Banoffee cupcakes

I've mentioned previously that I used some of my birthday money to buy the Hummingbird Bakery's latest book, Cake Days. I am obsessed with the Hummingbird Bakery and would really recommend the South Kensington store. The light, fluffy cakes combined with the sweet, dreamy frosting... mmm... Heaven in a mouthful! I bake from the first book all the time so couldn't wait to snap this one up.

Since I bought the book, I've pored over the pages, perused the scrumptious recipes and drooled over the mouthwatering pictures, before settling upon the Banoffee Cupcakes as my first recipe to trial. They looked absolutely delish and seemed so easy to make - banana, caramel and chocolate... what could possibly go wrong?

This recipe is such a lot of effort! You have to make a custard-based frosting, which means making custard from scratch. The recipe is really easy to follow but I didn't realise how long it would take until I had bought everything I needed. Rather than waste it all, I just cracked on with it. Time consuming? Very. Worth it? Completely!

I made them again on Thursday as Mr Lollipop was having a Charity Bake Sale in work for Help For Heroes. Of course, being the dutiful fiancee that I am, I decided to bake a batch for him to take. I made the custard first with this one, as it can cool in the time it takes you to mix, bake and cool the sponge, and I would really recommend this method too. I had to make three lots of custard though - the first batch scrambled, the second batch didn't set, and the third batch, although not perfect, was 'okay enough'! It's not as light and fluffy as the frosting appears in the book, but I really don't mind that. My brother has officially declared this the "Best. Cake. EVER!!", even better than his previous "Best. Cake. EVER!!", so I'll take that as #winning ;)

I promise, they're yum - just the right amount of banana vs caramel. Oh, and you really need this book in your life! If you do have it, have you tried anything from it yet?

xoxo