Raspberry lamington cupcakes

Lamingtons are one of my favourite treats – there’s something about a sponge cake coated in jelly and coconut that just makes people happy, right?

But while lamingtons themselves are amazing, these delish raspberry and lamington cupcakes are quite possibly even better! Imagine a fluffy, light vanilla cupcake filled with raspberry jam, iced with a raspberry jelly buttercream and coated in coconut, topped with a swirl of buttercream and finished with a dot of raspberry jam. Sounds pretty delicious, right?

Despite sounding like a lot of work, these cupcakes were wonderfully quick to make and decorate.  After baking and cooling the vanilla cupcakes simply core each one, fill with about a teaspoon of raspberry jam then pop the tops back on to seal in the filling. Then all that’s left is whipping up a big batch of buttercream – too easy.

While there’s no denying these are a decadent treat, the flavours are perfectly balanced and the cupcakes are just large enough to leave you feeling content rather than about to fall into a sugar coma! Serve along with a warm cup of tea in one of EziBuy’s Tulum Mugs and you’re all set for a wonderful afternoon tea.

Makes 24 cupcakes

Ingredientsu     

Cupcakes

• 225g butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs, room temperature
• 1 ½ cups self-rising flour
• 1 ¼ cups plain flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla essence

Icings & Filling

• 300g butter, softened
• 5 – 6 cups icing sugar, sifted
• 3 – 6 Tbsp milk to thin
• Packet raspberry jelly crystals
• ½ cup desiccated coconut
• Pink food colouring
• Whitener (optional)
• Raspberry jam

Method

Cupcakes

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius. Line two 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake liners.
2. Cream butter until smooth. Gradually add sugar and cream until light and fluffy (approx. 3 minutes)
3. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
4. In a small bowl, whisk together plain and self-rising flour. Add flour mixture to wet ingredients in three additions, alternating with milk and vanilla.
5. Spoon batter into cupcake liners to ¾ full. Bake for 20 -25 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
6. Cool cupcakes in pan for 15 minutes before placing on rack to cool.

Icing

1. Beat butter with paddle attachment or wooden spoon until smooth.
2. Add 3 cups of icing sugar one cup at a time. Mix until well combined and smooth.

If icing is too thin, incrementally add remaining icing sugar until reach desired consistency.
If icing is too thick, add milk by the tablespoon until reach desired consistency

1. Scoop out ½ cup icing and set aside
2. Slowly add raspberry jelly crystals to remaining icing, mixing well between each addition. Continue adding crystals until icing has a smooth, raspberry flavour to it (approx. ½ packet)
3. Add a drop of pink food colouring and mix until well combined. Set aside.
4. Add a small amount of whitener to plain buttercream you set aside earlier. Mix until well combined.

Assembly

1. Core each cupcake and fill with one teaspoon of raspberry jam. Replace tops of cupcakes.
2. Fill a decorating bag fitted with a #1A tip with raspberry buttercream and pipe a mound of icing atop each cupcake. Gently roll icing in coconut until evenly coated.
3. Fill a decorating bag fitted with a #1m tip with plain buttercream and pipe a small swirl atop each coconut covered mound. Finish with a drop of raspberry jam.