Lemon Drizzle Cupcakes

This recipe was created because I wanted to take some cakes to work and they wanted lemon. I didn't want to make a large one because I would then have to bring a knife! So these are my lemon drizzle cupcakes, building on the vanilla cupcake recipe.I like to use the yellow food colouring because it makes the cakes pop a little bit.

Ingredients:

200g Butter or Margarine
200g Caster (Golden) Sugar
200g Self-raising flour
4 eggs
Pinch of Salt
1 tsp Baking Powder
2 tsp Yellow Food Colouring
3 tsp of Lemon Juice

For the drizzle:

5 tsp Lemon Juice
30g of Caster sugar

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180°c or Gas Mark 5.
2. Cream butter and sugar together.
3. Whisk eggs in a separate bowl to get lots of air in.
4. Weigh all the dry ingredients in another bowl and mix together.
5. Add the food colouring and lemon juice to the butter and sugar, then add about a quarter of the eggs. Beat together and add some flour if the mixture starts to curdle. Keep doing this until all the egg is combined with the butter and sugar.
6. Slowly add the flour and fold in with a large metal spoon so not to overwork the gluten, this will help your cupcakes rise.
7. Spoon the mixture into the cupcake cases, a little over half way to account for rising. Try and make sure they're all level so you can achieve a nice effect when they're displayed.
8. Bake for between 15 - 20 minutes depending on how big your cupcakes are.
9. Whilst the cupcakes are in the oven prepare the lemon drizzle. Mix the lemon juice and the caster sugar together until completely combined.
10. Once you take the cupcakes out of the oven leave to cool for five minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Then stab the cupcakes with a cocktail stick, making sure not to stab all the way to the bottom. Then with a cooking brush, brush the lemon drizzle over the cupcakes. Repeat this process twice for each cupcake.
11. Leave to cool completely before decorating otherwise your hard work will just melt! To decorate use icing sugar and lemon juice to form a thick, smooth icing. Spread this over the cupcakes and add sprinkles!

- Emma xxx