Whatto, it must be Pimm’s o’clock! For me, summer is officially marked by the first Pimm’s of the season, usually shared with friends at the Royal Norfolk Show or previously on Southsea Common. I love the refreshing blend of fruits that you put in it: strawberry, cucumber, orange and mint. I’ve been thinking about how best to combine all the flavours into a cupcake and this is the result. The buttercreams all work really well, none of them overpowered each other including the cucumber which I thought would be awful because it’s quite watery. Make it into a “virgin cupcake” (no alcohol) by warming the Pimm’s in a saucepan on the hob for a minute or so. If you wanted to strengthen the flavour of the Pimm’s, then I would suggest using more than specified and reducing it in a saucepan on the hob.

Ingredients

For the cupcake

• My basic cupcake recipe
• 60ml Pimm’s

For all buttercream

• 400g icing sugar
• 250g butter

For the strawberry buttercream

• 8 strawberries
• 1tbsp sugar

For the cucumber buttercream

• 30g cucumber (use skin, but not seeds in centre)
• Small amount of green food colouring

For the orange buttercream

• Juice ½ an orange
• Rind ¼ an orange
• Small amount of orange food colouring

For the mint buttercream

• 8 fresh mint leaves
• Small amount of green food colouring

Instructions

1. Make the cupcakes as per the instructions on the basic cupcake recipe, adding in the Pimm’s at the end of stage 3.
2. Divide up the butter and icing sugar into 4 (100g icing sugar, 62g butter) and put in 4 separate bowls. Mix each until light in colour and fluffy. I recommend using a hand mixer (it saves on arm ache!)
3. Strawberry buttercream: Make the strawberry flavouring by roughly chopping the strawberries and putting in a pan with the sugar over a medium heat stirring often. Once softened, mash gently with the back of a spoon and leave to soften a little more (about 2 minutes). Pass the mixture through a sieve to remove seeds. Leave the mixture to cool, then mix into one portion of the buttercream.
4. Cucumber buttercream: Very finely chop cucumber and mix into one portion of the buttercream. Add a small amount of green food colouring, but keep it quite pale (the mint buttercream should be a stronger green).
5. Orange buttercream: Blend in juice and rind into one portion of the buttercream, then add a small amount of orange food colouring to give a gentle hint of orange to it.
6. Mint buttercream: Very finely chop mint and add to buttercream, then add a small amount of green food colouring, making sure the green is slightly stronger than that of the cucumber version.
7. Piping: I used a piping bag and a large open star piping nozzle to pipe. I put the nozzle in the bag, then placed it in a tall glass, spreading the top of the bag over the top of the glass. You’ll need to put all the buttercream in at once, otherwise all the colours will get mixed up.
8. Using a tablespoon, take a scoop of a one of the buttercream and gently push it to one side of the piping bag. Take another tablespoon and repeat with the next buttercream and so on and so forth. Once you’ve done one “layer” you can repeat again with the four colours – you don’t need to make sure each buttercream goes on the same side as the one before.
9. Pull the bag upright and knock out any air in the bag then twist it at the top to close it. Make your swirls, they’ll come out all tie dye! If you need help with swirls try this basic cupcake swirl tutorial.
10. If you want to add “lemonade” to your Pimm’s cupcakes, garnish with a ¼ slice of lemon.

I remember trying samphire last year on my summer visit to Norfolk and I haven’t got it out of my brain since. I got mine from the little fish hut on the quay at Wells-Next-The-Sea – it came in a huge bag for a bargainous £2. Samphire has a very short season, which is around late June until the end of July. I can’t find any nutritional information about samphire, but I think it’s quite high in iron.

If you haven’t tried it before, I can only describe the texture as like spaghetti, it’s very smooth and salty to boot. Here’s my recipe with a pinch more flavour, but it’s still good with plain ol’ butter.

17mins – Prep time: 5mins – Cooking time: 12mins

{Serves 2 as a sidedish}

Ingredients

• 200g samphire
• 4 rashers bacon
• 1 clove garlic, pressed or finely chopped
• 3tbsp butter
• 1tbsp olive oil
• 1tbsp fresh lemon juice
• Black pepper to taste

You’ll need a steamer for this!

Ingredients

1. Cut roots from samphire and any brown looking stalks as these are hard to chew once cooked.
2. Cut the excess fat from the bacon rashers and then cut into small pieces.
3. Steam the samphire for 8 minutes. Whilst it’s cooking, heat 1tbsp butter with the olive oil on a high heat and fry the bacon for a couple of minutes, then add in the garlic. Continue frying until the bacon starts to become crispy.
4. Once the samphire is cooked, add it to the pan with the remaining butter and fry for a couple of minutes.
5. Finally, add the lemon juice and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

A classic recipe that’s sure to impress anyone! It’s so easy to make it look stunning, fresh fruit really sets it off. I use buttercream to fill it with fresh cream on top with a little lemon juice and rind to cut through the sweetness of the filling. You can use any kind of topping, I love using brightly coloured strawberries but you could use cherries and fill with cherry jam or whatever’s in season.

30mins – Prep time: 10mins – Cooking time: 20 mins

Ingredients

Sponge mixture

• 6oz golden caster sugar
• 6oz margarine (I use Stork)
• 6oz self raising flour
• 3 medium/large eggs (get them out of the fridge beforehand to warm up to room temp)
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp vanilla bean paste/5 drops vanilla essence

Buttercream

• 100g butter
• 100g icing sugar

Filling

• 8 tbsp strawberry jam

Lemon cream

• 100ml thick double cream
• 2 tbsp lemon
• Rind 1/2 lemon
• 3 tbsp icing sugar

Decoration

• 8 strawberries
• 6 blackberries

Instructions

1. Grease and line 2 round tins (I used 17cm wide x 2cm deep).
2. Make the sponge: Whisk the eggs and sugar for at least 4 minutes with an electric hand whisk and beat air into the mix so it fluffs up.
3. Bit by bit, sieve in the flour and baking powder and add bits of butter, whisking the mixture each time to ensure a smooth texture, until fully mixed, then mix in the vanilla paste or essence.
4. Divide the mixture evenly between the two tins and smooth over.
5. Place in the oven for 25mins until the sponge is springy to the touch
6. Remove from tins, peel off greaseproof paper and leave to cool on wire racks
7. Make the lemon cream: Sieve the icing sugar into the cream and add 1/2 the lemon rind. Mix together with an electric whisk until it’s stiff enough to hold without moving.
8. Make the butter cream: Blend icing sugar and butter together with an electric whisk until the butter pales and goes soft.
9. Put the cake together: Spread buttercream with a palette knife on one sponge base and a thick layer of strawberry jam on the other. Sandwich together.
10. Using the pallette knife spread the fresh cream onto the top of the cake, leaving sponge visible around the edge
11. Dust with a little icing sugar if desired and finish by sprinkling the remaining lemon rind on the top

Make the best of summer fruits and enjoy a British tradition, stawberries and cream, with a twist! The best thing is these aren’t too sweet, with the lemon just curbing the sweetness of the strawberries.

20mins – Cooking time: 1hr – 1 1/2hrs

{Serves: 3-4}

Ingredients

16 basic cupcakes {see here for the basic cupcake recipe}

Lemon cream

• 3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 400ml fresh double cream
• 4tbsp icing sugar

Icing

• 200g icing sugar
• blue food paste
• water

Decoration

• 1 punnet organic strawberries (they’re nice and small and fit on the cupcakes)
• 50g pomegranate

Instructions

1. Make the icing by adding a few drops off water to the icing sugar until it’s a thick but spreadable consistency, then add colouring as desired. Ice the cupcakes by picking up a teaspoonful and gently smoothing into a circle on the top of the cupcake.
2. Make the lemon cream by combining all the ingredients and gently whisking with an electric hand mixer until it forms stiff peaks. Don’t overdo it though!
3. Using a star tip, pipe the lemon cream into a swirl on the top of the cupcakes, leaving some of the blue icing visible.
4. Decorate by gently placing a strawberry onto the top of the cupcake and placing 4 pieces of pomegranate around the lemon cream swirl.