Pink Lemonade Cupcakes - and tips for perfect buttercream

If you're looking for a flavoursome, easy, summery cupcake recipe, you've come to the right place. Lemonade-soaked lemon sponge, topped with a light raspberry buttercream and fresh raspberries.

The stand-out element of these cupcakes is the icing. I'm not a fan of over-the-top, mountainous buttercreams that overwhelm the sponge that they are perched on the top of. I often find them sickly sweet and overpowering. However, I have three tips for creating bearable buttercreams:

1. Start with really soft unsalted butter. The softer the butter is, the easier it will be to incorporate other ingredients. If you've forgotten to leave your butter out to soften (about 2 hours at room temperature should do it), you can use the microwave to gently melt it. I always use the defrost setting to make sure it softens evenly.

2. Whip it for as long as you can. And then whip it a little bit more. The lightest, most delicious buttercreams are formed when air gets trapped in the mixture. It will also increase the volume of your buttercream, meaning you can decorate more cakes. I often leave my buttercream beating in my stand mixer for as long as 10 minutes. 

3.  Incorporate flavours that off-set the sweetness. An unbelievable amount of sugar goes into buttercream, so it is no surprise that it is extremely sweet. In the recipe above, I use a sharp raspberry coulis to balance out the sweetness, but any citrus or sharp berry can work well. Salty flavours, like salted caramel, also have the same effect.

I hope you love the recipe - don't forget to send me your pictures if you make it!