Surprise! "Filled Up" Lemon Cupcakes

There are a few parts to this recipe so make sure you give yourself a bit of time and, make sure you have some baking beads available - they're usually used to blind bake a pie crust but you're going to need them for the cake here. You're also going to need some mini cupcake cases or extra greaseproof paper - this is about to get weird.

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Part 1: The Cupcakes

Ingredients:

• Lemon Zest of 2 Lemons
• 10 Raspberries
• 110g Self Raising Flour
• 100g Light Brown Sugar
• 2 Tbsp Apple Sauce
• 110g Softened Vegan Butter
• 2 Tsp Vanilla Essence

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How To:

1. Preheat the oven to 180/C and line a cupcake tray with 10 cupcake cases
2. In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar - preferably until the butter turns a kind of white colour
3. Add the apple sauce, vanilla and lemon zest and continue to mix these in until fully blended into the mixture
4. Add the flour and mix some more
5. Once everything is mixed into a cake batter, spoon them into the cupcake cases
6. Add a raspberry to each cupcake and push it down into the batter softly
7. Grab some of that extra greaseproof paper and cut them into circles about the size of the top of the cupcake cases and place them over the cupcakes (don't push them down, I know you're tempted)
8. Put a couple of baking beads in the middle of each greaseproof paper circle about directly above the raspberry and push them down so they're sitting on the raspberry
9. Place these in the oven and bake for about 15-20 minutes
10. When you get them out, take the greaseproof paper circles off the cake (it doesn't matter if a bit comes off with the paper) (DON'T YOU DARE PUT THOSE CIRCLES IN THE BIN) and you should have a nice little dent in the middle of the cakes because of the beads you'd placed in
11. Set them aside to cool
12. When they've cooled slightly, put them in the fridge for about half an hour

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Part 2: The Cookie Surprise

Well, we're looking for a nice soft cookie with a little crunch on the outside to make a lovely little surprise inside the cake - yes we have a raspberry and yes, we have the nice zesty lemon but now we need something slightly spiced. Instead of just adding spices to the cake, there's actually a really cool and different way to add those spices without just mixing it all in. A surprise cookie inside the cake is soooooo good!

Ingredients:

• 180g Plain Flour
• 50g Light Brown Sugar
• 90g Softened Vegan Butter
• 2x Tbsp Cinnamon Powder
• 1x Tsp Apple Sauce
• 1x Tsp Vanilla Essence
• 1/4 Glass of Soya Milk*

*any vegan milk alternative will do but please watch when using coconut milk as this will add a coconut flavour to your cookies as well

How To:

1. Preheat your oven to 180/C
2. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper
3. In a mixing bowl, cream together your butter, sugar, cinnamon, apple sauce and vanilla until the butter turns a bit off-white
4. Add your flour and continue mixing until it starts to form into a dough
5. Start adding the milk (slowly) until the dough becomes quite wet and feels like the consistency of those slime toys children like (yes, I know but I couldn't think of any other way to explain it to you)
6. Grab those greaseproof paper circles I told you not to put in the bin and place a spoon of the mixture on to each circle and then turn them upside down on to your lined baking tray
7. Remove the greaseproof paper circle and push them down slightly to give yourself a bit of a circle
8. Place this baking tray in the oven for 15-18 minutes
9. When they're done, set them aside to cool
10. Again, after they've cooled a bit - put them in the fridge for half an hour or so

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Break Time!

It's time to get your cupcakes out of the fridge if you haven't done so already...

Have a cup of tea for half an hour or so whilst your biscuits cool...

Half an hour later:

1. Alright, take your biscuits out of the fridge and place each little cookie inside of a cupcake. If you need to push them down go ahead, but try not to press them too hard or the cake around them will crumble.
2. After this has been completed, set the cookie filled cakes aside and it's time to make the buttercream!

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Part 3: Cream Cheese Vanilla Buttercream

Ingredients:

• 140g Powdered Sugar*
• 280g Softened Vegan Butter
• 50g Vegan Cream Cheese
• 3 Tbsp Vanilla Essence
• 5 Raspberries
• Your choice of sprinkles
• 1 Tsp Gel Food Colouring**

*If you don't have powdered sugar, blitz some white sugar in a blender, it does the same work

**I used blue, but if you're going to not use gel and use liquid just be aware that it might change the consistency of your buttercream. Gel is always best to get the better results. Also note if you've not used gel food colouring before - there's no taste but the colour is quite strong so think about that when you're second guessing about whether to add more. 1 teaspoon will produce quite bright results

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How To:

1. Whisk the butter and cream cheese for about five minutes until it is white
2. Add the food colouring, sugar and vanilla and mix again for another five minutes
3. You should end up with a cream cheese flavoured buttercream which is nice and fluffy
4. Tip: I don't tend to use cream cheese for the whole thing (I know some people do) because it can end up with your buttercream tasting like cheese and that's weird
5. Grab your piping bag and put your nozzle on the end (I use reusable ones as I don't like single use plastic waste so much)
6. Pipe swirls increasing in height to the size of your cookie inside your cupcake
7. Place this in the fridge for about 10 minutes, you'll find the buttercream has slightly stiffened but not entirely. This will allow your next move without ruining the effect the buttercream is giving off
8. Sprinkle your choice of sprinkles on to each cupcake with a generous amount (I used pink princess sprinkles featuring stars and hearts made from sugar)
9. Chop each raspberry in half and place each half atop a cupcake, pushing each one down softly as you go
10. Place back in the fridge to set for half an hour
11. And you have surprise filled cupcakes!