I was strolling around Brixton market on Saturday and a bottle of rose water in the window of the Indian supermarket caught my eye. It was a lovely sunny day and I had been invited round to a neighbours for a cup of tea that afternoon. Always one to try out a new recipe on a friend I decided to buy a bottle of the rose water and pop some cupcakes in the oven. On the way home I passed a stall selling the most sunshine yellow lemons I have seen in ages, so I decided the recipe would be lemon and rose. Earlier I had bought some crystallized rose petals from ‘Rococo Chocolates’ on the kings road and so I popped them on top as little decorations.
Slightly ordinary to the eye these little cakes hide a flavour sensation. My neighbour remarked ‘It’s like biting into a piece of Summer’. Perfect little sophisticated tea time treats.
‘ZESTY LEMON AND ROSE-WATER CUPCAKES’
(zesty lemon cupcakes, lemon syrup drizzle, rose-water glace icing, crystalized rose petals)
makes 12
Zesty lemon cupcakes recipe
50g plain flour
175g self raising flour
175g golden caster sugar
175g butter, softened
4 eggs
90ml water
Zest of 1 lemon
Half teaspoon of vanilla extract
Lemon syrup
Juice of 1 lemon
5 teaspoons of caster sugar
Rose-water glace icing
150g icing sugar
Rose-water
DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius (160 for a fan oven)
2. Line a 12 tin muffin tin with 12 muffin cases
3. Sift the flours into a mixing bowl. Add the sugar and butter
4. break the eggs into another bowl, add the water and vanilla extract. Beat mixture together
5. Pour the egg mixture into the flour mix, add the lemon zest and beat on a fast speed.
6. Divide the mixture between the 12 tins and bake in the oven for approx 30 mins or until golden brown and bouncy to the touch.
7. Whilst the cakes are baking make the lemon syrup. Juice the lemon into a small pan and add the sugar. Turn onto a low heat and simmer until the sugar has dissolved.
8. When the cakes are baked, remove from the oven and place on a wire rack.
9. When the cakes are still warm, pour a teaspoon of the lemon syrup over each cake. Allow to cool
10. Sift the icing sugar into a bowl and add drops of the rose-water gradually until the icing becomes thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. You don’t want it too runny, so if it’s looking like you’ve added a little too much rose-water, add a little more sifted icing sugar to thicken.
11. When the cakes are cool, spoon a teaspoonful of the glace icing on the top of the cupcake and smooth over.
12. I chose a few little crystallized rose petals as my decoration, bought from ‘Rococo Chocolates’ on the Kings Road .
‘ZESTY LEMON AND ROSE-WATER CUPCAKES’
Happy Baking X
6 Comments
These little cakes really are delicious! I love this flavour combination! You can buy the rose petals online here; http://rococochocolates.com/crystallised-rose-petals.html
Happy baking! x
Hi Maisie
These look wonderful! I am going to have a go at making some tonight but with sugarpaste rose petals I made instead of crystallized rose petals as I haven’t been able to find any where I live. Fingers crossed they turn out as good as yours! X
Hi Chris, I’m pleased your giving the recipe a go. They really are delicious! You don’t mix the flour, butter and sugar together first, just add the egg mixture to it and mix all together until there are no lumps! x
This sounds like a delicious recipe! Just one question before I try it: at step 3 should I literally just drop the butter and sugar into the mixing bowl and not mix it in until the egg mixture is in there too, or should I actually mix the flour, butter and sugar together to form a dry paste before adding the wet ingredients? Thank you, all your cakes look amazing and please do keep the recipes coming!
Thanks for your message Isa. Lots more recipes to come!
I’ve got your wonderful decorating book, but looking at these I think you need to bring out a recipe book. What wonderful creations.
S x