Wednesday 20 July 2011

Lemon and poppy seed cupcakes


My boss's husband is a keen gardener, and he has been collecting up the seeds from the many poppies in his garden, ready for next year's crop. I decided to put some of them to culinary use. I genuinely had every single ingredient in the cupboard, so I was able to make these without spending any... what's that stuff called again?

Every second person you speak to has a recipe for these, it seems. This is the one I used. I reckon (predictably enough) that they'd be even better with lime!

Oven temperature
180C

Ingredients
Cupcakes
275g caster sugar
200g butter, left at room temperature for a couple of hours to soften
540ml self raising flour
4 eggs, separated
Juice and grated zest of 3 small lemons
2.5ml vanilla extract
Poppy seeds (some)
Cupcake cases (about 18ish)

Icing
250ml icing sugar
Juice and grated zest of 1 lemon
Little water

Method
  • Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
  • Beat in the egg yolks, one at a time.
  • Sift in the flour and mix well.
  • Add lemon juice, lemon zest, about 10ml of poppy seeds and vanilla and beat some more.
  • Beat the egg whites in a separate bowl with clean blades and then fold into the main mixture.
  • Place your cupcake cases into muffin pans and spoon in the mixture. The cases should be about 3/4 full.
  • Bake for about 20-25 minutes until done (test one or two with a skewer).
  • Cool in the muffin pan for a little while before placing them on a cooling rack.
  • Ice as follows: mix together the lemon juice, zest and icing sugar. If it is a little stiff, add just a bit of water.
  • Plop a dollop on top of each cooled cupcake and then sprinkle with some of the poppy seeds.

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