I have a baking recipe for you today and one that is perfect for the fizz lovers out there. In today’s post, I will show you how to bake lemon and elderflower cupcakes with prosecco buttercream for the frosting. Not only that but the cupcakes have a hidden centre too! Keep reading to see how to make these yummy cupcakes!

Now, these cupcakes are just the perfect mix of the tartness of lemon with the delicateness of elderflower and complete with the fizz of prosecco. They are just a delight, especially for making in the summer months. Just imagine taking these out on a picnic, that is if you can resist these yummy lemon and elderflower cupcakes before then.

The recipe is split into several different parts, the lemon and elderflower cupcakes, a delicious syrup to help moisten the cupcakes, a secret lemon filling and finished off with a boozy frosting. What is not to love? Elderflower is one of my favourites, so I was so glad to find a recipe that complements its use with these delicious cupcakes.

So, if you would like to see how to make these delicious lemon and elderflower cupcakes with prosecco buttercream, then let’s get baking!

Lemon and Elderflower Cupcakes

The basis of the recipe is the cupcakes with the filling. You can totally substitute the prosecco frosting for a yummy elderflower one, or even a straight lemon frosting. However, the combination is just delightful and sort of emulates the popular cocktail ‘Classic French 75’ (without the gin). Who doesn’t love boozy bakes?

I will split the post into the various sections of cupcakes, syrup, filling and frosting. That way you can interchange the recipes for different bakes. These lemon and elderflower cupcakes have been adapted from Hannah Bakes’ version, which includes the syrup as well. The filling has been adapted from Betty Crocker’s lemon filling, which can also be added to a pastry base for a delicious lemon tart/pie! The prosecco frosting is something that I adapted a basic buttercream recipe from which my baker friend helped me. Check out her Instagram here: @jp.bakes.x (I sometimes make cake toppers for her bakes too!)

Cupcakes – What you need:

To make the cupakes you will need the following ingredients:

• 225g Plain Flour
• 225g Caster Sugar
• 4 Medium Eggs
• 225g Butter (unsalted)
• 2tsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 4 Tbps Elderflower Cordial
• Zest of 1 Lemon

Before beginning the baking process, preheat the oven to a Gas mark 4 or 180°C. Also, line a pudding/muffin tin with cupcake liners and set it aside for later.

Step 1 – Combine Cupcake Ingredients

In a mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients of lemon zest, flour, baking powder and salt. Sift the flour when adding to remove and lumps from it. Give this a little mix to combine the ingredients then, set aside.

In a separate mixing bowl, larger in size, or a stand mixer if you have, and begin creaming the butter. Cut the butter into cubes to make the process easier, as well as making sure the butter has been softened. I used an electric hand whisk to make the process easier too. when the butter is light and fluffy, begin adding in the caster sugar and continue whisking until the two combine fully.

After the butter and sugar are combined, it is time to start adding the ingredients in small batches. Alternate between mixing in the dry ingredients and the eggs until all have been added. Give this a good mix together at a low speed, and the cupcake batter is nearly complete.

The final ingredient to add is the elderflower cordial. Add this in a mix together briefly to combine all. We are adding neat cordial and not diluted to et the full flavour of the elderflower too!

Step 2 – Bake the lemon and elderflower cupcakes

Carefully spoon in the cupcake batter into the waiting cupcake liners. Use a small spoon to do this, and add in 2-3 teaspoons of the batter. You want the liners to be partially full, but with room still to rise over the liners. Then, gently tap the muffin tin on the counter. this will help remove any air bubbles in the mixture and help it settle into the cupcake liners better.

Place the cupcakes into the oven and cook for approximately 20-25 minutes. The cupcakes will have a slight golden top when ready but always do a test before removing. To do this, place a skewer in the middle of the cupcake, and remove. If the skewer comes out clean, the cupcakes are ready. If not, then continue baking, checking after 5 minutes and repeat. I also received a great tip from my friend for achieving flat-topped cupcakes, which will make it easier and neater to pipe on!

Top Tip: To achieve flat-topped cupcakes, place them lower in the oven and turn down the heat slightly (gas mark 3)

JP.Bakes.X

Cupcake Syrup

Whilst the cupcakes are baking, it is time to make the yummy lemon and elderflower syrup. This will help keep the cupcakes moist, as well as help infuses the delicious flavours further into them.

To make the syrup you will need the following ingredients. Again this has been adapted from Hannah Bakes:

• 50g Granulated Sugar
• 75ml Elderflower Cordial
• 25ml Lemon Juice

Make the Syrup

The syrup is really easy to make and is done in no time, so is perfect to make whilst the cupcakes are baking.

In a saucepan combine the sugar, cordial and lemon. Begin heating this on medium heat, allowing the sugar to dissolve. Gently swirl the mixture to help the dissolving process too. When dissolved, the mixture may start bubbling, when it does this, swirl the mixture a little and then remove from the heat. the syrup is then complete and ready to pour over the baked lemon and elderflower cupcakes. How easy is that?

Lemon Filling

These lemon and elderflower cupcakes are a bit special because they have a delicious hidden lemon filling, which is a great surprise when biting into them. This filling can also be made as a pie/tart filling too and has the perfect balance of sweet and tart. The recipe has been adapted from a Betty Crocker recipe.
To make the filling you will need:

• 96g Granulated Sugar
• 17g Butter (unsalted)
• 3 Tbsp Cornstarch/Cornflour
• 177ml Diluted Elderflower Cordial
• 60ml Lemon Juice
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Grated Lemon Peel

Make Lemon Filling

In a saucepan add sugar, cornstarch and salt and begin heating on medium heat. Then, gradually begin adding in the diluted elderflower cordial, stirring continuously until combined. The cornflour may begin to lump, but keep stirring and these will dissolve into the mixture. Allow the mixture to thicken and come to a boil. When it starts to boil, continuing boiling for an extra minute and then remove it from the heat.

Add in the butter and lemon peel and allow the butter to melt into the mixture. Stir this to help speed up the process and combine everything. When the butter has melted in, begin gradually adding in the lemon juice. Stir this in until the mixture is fully combined.

Set this aside to be used for the cupcake filling. Place cling film over the pan and down into the mixture. You want the cling film touching the top of the filling, pushing this into it. This will help stop a skin from forming on top of the mixture. You don’t want it going hard! When ready to use, give it a quick stir to get the mixture loose again.

You can make this filling whilst the cupcakes are baking in the oven too and they should be ready by the time both the syrup and filling are complete.

Step 4 – Prepare the Cupcakes for Syrup and Filling

When the cupcakes are ready, remove them from the oven and allow them to begin cooling in the tin for 5 minutes. Whilst the cupcakes are still warm, add the syrup. With the cupcakes being warm, the syrup will be absorbed better into them. Use a skewer to poke holes into the cupcake, then use a teaspoon and place a small amount of the syrup over the cupcakes. Allow the cupcakes to soak up the syrup. Don’t add too much as this may make the cupcakes too soggy. Then allow to fully cool.

When the lemon and elderflower cupcakes are cool, it is time to remove part of the cupcake for the filling. To do this you can use a knife to gently cut away the centre of the cupcakes. I like to use the larger end of a piping tip to remove the centre as it forms a perfect circle. To do this, place the end of the piping tip into the centre of the cupcake. Apply pressure and twist to cut into the cupcake, pressing this down just past halfway. You don’t want to go all the way to the bottom as the filling will come through the bottom of the cupcake. Twist the piping tip and remove it from the cupcake. You should have part of the cake in the piping tip. Gently remove from the tip and set it aside next to the cupcake.

Step 5 – Add Filling to the Lemon and Elderflower Cupcakes

Grab a sandwich bag or piping bag and place in some of the waiting lemon filling. Snip the corner to allow the filling to flow out. Then select your cupcakes that should have the centre removed and begin piping in the filling. You only need a small amount to fill the cavity. Don’t worry if you overfill, it will squish down into the cupcake.

After the filling is in the middle of the cupcake, take the piece of cupcake that was set aside (the centre) and replace this where it was removed. This will help push the filling in further and semi-conceal the opening. Repeat until all the cupcakes have the yummy lemon filling inside. Then move on to creating the boozy frosting!

Prosecco Frosting

This is where we turn the bake into a boozy bake. Now, this is alcoholic so I wouldn’t advise making this for children or those who do not drink. You can use alternative buttercreams if you do not want the prosecco, or you can buy prosecco flavouring so that it isn’t alcoholic.
Also adding the prosecco will change the consistency of the buttercream, and I did have a little disaster with it. Therefore you want to go sparingly when adding it into the mix, but I will get onto that.

To make the prosecco buttercream, you will need the following ingredients:

• 250g Butter (unsalted)
• 500g Icing Sugar
• Prosecco – up to 120ml max!

Making the Prosecco Buttercream

In a mixing bowl add in the butter. Make sure this is softened and cubed to make it easier to mix. Mix with the electric hand mixer, or stand mixer until the butter is light and fluffy. Then begin adding in the icing sugar in small batches at a time. Adding too much will likely result in you ending up covered in the icing sugar. You can also cover the bowl slightly to reduce the amount the icing sugar puffs into the air. Keep mixing until the icing sugar is incorporated into the butter.

Now, this is where my buttercream went slightly wrong. I had adapted this recipe with the help of my friend from a swiss meringue version. Therefore the exact measurement of the prosecco differs and I kept it at the same amount, however found that this is way too much prosecco. Gradually begin adding prosecco into the buttercream, and mixing. Keep an eye on the consistency of the buttercream, as adding too much will make the buttercream like soup and begin to curdle.

If you find that your buttercream does become too loose, then you can add more icing sugar to help thicken it back up. If you find that this is making the buttercream too sweet, then you can also use a small amount of cornflour which will help thicken too. Just be careful not to add too much as this can make the buttercream taste too starchy.

Step 6 – Pipe the buttercream

Once you have the consistency of buttercream you like, then it is time to begin decorating the lemon and elderflower cupcakes. I must admit, I am a bit disappointed with my buttercream and am not 100% happy with the outcome. But, hey ho, you live and learn and practice makes perfect I guess.

You can use a variety of piping tips to achieve different piped designs on top of the cupcakes. I tried to be fancy and used three different tips to create different designs; an open star tip, a closed star tip and a petal tip.

Open Star Tip:

This tip can create rosette style designs on the cupcakes, in varying sizes and positions. You basically begin piping and then start spiralling this into the centre, building it up to create a buttercream rose. Allow even pressure on the piping bag, releasing this towards the end to finish the piping, You can also use this to create small stars on the cupcake too.

Closed Star Tip:

The closed star tip allows you to create a more rigid shape to the piping design. This can be used to create the built-up frosting. Begin piping pressing out the frosting, pressing the tip down in the centre and releasing upwards slightly. Continue piping upwards to get a staged look. You can also use this tip to create shell-like piping in a row.

Petal Tip:

The petal tip can create buttercream roses on a piping nail. I used this design on my Pistachio and rose cake. You can also use this piping tip to create a ribbon-style design on the cupcake. Place the largest part of the piping nozzles at the cupcake, begin squeezing the frosting bag, moving the tip up and down in a wave style. This should give you a ribbon design. Fancy hey?

Pipe the buttercream in whichever style you prefer, or mix and match like I did to decorate the yummy cupcakes. Then once piped, the lemon and elderflower cupcakes with prosecco buttercream are finished and ready to be enjoyed!

What do you think of these cupcakes? Will you be giving these a go and do you like a boozy bake? Let me know in the comments below!

Looking for another booze inspired bake? My friends over at The Grumpy Olive have a fab Passionfruit Meringue Pie which could be reminiscent of a passionfruit cocktail.

Lemon and Elderflower Cupcakes | Video

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