Focused Friends Favourites – Issue 4

Issue 4

By Tracy White

One of my favourite things is baking, I love creating beautiful and tasty cupcakes, cheesecakes and one of my family favourites, lemon meringue pie. I often wake up at 4am and start creating whilst everyone sleeps. I bake for family and friends mostly but I have been approached by many people asking if i will bake them cakes and my mini cheesecakes. As my confidence grows I have started making my own icing and venturing in the gluten free range which seems to be a hit!

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Luckily I don’t have a very sweet tooth so I am not tempted, although I always test my cakes to make sure they taste delicious.

I get ideas from the internet but also tiktok, there are some fabulous quick and easy recipes on TikTok which i will share one of them with you below. These Biscoff cupcakes are amazing, I highly recommend this recipe.

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMRx3thFu/

Gluten free Lemon Cupcakes

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Gluten-free lemon cupcake recipe: Ingredients

For the cakes

• 175 g gluten free self raising flour
• 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/4 tsp xanthan gum
• 175 g butter (or dairy free hard margarine)
• 175 g caster sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 2 lemons, zested
• 1 tbsp lemon juice

For the lemon curd

• 2 lemons, (zest and juice of both)
• 2 large eggs
• 110 g butter (or dairy free hard margarine)
• 160 g caster sugar

Instructions

For the lemon curd

1. Firstly (if making yourself) make your lemon curd (you might want to do this ahead of time so it has plenty of time to cool down). Add your eggs to a saucepan and whisk (hand whisk, not electric!) to combine. 
2. Add the rest of your ingredients and pop it on a medium heat. Whisk your mixture, allowing the butter to melt and then continue to mix for a further 10 minutes (approx) until the lemon curd starts to thicken slightly. (Don’t let it boil) 
3. Leave to cool completely before popping it into a glass jar to thicken further in the fridge. It’s then ready to use for the cakes! 

For the cupcakes

1. Preheat your oven to 180C (160C Fan) and place cupcake cases into your tin. 
2. Add all your ingredients into a large mixing bowl and beat together with an electric hand whisk until smooth and combined. 
3. Spoon the mixture evenly between your cupcake cases, about 2/3rds full. Place in the oven for 20-25 minutes until a skewer comes out cleanly and they are golden on top. 
4. Allow them to completely cool on a cooling rack

For the buttercream

1. For the buttercream, ensure your butter is soft and at room temperature. I find it takes a good hour out of the fridge to soften, but never let it go too soft! Place your butter into a stand mixer and mix on a medium speed for about 5 minutes until the butter has gone a lot more pale in colour. 
2. Add your icing sugar gradually. I add it in 2-3 stages and beat for about 3 minutes between each addition. Start your mixer slowly to save your kitchen from a real icing sugar mess, but then increase the speed to medium / high for each of your 3 minutes. 
3. Add in your lemon zest and lemon juice (add half and then add the second half after its incorporated). Beat for a further 3 minutes and it should then be done. Ensure it’s the right thickness – it should be if you’ve beaten it for long enough. However, if it’s too thick you can add a tiny amount of milk or extra lemon juice. And if too thin, sieve in a little extra icing sugar – this might be the case for dairy free buttercream.

Recipe from gluten-freecuppatea.co.uk.

Again I highly recommend these cupcakes, they are so light and fluffy.

I hope you enjoyed some of my favourite recipes, if you have ago at making these yourself please feel free to send us pictures and your thoughts on the recipes.

Next on my Focused Friends Favourites is another favourite of mine baking bread, gluten free bread and sourdough bread.

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