Lemon Drizzle Butterfly Cakes

Today's post is going to share with you, one of my favourite things to do to pass the time; baking! I love cooking , baking and thinking of new recipes. This recipe was taken from a cooking book, but I altered it slightly. It's a recipe to make lemon butterfly cakes, but as I'm not the biggest fan of lemon, I decided to make the cakes plain, but add lemon juice to the butter cream, making them more lemon drizzled, thank lemon flavoured. Butterfly cakes were my favourite when I was younger; at cake sales, I would always go for the cutest looking cupcake and loved the little butterfly wings that stuck out the top of the cake. This love for how cute, yet easy butterfly cakes are stuck with me.

To make these cakes you will need:

• 115g self-raising white flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 115g soft margarine
• 115g caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tbsp milk
• 100g chocolate chips/ grated rind of 1/2 lemon
• 85g butter, softened
• 175g icing sugar
• 1-2 tbsp lemon juice

Step 1;

preheat the oven to 190 degrees. Put 12 paper/silicon baking cases in a bun tray.

Step 2:

Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl. If you are using a mixer, food processor or any kind of electrical mixing equipment, sift the two ingredients straight into the bowl of the mixer.

Step 3:

Add the margarine, sugar, eggs and milk. Beat together using your mixer, or if you prefer this, beat together with a wooden spoon, until the mixture is smooth.

This is where I decided to add 100g of chocolate chips, rather than the grated rind of half a lemon. It is up to you which you add, but I wouldn't advise adding both.

Step 4: Spoon the mixture into the paper cases

Step 5: Bake the cupcakes in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until risen and golden brown. I found 15 minutes was perfect. Transfer to a wire cooling rack and leave to cool.

Step 6: To make the filling, put the butter into the mixer or bowl you previously used and beat until light and fluffy. Sift in the icing sugar, a bit at a time, add the lemon juice and beat until smooth and creamy.

Step 7: When the cupcakes are cold, use a knife to cute a circle from the top of each cupcake and then cut the circle in half. This will make the butterfly wings. Spread or pipe as much as you want, of the lemon filling into the center and over the top of the cake. Then press the two semi-circular halves into it at an angle to resemble butterfly wings. I chose to add sprinkles, but you can leave them like this.

So those are your finished cupcakes! I hope you enjoyed this post, as it was a little different, but shares my love for baking and cooking with you guys! Let me know if there are any recipes you think I should try :)