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Mini hydrangea cupcakes on a round plate, accented with mint leaves
Print Recipe

Hydrangea Cupcakes

This recipe yields 12 regular sized cupcakes or 36 mini cupcakes. 

Ingredients

For the Cupcakes

  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup boiling water

For the Frosting

  • 3/4 cup butter (softened)
  • 2 1/2 - 3 cups icing sugar
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 tbsp heavy cream
  • purple and blue gel food colouring
  • 1/2 cup lemon curd

Instructions

For the Cupcakes

  • Pre-heat your oven to 325°F.
  • In a large bowl, or in a stand mixer, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
  • Add the milk, vegetable oil, egg and vanilla. Mix well to combine. 
  • Carefully add the boiling water while mixing the batter. Mix until the batter is smooth.
  • Divide the batter into a muffin tin lined with cupcake liners. This recipe should yield 12 regular cupcakes or about 36 mini cupcakes. 
  • Bake until a tester inserted into the centre of a cupcake comes out clean (about 25 minutes for regular cupcakes, 12 minutes for minis).
  • Transfer the baked cupcakes to a wire rack to cool completely before filling and frosting.

For the Filling

  • Fit a piping bag with a round piping tip. Fill the piping bag with lemon curd. Insert the piping tip deep into the centre of each cupcake, and squeeze the bag to fill with lemon curd. You could also use a small knife to cut a little hole out of the centre of each cupcake, and then fill the hole with lemon curd.

For the Frosting

  • Beat the butter until softened and lightened in colour (3-4 minutes).
  • Add the icing sugar, a half cup at a time, beating well after each addition. 
  • Add the vanilla, and beat well to combine.
  • Add the heavy cream, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating well after each addition, until your frosting reaches your desired consistency. You may need to add a little more cream if the frosting is too firm, or a little more icing sugar if it is too soft.
  • Divide the frosting into two bowls. Use the food colouring to tint one bowl of frosting light purple, and the other light blue. 
  • Fit a piping bag with a star tip (Wilton #131), and use a spatula to fill half the bag with the blue frosting, and the other half with the purple frosting.
  • Pipe little flowers all over the top of each cupcake, starting at the centre and working your way out the edges.

Notes

  • Vanilla cake recipe from: Add a Pinch.
  • You can use this recipe to make your own lemon curd, or buy some ready made curd instead.
  • I recommend using the gel type food colouring, as the colours are very concentrated (so you need very little colouring) and it adds less moisture to the frosting.