Eton Mess Cupcakes (Makes 12)

                                           

So, last weekend was my 2nd Wedding Anniversary, hence the lack of recipes posted (we had a weekend in Harrogate eating lots of cakes at Betty's tearoom!) So, in homage to my wonderful husband, I thought I would transform his favourite pudding, Eton Mess into a cupcake. 

So, the picture, these cupcakes look a little messy, and not my usual piping, however I used my meringue pieces (available on www.theshirebakery.com) which are barrier coated, which means they can be mixed in with icing, ice creasms, etc and they will not dissolve. As a result of using these pieces, I could not use a piping nozzle, so I just scooped the icing on (my attempt at the Hummingbird swirl!). If you are using broken meringues, it may be a better idea to spinkle these on top of your icing. 

Ingredients

(Cake)

120g unsalted butter

120g caster sugar

120g self raising flour

2 large eggs

1tsp vanilla extract

1tsp baking powder

1-2 tbsp full fat milk

12tsp raspberry jam

(Buttercream Frosting)

175g unsalted butter

350g icing sugar

2-3 tbsp full fat milk

2 tbsp raspberry jam

2 meringue nests broken up (or 25g barrier coated merinque pieces)

So, first thing is first, line a muffin tin with liners (or if using baking cups as I did pop them on a baking tray), and preheat your oven to 180 degrees, 160 degrees fan or Gas Mark 4. 

Cream together your butter and sugar and add vanilla and combine.  Follow this up with the eggs and whisk, it will look a little curdled, but don't worry! 

Add your flour now and mix, then your milk. I have not added step by step photos as I usually would for the cake mix as it is the same process as the vanilla cupcakes. 

When this is done, fill your cake cases until two thirds full and pop into the oven for 18-20 minutes. When these are cooked, allow them to cool fully on a wire rack. 

Once cooled, you will need to carve a hole into the cake cases, using a knife like so: 

Now, pop 1 tsp of raspberry jam into the hole like so:

And then pop the little piece of cut out cake back on top, like so!

Now we can start to make the frosting! This can be made using an electric whisk, or a freestanding whisk, or even by hand. I made mine by hand to show that in can be done without the need for expensive equipment. 

Make sure your butter is soft, you can pop it in the microwave for a few seconds at a time to get it there if you need to. Gradually whisk in the icing sugar bit by bit, and when it feels a little too thick, add the milk and whisk until light and fluffy. Then add your raspberry jam:

And whisk to combine:

You can either pipe now and sprinkle with the meringue, or mix your meringue in like I did and scoop. 

These are the meringue pieces available online (www.theshirebakery.com)

And this is the meringue mixed in with the buttercream. 

Now to dollop your icing on and serve! (I would have liked to show you an inside picture, but these disappeared in less than an hour!)

Enjoy guys! xx