Afternoon tea cupcakes recipe

These afternoon tea cupcakes make the perfect addition to your afternoon tea spread. You can easily make a whole bunch of them to serve at a birthday party if you want to swap a classic birthday cake for something a little different that's easier to share. With this cupcake recipe, you can get creative with the colours you use to decorate them if you'd like to do something a little different.

Ingredients

• 60g plain flour
• 60g self-raising flour
• 30g cornflour
• 30g custard powder
• 6 eggs
• 125g caster sugar

For the topping and filling:

• 600ml double cream
• 2½ tbsp icing sugar
• ½ tsp good-quality vanilla extract
• Punnet of fresh strawberries

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160ºC and line the trays with about 16 cupcake cases.
2. Combine all the flours together and sift together three times.
3. In a separate large bowl, whisk all the eggs for 1-2 mins using an electric mixer on medium speed, then turn up the speed and whisk for 10 mins. Add the caster sugar gradually, beating until the sugar has dissolved, then beat on high for a further 10 mins until the mixture is light and fluffy.
4. Fold the mixture into the flour until just combined then fill the cupcake cases to three-quarters full and bake for around 15 mins depending on your oven. Test by inserting a toothpick. If it comes out clean, they are done. Remove from the trays and cool on wire racks for 30 mins before cutting.
5. For the topping, add the cream, icing sugar and vanilla extract and whisk until it's thick enough to pipe. Put 8 strawberries to one side and chop the rest into smallish pieces. Take half the cream mix and fold in the chopped strawberries, then spoon into the hole in the middle of the cakes.
6. Use the rest of the cream to pipe a swirl on the top and decorate with half a strawberry and any other decorations you wish to use. I used a butterfly cutter and then painted it with food colour.

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