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.

Add some zing to your chocolate cupcakes with a hint of orange!

50mins – Prep time: 35mins – Cooking time: 15mins

Ingredients

Cake mixture

• 200g self raising flour
• 170g caster sugar
• 170g margarine
• 80g dark chocolate
• 3 eggs
• 6 drops orange essence
• 4 tbsp juice from orange
• 1 tsp baking powder.
• Rind 1/2 an orange

Topping

• 120g butter
• 250g icing sugar
• 3tbsp juice from orange
• 3 drops orange essence
• 80g plain chocolate
• Ringe 1/2 an orange to decorate

Instructions

1. Lay out cupcake cases (about 18). If you use silicon you can lay them on a flat baking tray, if you use paper ones, I advise using a bun tin to make the cakes hold their shape.
2. 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 orange essence and rind.
4. Melt the chocolate and spoon into the chocolate and mix in too.
5. Spoon the mixture evenly into the cupcake cases, ensuring you smooth the tops down (it doesn’t have to be perfect!)
6. Put the cupcakes into the oven for 10-15 minutes until they feel spongey on top.
7. Remove from the oven and allow to cool thoroughly. Meanwhile begin make the frosting by melting the chocolate.
8. Mix the butter, icing sugar and orange juice and essence until the mixture goes pale and fluffy, then add the chocolate.
9. Pipe chocolate buttercream onto the cupcakes and finish with a few strangs of orange rind