With the return of The Great British Bake Off, we’ve been inspired to get our bake on! We posted a photo of our Friday treat cupcakes on Instagram earlier and you loved them, so we thought we’d share the recipe to show you how to make these scrummy rose and vanilla cupcakes yourself. Including the cute edible rose petals on top!

You will need:

Greaseproof paper

Pastry brush or a (very) clean paintbrush

Mixing bowl

Small bowl

Wooden spoon or spatula

Sieve

Cupcake cases

Cupcake tin

Ingredients

For the Cupcakes

• 3 Eggs
• 150g of self raising flour
• 150g of caster sugar
• 150g of unsalted butter, softened
• A dash of vanilla essence

For the frosting

• 250g of icing sugar
• 80g of softened (but not melted) butter
• 25ml of milk
• A dash of vanilla or rose essence (depending on your taste)

For the Crystallized rose petals

• A few organic roses in your favourite colour
• 2 egg whites
• Caster sugar

 

How to make crystallized rose petals

Let’s start with the prettiest part of the cupcakes, the crystallized rose petals. It is important that you buy organic roses as these won’t have any traces of pesticides or anything else nasty.

Separate the egg white from the egg yolk and put the whites to one side in a small bowl. Take each petal (you can use tweezers if you don’t want to touch the egg!) and coat with the egg white using the pastry brush. Sprinkle both sides with caster sugar and tap off the excess, place it on a sheet of greaseproof paper flat side down. Continue until you have enough rose petals to top each of your cakes, we recommend making a few too many just in case there are any casualties!

Leave the petals to try for at least 8 hours (overnight is best) in a cool room. If you don’t want to use them straight away or have some left over, you can store them in an airtight box for up to a year!

How to make the vanilla cupcakes

This is a very simple recipe that works a treat for a simple, fluffy sponge cake. Weigh the eggs and then use that weight for your sugar, butter and flour. What could be simpler? We’ve based our recipe on the eggs being 50g each but you can amend yours.

1. Pre-heat your oven to  170°C (325°F) Gas 3. Add your cupcake cases to your tray ready to add the mixture too later. 

2. Cream together the softened butter and caster sugar until creamy and smooth. If you prefer to use an electric mixer, go for it!

3. Add the eggs one by one, stirring in between each egg until the mixture is smooth.

4. Sieve in the flour to avoid any lumpy bits and fold in to the mixture. Try a figure of eight movement to make sure you get plenty of air in there to make your cakes fluffy!

5. Spoon in the mixture to each case, we love Martha from The Great British Bake Off’s tip of using an ice cream scoop to get the perfect amount in each case!

6. Once your tray is full, put them in the oven for around 15 minutes or until golden brown. A cocktail stick inserted into the thickest part should come out clean when they’re ready.

7. Remove the cakes from the tray and leave to cool on a wire cooling rack.

While your cupcakes are cooling, let’s make the frosting! Make sure your crystallized rose petals are dry and ready to use otherwise your frosting will set before you put them on.

1. Mix together the icing sugar (make sure you sieve it first!) and the softened butter until they are completely smooth. No lumps allowed!

2. Add the milk a little at a time until it’s all mixed in. You might find that you don’t need all of the milk so don’t worry if there’s a little bit left over.

3. Add the vanilla or rose essence and mix again.

4. Beat together until the mixture is creamy, light and fluffy. Maybe have a cheeky taste to see if you need to add any more flavour too!

5. Once the cakes are completely cooled, use a wide knife or spatula to cover the cupcakes with frosting. Or, if you’re feeling fancy, use a piping bag to ice your cakes.

6. Before the icing sets completely, add one of your crystallized rose petals to the top and viola, you have the prettiest cupcakes in town!

If you bake these we’d love to see how you get on! Drop us a tweet or an Instagram to share your creations!