I was recently asked to make some cakes for an amazing cause called Finding Your Feet. The charity was set up by friends of Corrine Hutton after Corrine tragically lost both legs below the knee and both hands after a life threatening case of septicaemia. Some of my colleagues know Corrine and along with a cake sale, this weekend they are also climbing Ben Nevis twice on Saturday, then cycling from East to West coast Scotland on Sunday to raise money to buy her some hi tech prosthetic hands. There was no way I could refuse such a worthy cause!
I decided to make Elderflower cupcakes as I had recently bought this cordial, and I thought it was a great summer flavor that would go down well at a bake sale.
I started by mixing together 160g butter and 200g caster sugar,
I added 4 tsp Elderflower cordial, the zest of half a lemon, 3 large eggs and 2 tbsp milk and whisked in. Finally I folded in 175g self raising flour, 65g ground almonds and 1 1/2 tsp baking powder.
The oven in my new flat gets very hot and bakes things quite fast so I would recommend baking them a normal oven on 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4 for 15-20 minutes.
I used this awesome tool to make the flowers on top of the cupcakes. I got mine from ebay here.
I used my silicone rolling pin to roll out some white fondant, then used the cutter provided to cut out the flower shape.
Making sure to match the shape of the fondant to the mold I placed it on the 'in' side.
Gently, but firmly I pressed down with the other side of the mold.
And tah dah! A beautiful flower is created! I did often get a hole in the middle of them as I was doing this, but as I was going to add a center I didn't mind but you could roll the fondant thicker to avoid it.
I used my madeline pan for them to dry in.
Once they dried I used buttercream to stick a white shimmer pearl in the center. I used the same buttercream as I pipied on top of the cupcakes which was made with 530g icing sugar, 250g butter, a hint of green food colouring and 2 tbsp Elderflower cordial.
I also sprinkled over some silver shimmer powder for extra sparkle!
All of the cakes got sold which I was really pleased with, they raised around £150 from the sale in total which is fantastic. The elderflower flavor with the hint of lemon is very delicate and would be perfect with a glass of elderflower cordial and sparkling water! These would also be great at a party or afternoon tea.
I am entering these into July's Treat Petite hosted by myself and Cakeyboi where the theme is Summer.
