Beehivee Cupcakes

This recipe from the cover of the Spring edition of Donna Hay makes my mouth water, these delicious and pretty cupcakes just look divine and I have been dying to try the recipe out since I picked up the magazine. This weekend I could wait no longer, so had to try it out.

The Recipe - Donna Hay's Beehive Cupcakes
125g butter, softened
165g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp honey
2 eggs
185g plain flour sifted
1 tsp baking powder
125ml milk
for the meringue icing
220g caster sugar
60ml water
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
3 egg whites
yellow sanding sugar to serve

The Method

1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees C. Place butter, sugar, vanilla and honey in a bowl of an electric mixer and beat until light and creamy. Gradually add the eggs and beat until well combined.
2. Add the flour, baking powder and milk and beat until just combined.
3. Spoon the mixture into 12 x 1/2 cup/125m muffin tins lined with paper cases and bake for 20-25 minutes. Allow to cool on a wire rack.
4. To make the meringue icing, place the sugar water and cream of tartar in a pan over a high heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for 3 minutes.
5. Place the egg whites in a bowl of an electric mixer and beat until soft peaks form. While the mixture is running gradually add the sugar mixture and beat until thick and glossy.
6. To assemble the cupcakes use a 3cm round cookie cutter to cut round the centre of each cupcake. Fill a pipping bag with a 1cm plain nozzle and pipe into the centre and top in a swirling action to form a beehive shape.
7. top the icing with wings and drizzle with sugar.

My attempts weren't too shabby, and i was really pleased with the taste, as usual I couldn't help myself and added a handful o dessicated coconut to the mixture as i love coconut. The cupcakes were dense and moist and left me wanting more. The icing made them very pretty if not a little difficult to eat without getting messy, but hey that's part of the fun.

They didn't look as pretty the next day though, so be sure to ice them the day you want to serve them.