16. Lemon and Lime Cupcakes

Ok. So. I may have been a little extra with these…

These are lemon and lime cupcakes, but they’re also filled with lemon curd, topped with two tone lemon and lime icing and decorated with candied lemon peel. I mean. What else was I going to do on a Thursday afternoon? (Apart from make a chocolate pear tart).

I haven’t done anything quite so complicated in a while, and I have to say, I really really enjoyed myself. I love having loads of different things on the go at once, keeping me a happy busy baker bee. Lemon and lime are just so refreshing as flavours go, and after the Chelsea buns, I was in the mood for more citrus, but a little bit less… bready? These just ticked all the right boxes.

If you’re looking for something a bit simpler, you could just make the cupcakes and icing, without the curd and peel, they’re only optional because I was bored! Either way, these were v tasty and I definitely recommend making them.

Makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients

For cupcakes

• 6oz (170g) butter

• 6oz (170g) self-raising flour

• 6oz (170g) caster sugar

• 2 eggs

• Zest and juice of one lemon

• Zest and juice of one lime

For icing

• 5oz (140g) butter, room temperature

• 10oz (280g) icing sugar

• Green and/or yellow food colouring (optional)

• Juice of one lemon

For the curd

(This is the same as in the lemon tart recipe and will make way more than needed here, but it is better to make in a decent sized batch and keep the rest in the fridge for later use!)

• 2 eggs

• 2 egg yolks

• 1/2 cup (100g) golden caster sugar

• 2 lemons, zest and juice

• Pinch salt

• 3oz (85g) butter

For the peel

• Peel of one lemon

• 200g (7oz) caster sugar

• Water

Method

1. Start with the curd. (This is the same curd I used in the mini lemon tarts recipe and one batch of curd is definitely enough to do these AND tarts.) To start beat the eggs, egg yolks, sugar and lemon zest together in a pyrex/glass mixing bowl until it is smooth and pales in colour a bit. Then add the lemon juice and salt in, mixing well.

2. Half fill a pan with water and bring it to a simmer before putting your curd on top to bain marie. Make sure the water doesn't touch the bottom of the bowl.

3. Keep it simmering and stir your curd regularly until it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon (about 15 minutes for me). If you don't stir it regularly enough your egg can coagulate. If it does this a little bit, don't worry. Pass your curd through a sieve after the next step.

4. Take your curd off the heat and add in your butter a bit at a time, stirring until it has melted in and your curd is glossy.

5. Pour your curd into a bowl and cover with clingfilm, making sure the clingfilm is on the surface of the curd to stop it forming a skin.

6. Chill your curd for 20 minutes or so.

7. Preheat the oven to 160C

8. Next, make your cupcakes. Beat together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy and then add in the flour and combine well. Then add in the eggs and lemon and lime juices and zests.

9. Divide the cupcake mix into a lined cupcake tray. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. (Baking at 160C rather than 180C means that they will take a little longer than normal, but will have a flatter top as they won’t rise so much, making them easier to decorate.)

10. Leave to cool and make the peel and icing, you can use the same lemon for both.

11. Start with the icing. In a bowl beat the butter until light and airy. Add in the icing sugar a little at a time. Once completely combined, add in the lemon juice and any food colouring desired. Always follow the instructions on your food colouring as different ones vary a lot.

12. Cut the lemon into rings about 1/4” thick, then cut in half and remove all the pulp. Fill a pan with cold water and add the strips of peel in. Bring to the boil and drain. Refill the pan with cold water and repeat at least three more times. This gets rid of the bitterness from the lemon. Once done, put the strips to one side and combine the sugar and 235ml of water in the pan. Bring to the boil to dissolve the sugar, then reduce to a simmer and add the peel. Continue to simmer until the pith (white) on the peel has turned translucent. This can take 10-15 minutes depending on how much pith is on there. Remove peel and allow to cool.

13. Whilst the peel is boiling and simmering etc, you can start assembling the cupcakes. Using a small cookie cutter (1'“ diameter) or a small knife, cut into the centre of each cupcake and scoop out the circle to make a well. DON’T CUT ALL THE WAY THROUGH. Fill these wells with your curd, either using a teaspoon or a small piping bag/freezer bag with a hole cut in.

14. Fit your piping bag with your desired decorating nozzle and fill with your icing. If you want to do two tone, and don’t have a duo piping bag, you can use a spatula or pallet knife to add your icing to opposite sides of the piping bag. This won’t be quite so crisp a definition between the two colours, but still very pretty. Pipe onto the cupcakes, starting from the outside and swirling in.

15. Once your peel is cooled, use it to decorate the cupcakes however you wish!

16. Enjoy!!