutes. They should be golden brown and a skewer should come out clean when poked in the middle. 
5. Transfer the cakes to a wire cooling rack and whilst waiting, make the icing. 
6. Beat the butter until smooth and then slowly add in the icing sugar a little at a time. 
7. In between adding icing sugar, add in the lemon juice and cordial too, also a little at a time. 
8. Once all the icing sugar and liquid is incorporated, beat on a high speed for between 3 - 5 minutes. This allows the butter icing to become light and fluffy. 
9. Pipe onto the cakes once cooled - or just spoon on if you're impatient! 
10. Decorate how you wish, blueberries and lemon zest look good. 

These are perfect for a sunny afternoon, an afternoon tea or a birthday celebration. Or, lets face it, also perfect for a rainy, grey day when all you want is a cake pick-me-up. 

*I put them outside for 10 minutes to speed up the cooling process...