Cupcakes with lemon buttercream

Cupcakes with buttercream. Photograph: Harry Weir
Cupcakes with buttercream. Photograph: Harry Weir
Makes: 10
Course: Dessert
Cooking Time: 15 mins
Prep Time: 15 mins

Ingredients

  • 160g salted butter
  • 160g caster sugar
  • 160g self raising flour
  • 3 whole eggs
  • For the buttercream:
  • 140g salted butter, softened
  • 280g icing sugar
  • Pinch of salt
  • 2 vanilla pods, split in half lengthways and seeds scraped out
  • 5tbs lemon juice
  1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Line a cupcake tin with 12 paper cases.
  2. In a bowl, whisk the butter and sugar together until light and creamy in colour.
  3. Add the flour and eggs and mix until a light cake batter is formed. Spoon the mix into the cases until they are three-quarters full.
  4. Bake for 15 minutes until light, golden brown and evenly risen. Cool on a wire rack.
  5. To make the buttercream, carefully whisk the butter and icing sugar together for one minute. Season with a pinch of salt, the vanilla seeds, and the lemon juice and whisk again until incorporated.
  6. Transfer the buttercream to a piping bag with a nozzle and decorate your cupcakes. Garnish with some thin slices of vanilla pod.
Mark Moriarty

Mark Moriarty

Mark Moriarty is an award winning chef, TV host, author and Irish Times columnist.