Citrus Surprise Cupcakes.

Can I call myself a domestic goddess after knocking up some vanilla cupcakes without an outing to the shops?…If so, I promise to wear the title with pride after throwing together these bad-boys on a whim:

After investing the time in making a couple of Key Lime Pies earlier in the week I had some left over home-made lime and lemon curd, which I have been indulging in at every opportunity – breakfast, lunch and tea!  In a moment of adventure I decided to put a curd surprise in vanilla cupcakes to spread the zesty-love. The zesty-love was well received and the whole batch (delivered to 5 mouths around Manchester) failed to last more than 24 hours!

1. I used a Hummingbird recipe and for once followed it to the letter (well, almost).

2. Once cooked and fully cooled I cut a well into each cupcake and added a generous teaspoon of curd before replacing the removed sponge (as you can see in the back ground of the photo I was a bit of a spoil-sport and lined up my ‘middles’ in order to ensure a perfect fit when replaced)

3. I then used a standard vanilla butter cream recipe adding a couple of drops of red food colouring and a few squeezes of lime juice to icing sugar and butter (previously combined) to achieve the colour and taste I wanted before adding milk drop-by-drop to achieve the desired consistency. Oh and not forgetting a little sprinkle of edible glitter to give them that something special!

Adapted from The Humming Bird: Cupcakes and Muffins.

Ingredients
[for 12 cakes…]
120g Plain flour
140g Caster sugar
1.5tsp Baking powder
Pinch of Salt
40g Unsalted butter [room temp]
120ml semi-skimmed milk (including 3tsps of natural yoghurt)
1 Egg
0.5tsp Vanilla extract
[…and for the frosting]
250g Icing sugar
80g Unsalted butter [room temp]
A few drops of Vanilla extract
A couple of drops of red food colouring
Squeeze of Lime juice
A few splashed of semi-skimmed milk

Cake batter: Combine the flour, sugar, salt, baking power and butter to give a grainy consistency before adding half the milk and yoghurt mixture. Mix the reaming wet ingredients in another bowl, then add them to the above mixture and beat together until just combined – careful not to over mix! Bake at 170°C until a knife can be removed clean [20-25mins].