Eton Mess Cupcakes

Ingredients:

Makes approx.8

• 150g Billington’s Unrefined Golden Caster Sugar
• 250g Butter (200g for Cake and 50g for buttercream)
• 4 Medium Eggs
• 80ml Semi-Skimmed Milk (50ml for cake and 30ml for buttercream)
• 150g Allinson Nature Friendly White Self Raising Flour
• 1 tsp. Nielsen-Massey Vanilla Extract
• 100g Ground Almonds
• 70g dried strawberry pieces (50g for cake and 20g for buttercream)
• 125g Silver Spoon Icing Sugar
• 25g clotted cream
• 1 packet of meringue nests, broken into pieces
• 1 punnet fresh strawberries
• Sugar coated fennel seeds

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 180oC, Gas Mark 4.
2. Beat the caster sugar and 200g of the butter in a food mixer on high speed using the beater attachment for 5 minutes.
3. Slowly beat the eggs, one at a time, and then 50ml milk.
4. Add the flour, Nielsen-Massey Vanilla Extract, ground almonds and 50g of the dried strawberry pieces and mix thoroughly.
5. Spoon the mixture into cupcake moulds and bake in the centre of the preheated oven for 20 minutes until the tops of the cakes are even in colour and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
6. Allow the cakes to cool on a wire tray.
7. Soften the rest of the butter in a bowl in an 850w microwave on high for 10 seconds, transfer to a food mixer and beat on high speed for 1 minute. Slowly mix in the icing sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the mixture is smooth. Add the rest of the milk & keep on whisking until light & creamy. Add the clotted cream.
8. When the cakes are cool, using a piping bag with a star nozzle – pipe the clotted buttercream in the traditional way.
9. Sprinkle the broken meringue pieces and wedges of fresh strawberry on top.
10. To finish sprinkle some sugar coated fennel seeds (which you can buy online or at Asian supermarkets). They look like hundreds and thousands but will give you a unimaginery taste sensation