Monday, August 24, 2015

Lemon Cupcakes for Cupcake Day for the RSPCA


Last Monday, 17 August, we held a Cupcake Day for the RSPCA at our work.  We had an overwhelming response from cupcake bakers and buyers alike, and we also received a donation from the business.  In all, we raised over $1,000 for the RSPCA - it surpassed my expectations, and I was so proud of our business for making this fabulous contribution to a very worthy cause.

I made 32 cupcakes all up (knowing that we were likely to have a lot more coming in from the other bakers) in three different flavours and designs.  I learned from last time I participated in the RSPCA Cupcake Day that if I wanted to make animal cupcakes, I should not make them too fussy, because it takes too long when you are doing a large batch.

My first cupcake flavour was lemon.  I chose Martha Stewart's recipe for lemon cupcakes from her cupcake book, which is also published online here.  I made sure that they tasted lemony by rubbing the lemon zest into the sugar before using it in the cake batter - this tends to make the lemon flavour more pronounced than just mixing in the zest.

To decorate my cupcakes, I chose Primrose Bakery's buttercream but flavoured it with lemon juice instead of vanilla and coloured it yellow.  I piped the icing on using a grass tip to resemble feathers.  The eyes are mini M&Ms, and the beak is an orange M&M upended on its side. I got this idea from Johanna's post here.

Stay tuned for more RSPCA Cupcake Day recipes.

7 comments:

Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella said...

That is super cute! And yes when doing large numbers, simple is best! :D

Johanna GGG said...

These look so cute and I am chuffed that you got the idea from my blog - Sylvia keeps asking if we can make these animal cupcakes again - and congratulations on raising all that funds for the RSPCA - great work

Pam said...

Very cute cupcakes that have to be delicious! Love that buttercream!

Kari said...

What an impressive fundraising effort. I can see why these would be popular given they are so cute!

2paw said...

Yay for you, well done with the fund raising. Thanks for the lemon zest tip too. I iced some cakes to look like Westies!! I only did six!!!

Mae Travels said...

I think I would enjoy eating one of your cupcakes. So often the ones from a bakery have all the effort in how they look, and not much flavor. I love lemon!

best,
mae at maefood.blogspot.com

Kayte said...

What a nice thing to raise $1000 for such a worthy cause with such a great idea as cupcakes...yours are really cute and the lemon just makes them seem the perfect treat.