'L' is for...Lychee and Lavender Butterfly Cakes

Lychee and Lavender Butterfly Cakes

An explosion of tastes 

Sponge cakes with chopped fresh lychees, lavender flowers and a hint of lemon.

Filled with a delicate fusion of rose flavoured butter cream, and topped with half a chocolate Champagne truffle, a chocolate amaretto flute and pink shimmer sugar.

Enjoy….M x

These little gems are totally my own creation... I thought long and hard about the letter L...I could of opted for the easy, lemon, lime or a mixture of the two. But a suggestion from my husband helped with the development of this one....Oh and also a trip to Waitrose!

He remembered a trip to Sri Lanka many years ago when Morgan our youngest son, who at the time was 2 years old. We hired a driver during our stay and spent a week travelling up country. Our driver was fantastic and showed us places, experiences and tastes of local food, including fresh cashews, local strawberries, tiny flavorsome bananas  and most importantly fresh picked lychees. Morgan devoured these fresh fruity fruits avidly once we peeled them for him, and the rest of the holiday he almost lived on them. Its a memory that has stayed with both of us, and is defiantly an unusual fruit to add in a cake mix.

So the start of a cupcake was born.....L is for Lavender, and apart from I love the smell and my gran and my mother grew it and we have it in our garden too was just part of the 'L' experiment....the truffle and chocolate sticks I discovered in Waitrose....so a real infusion of flavours. My tasters will have the opportunity to taste them tomorrow, but hubs has eaten 2 and gave the thumbs up :)

Ingredients to make 14
8oz cake mix, adding 8oz peeled chopped fresh lychees, 2 tsp dried lavender and a tsp of lemon oil.
Divide mixture into 14 muffin cases and bake at 180degrees until light and springy, then cool on a wire rack.

 Cut a slice from the top of each cake and cut this in half for wings and set aside. Make  butter icing or frosting of your choice, I added some rose water to this mixture, and pipe into the centre of each cake. On the top of each cake arrange the "wings" each side of the icing - the sponge side facing the outside and the cut edge to the inside and angled towards the bottom - like BUTTERFLY or FAIRY wings! 

Decorate to your choice...I added half a Champagne chocolate truffle and amaretto chocolate sticks, and sprinkles of pink shimmer sugar ( all discovered in Waitrose).

Hugs 4 smiles M xxx