Lemon and Strawberry Assorted Flower Chiffon Cupcakes

A young lady requested for some flower cupcakes for her 21st birthday :)

This is the first time I made such a big variety of flowers and worked with so many colours. It takes some patience to piece all of them together because of this. But it's wonderful to see the whole collection of them when all the work is done :).

Recipe for strawberry and lemon chiffon cupcakes (makes about twelve 44x35mm cupcakes for each flavour)
Ingredients:
Main egg yolk batter
5 egg yolks
15g caster sugar
70g canola oil

Strawberry egg yolk batter
18g strawberry puree
18g strawberry yoghurt
1/2 tsp strawberry paste
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
46g cake flour
1/16 tsp salt

Lemon egg yolk batter
18g lemon juice
18g milk
Zest of 2 lemons (yellow part only)
1/2 tsp lemon paste
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
46g cake flour
1/16 tsp salt

Meringue
7 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
88g caster sugar

Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 140°C with a tray of water at the base of the oven (optional) and rack set to second lowest position.

2. Prepare main egg yolk batter. Whisk egg yolks and sugar together until pale and thick. Add oil and whisk until well combined . Divide into two equal portions, one for strawberry and the other for lemon flavour.

3. Prepare flavoured egg yolk batter. Add the liquids, flavourings and zest (for lemon) into the respective egg yolk batter. Whisk until well combined. Gradually add in sifted flour and salt and whisk until no trace of flour is seen.

4. Prepare meringue. In a clean metal bowl, beat egg whites with cream of tartar until foamy. Gradually add sugar and beat until firm peaks form (just before stiff peaks).

5. Divide meringue into two equal portions. Fold meringue into egg yolk batter in three additions quickly but gently. Scoop the batter into the cupcake cases until about 1cm from the rim. Gently tap the cases on the table to release trapped air bubbles.

6. Bake at 140°C for 30-35 minutes or until skewer comes out clean. Cool completely before storing in airtight container.

I baked some thin coloured sheet chiffon cakes for the various colours of flowers using the recipe here. Due to the many layer cakes required, I baked some earlier and froze them to make the bakes more manageable. Just to share some photos of the sheet cakes....

Blue and yellow 

Red and white

I used circle, daisy and leaf cookie/fondant cutters for the flower cut-outs from the sheet cakes. Glue the pieces together using melted marshmellows with a sprinkle of water.

Assembled roses and dahlias!

Assembled daisies and sunflowers!

In order to make the flowers more life like, I added some highlights or details to the flowers. Some white dragees were added to make the centers of the dahlias. The painted highlights/details were done by using natural or artificial food colouring dissolved in sugar syrup (dissolve 5g sugar to 20g of water). Natural colourings include blue pea flower, Queen's natural pink colouring, charcoal powder and cocoa powder.

Here's a picture showing how the white highlights are added to the dahlias to make the petals appear more prominent.

Here's a close-up view of blue daisies with the petals highlighted using blue pea flower.

Brush the surface of the cupcake flowers with syrup before storing in airtight condition in the fridge.

Finally all done after a few days of interrupted hard work!

I had some leftover cupcakes so I filled the strawberry one with strawberry jam and the lemon one with homemade lemon curd by injecting the fillings into the cupcakes with a large piping tip.

Yums!

With love,
Phay Shing