Ethon mess cupcakes recipe for a summer treat!

 Hello lovelies!! How's been your week? Mine was absolutely fantastic, I just got back home from a summer camp in Spain! Don't worry, I won't leave you without any photos- stay tuned for a post next week! 

 It's been a while since my regural, seasonal recipe blog post. There weren't any this summer, so of course I had to finally write one! As usual it's  a cupcake recipe because that's what I'm best at. I was planning to do that much earlier but because of my job in July and trips in this month, I only had time at such a late part of holidays. 

  Summer is full of fresh ingredients such as fruit & veggies so we should make a use of it a much as we can! I decided to bake the fruitiest cupcakes ever {fruit in the cake & on the top} but give it a little twist, so I made Ethon Mess inspired ones. I used red berries and cherries but obviously you can choose whatever fruit you like! 

 Baking is a good way of spending time, for example if you're bored or loooking for an alternative activity to do with your friends or family! Cupcakes are also a great gift for somebody, not only they are delicious & original but also a hand-made present shows that you put a lot of effort in it and shows that you care. I gave my cupcakes to my boyfriend and he was very pleased {I think haha} :)

 The overall baking time is not lond, takes about 1 and a half hour and you get 15 tasty cupcakes!

Ingredients: 


Cupcakes:

- 125g plain flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 125g sugar
- 100g  soft butter
- 2 eggs
- 4 tbsp of fruit mixture


Fruit mixture:

- 400g of fruit { I used red berries & cherries}
- 50g sugar/ honey
- 1 tbsp lemon juice {optional}

Meringue:

- 2 egg whites
-1/4 tsp vanilla extract
- 125g sugar

Cream:

-250ml whipping cream {30% or 36%}
- 4 meringues
- 75g powdered sugar

Preparation: 


Meringues

 1. Starting off with the meringues because they need cool down before we add them to the cream. Pour the egg whites to a clean bowl, make sure it's not oily because if so, whites won't be fluffy enough. 
2. Add a pinch of sea salt and mix untill the mixture is wavy and firm BUT NOT STIFF!
3. Later add vanilla extract, then 1 tablespoon of sugar at a time mixing in-between untill the texture is stiff and you don't feel any lumps of sugar.
4. Pre-heat the oven to 150 degrees in Celsius.
5.Place baking paper on a tray and then put the meringue mixture in the shapes of tennis balls.
6. Bake for 50 minutes, after that turn off the oven and leave them inside for 15 minutes. 
7. Take the meringues out and let them cool down.

Fruit mixture:

1. Put your fruits into a pot, boil them on a medium heat. 
2. Mix with a spoon from time to time for 10-15 minutes, untill it thickens up.
3. Add sugar and lemon juice if you like, it all depends on how sweet you want your fruit to be so remember to try it out! 
4. When everything is nice and smooth {harder fruit like red berries need to be crushed with a spoon}, take it off the heat and let chill.

Cake:

1. Put all dry ingredients into a a big bowl. Add butter & eggs and mix for a minute. 

2. Then add three tablespoons of our fruit mixture and mix untill everythings blends well. Remember to grab the cake from the edge of the bowl with a spatchula and mix again!

3. Pre-heat the oven to 170 degrees in Celsius.

4.Fill up the cupcakes forms with cake and put them in the oven. Bake for 25 minutes.

5. Place them on a tray to cool down.

Cream:

1. Mix the cream in a big bowl untill it is stiff. 

2. Add sugar powder and mix a tiny bit, just to blend the sugar with the cream.

3. Crush the meringues onto the cream and mix slightly with a spatchula. Et voila!

 All you have to do now is just put the cream on the cupcakes and then put the rest of your fruit mixture on top! Enjoy:*

This cupcakes seem a little bit time-consuming and hard to make but trust me, it just looks like that! In reality everything is quick to make and the effect is worth the work! 

xx Marta