Oranges and Lemons Butterfly Cakes

My sister used to make butterfly cakes a lot when we were younger.  I stuck to regular fairy cakes because I was not keen on buttercream.  Plus she tended to make chocolate cakes and as I've said, not a big fan of that.  So this is my first time making them.  Not that they are really that much different from regular cupcakes.  Terribly cute though.  I always used to think they looked so fancy yet so simple.  I like simple on a lazy day like today.  But I decided to go one step further from plain old vanilla cakes and do a combination of citrus flavours: orange cakes with lemon buttercream.  Yum yum yum.

I mainly followed the recipe from Cupcakes and Muffins but I decided to add some orange juice to the cake batter rather than just the zest for an extra orangey kick.  I also used slightly more lemon juice than it said for the buttercream.  

The boyfriend gave them his approval.  Apparently they are very creamy and he could taste both the orange and the lemon so huzzah.  Hopefully his friends like them too.

Recipe - adapted from Cupcakes and Muffins

Makes 12 

For the cupcakes:

• 115g/4oz self-raising flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 115g/4oz caster sugar
• 115g/4oz butter
• 2 eggs
• Finely grated rind of one orange
• 2 tbsp milk
• Juice of 1/2 an orange
• Icing sugar, for dusting

For the buttercream:

• 85g/3oz butter
• 175g/6oz icing sugar
• 1.5 tbsp lemon juice

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/Gas Mark 5 and line a 12 hole muffin tin with 12 cases.
2. Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl.
3. Beat the eggs separately and then add to the flour along with the sugar, butter, rind, juice and milk.
4. Beat everything together until smooth.
5. Spoon mixture into the cases a tablespoon at a time and then bake for 15-20 minutes.
6. Leave to cool on a cooling rack.
7. Make the buttercream by mixing the butter, sugar and lemon juice together in a bowl until smooth and creamy.
8. If your cakes have a domed top, cut the dome off to use for the wings.  If your cakes are flat topped (like mine were) use a sharp knife to cut circular holes out of them to use instead.  Place each circle next to the cake it comes from.
9. When the cakes are cool, spoon or pipe the buttercream onto the cakes.  I filled in my holes with the buttercream.
10. Cut each accompanying circle in half and gently press them into the buttercream at an angle so that the two halves stick up like wings.
11. Dust with sifted icing sugar.