Yay! Our super fruity and bright Lemon and Passion Fruit Ombré cupcakes were featured in this month’s issue of Craftseller magazine! Head to page 12 of the magazine to see our zesty cupcakes in all their glory. If you’d love to re-create these particular cupcakes yourself why not give our recipe a try?
Now that we are in the middle of summer we thought we’d share a popular recipe of ours that is perfect barbecues and parties! These Lemon and Passion Fruit cupcakes are fruity, bright and fun. Add some Lemon Sherbet Crystals and you’ll be left with lovely tangy and fizzy buttercream!
Makes approximately 12 cupcakes
226g self raising flour
226g butter
226g caster sugar
4 eggs
Step one: Preheat your oven to Gas Mark 3/325F/170C
Step two: Cream the butter with sugar, flour and then the eggs.
Step three: Set out twelve cupcake cases in your pan and fill each case 2/3 full.
Step four: Bake from around 12-18 minutes or until a golden brown on top and leave to cool on a counter.
We make our buttercream using our own intuition. We’ve tried countless recipes; all of which failed to pass our test (and stability) tests. It’s best that you begin to develop and ‘eye’, ‘feel’ and ‘taste’ so that you know when your frosting is perfect for you. For starters though, the recipe below is a rough guide…
250g butter
250-350g icing sugar
1-2 teaspoons of Lemon Extract
1-2 teaspoons of Passion Fruit Essence
Orange Food Gel Colour Paste
Golden Yellow Food Gel Colour Paste
868 piping tip/nozzle
Piping bags
Lemon Sherbet Crystals
Step one: Cut your butter into small cubes and cream your butter until soft. Gradually add icing sugar until a good consistency.
Step two: Separate your buttercream into two halves. Add some Passion Fruit Essence with Orange Food Gel Colour Paste to one half. To the other add Lemon Extract with some Golden Yellow Food Gel Colour Paste.
Step three: Scoop each flavour buttercream into separate piping bags fitted with an 868 piping tip/nozzle (this tip/nozzle creates lovely linear patterned buttercream).
Step: To pipe begin with your darker colour (Passion Fruit) and pipe one layer of buttercream onto your cupcakes. Now pipe your light colour (Lemon) buttercream atop.
For a little extra pop of flavour sprinkle your cupcakes with Lemon Sherbet Crystals!
Now you can sit back and enjoy these fruity cupcakes! We suggest keeping them all to yourself.
As discussed in June’s development post our inspiration for this month’s cake was tart, fruity flavours. Our lemon, lime and passion fruit combination naturally lead us to create a fresh, vibrant colour palette full of tonal yellows, oranges and green! The ombré buttercream technique we used combined the summer hues of lemon and yellow perfectly and baked inside the cake are flecks of lemon and lime zest to add extra flavour and bursts of bright green.
Makes approx. 2-3 x 8″ circle layers depending on thickness of each layer
7-8 free range eggs by The Happy Egg Co. depending on egg size
453g self raising flour
453g caster sugar
453g butter
Zest from 2 lemons (optional)
Zest from 2 limes (optional)
Natural Lemon Extract
Natural Lime Extract
Pre-heat an oven to Gas Mark 3/325F/170C.
Cream your butter in a mixer then add the sugar. Add in the flour along with half of the happy eggs for around one minute. Once half of the happy eggs are combined add the remaining eggs. Mix for about 5 minutes.
Separate your batter into two or three clean bowls (depending on how many layers you’d like) and flavour each with either lemon or lime extract (and zest if you’ve opted for this… do bear in mind that having the zest inside your cake is a little like choosing orange juice with ‘bits’).
Pour batter into an 8″ cake tin/pan around (we aim for the batter to reach 1 1/2 to 2cm in height in the tin) place on the top shelf. Bake for around 40-50 minutes or until ready. Repeat this step to create your second and third layer. When all layers are baked leave them to cool fully as you prepare your buttercream!
For the buttercream you will need…
453g butter (don’t use margarine as the water content is higher and not suitable for buttercream)
453g – 553g icing sugar (choose your own consistency and taste)
Natural Passion Fruit Essence (flavour to taste)
Add half of the of butter into your mixer and cream. Then gradually add icing sugar and the remaining butter (cut into cubes) until you get a smooth, creamy texture.
Add in the passion fruit essence to taste. Separate the buttercream evenly into three clean bowls and colour each a darker shade than the last.
The ombré buttercream technique
Achieving an ombré technique with buttercream is much simpler than with fondant as any mistakes can be improved.
Step one: Before you apply your deeper toned colours use some of your lighter coloured buttercream to apply a crumb coat; this will secure any crumbs so they won’t spill out into your design.
Step two: Now your cake is covered in a thin crumb coat begin to work in bands of colour from the top down. Use a large cranked spatula to apply the remainder of your lighter coloured buttercream to the top of your cake. We were intentionally messy when decorating the top of our cake as this is a fun and simple way to add texture!
Step three: Add your two remaining colours in the same way and use a straight edge scraper to blend the buttercream on the sides of your cake for the perfect ombré finish.
This cake could be created using any three colours so don’t be afraid to experiment with your design.
As dark clouds turn to blue skies over the UK we couldn’t think of a better way to enjoy the month of June than with fresh, tart, fruity flavours! Everywhere you go you’ll see slices of lemon and lime bobbing in iced fizzy drinks, in ice creams, sorbets and ice pops and even squeezed on fish and chips on a trip to the sea side.
The citrus taste of lemon and lime also happens to make a delicious cake, which is great news for us! We’re yet to meet someone who doesn’t love a classic lemon drizzle cake but we wanted to add a third flavour to the mix. We considered mango, coconut and raspberry before we decided upon passion fruit!
The passion fruit adds a luxurious tropical kick to an old British favourite so our minds are made up; this month’s Happy Egg Co. cake will be lemon, lime and passion fruit flavoured! The vibrant tones included in this month’s colour palette were naturally inspired by the fruits themselves and the golden hues and zesty greens are perfect for June and July.
