I recently had the chance to play with some of the NomSense lemon curd and I was offered a full jar of it, just as long as I could think of a good way of utilising the wares in my baking.
I had to try a good spoonful of the lemon curd before baking with it – in your interests of course. So for the good of you, dear readers, I’m happy to report that it was really delicious. The lemon curd is a more subtle flavour than really strong and sparky but this is really good for me, it means I can enjoy it on toast, with cupcakes or on a scone without it being overbearing and too powerful. That’s not to say it’s mild by any stretch, it’s just not full of artificial crap so the lemon is creamy rather than too sour.
With a ‘glamping’ hen do coming up and having been volunteered to bake cupcakes for the afternoon tea segment of the festivities and with me thinking that if I bake spring- then spring will happen… I decided that lemon cupcakes would be ideal. So here’s the recipe:
For the cupcakes
3 eggs (weighed at 274g so …)
274g baking margarine
274g SR flour
274g caster sugar
1 jar of @LadyNom’s Lemon Curd
Vanilla Extract, 1/4 tsp
zest of 2 unwaxed lemons
For the icing
300g icing sugar
zest and juice of 2 lemons
150g butter or baking margarine
dash of milk
Cream the margarine and sugar in a bowl together with an electric mix or a wooden spoon. When fluffy, add the vanilla and eggs, add a dash of flour if required to stop curdling. When the eggs have been added add the flour and zest, combine but don’t over beat.
Add 1 tea spoon of the mix to a cupcake case, then add 1 tea spoon of lemon curd (or a little more if you have enough) then fill the cupcake cases to just below the top of the cases.
Bake in the oven for 35 minutes
When cooled for 10 minutes in the tins, turn out to a cooling rack and leave to cool sufficiently.
For the icing, blitz the icing sugar in a food processor to get rid of lumps, add the margarine or butter then add the zest and juice of 2 lemons. Then a dash of milk, literally no more than 1/2 tablespoon or it will become too runny. When firm enough to pipe put into an icing bag complete with a star nozzle.
When the cakes are totally cooled, cut a shallow hole in the top, not deep or you’ll run into the curd at the bottom, then pipe in just enough icing to fill the hole, I cut the ‘hole’ part – the bit that comes out of the cake, into 2 and made it into a butterfly like my mam used to when I was little. This made them look really sweet. When they were all filled with icing I dusted them with icing sugar and voila. Lemon butterfly cakes.
You may have noticed, dear reader, that the picture above is not of the cupcake I described. Well there’s a simple reason for that. Remember when I said I did the cakes for a ‘glamping’ hen-do? Well, I took the icing into the field to finish them, and well, if you can remember the weekend of the 13th-14th April you’ll remember the torrential rain and 70mph wind? Well, the ‘glamping’ didn’t really happen either, we had one portaloo for 25 girls, no sinks, no beds and no paths, no lights and no mirrors. It was like a scene from platoon when we finally left but it was a great laugh and the cakes went down a treat. However, my camera didn’t capture decent pictures, the rain ruined the shots and the light was non-existent. The picture is of a cake that I sampled at home- in your name again dear readers.