Table of Contents

• The Anti-Hero Cupcake: Explained
• Earl Grey-Infused Milk
• Making the Earl Grey Cupcakes
• Making the Earl Grey Buttercream
• Making the Chocolate Fedoras
• Decorating the Cupcakes
• Recipe

The Anti-Hero Cupcake: Explained

The Anti-Hero cupcake is made up of 3 main elements:

• Earl Grey cupcake
• Earl Grey buttercream
• Chocolate ghost decorations

I really embraced the ‘at tea-time, everybody agrees‘ lyric from the song’s chorus. This cake is tea. I went for Earl Grey, because I really love the flavour, but you could use a more classic breakfast tea, if you prefer. To get all that delicious tea flavour into both the cake and the buttercream, I used some homemade infused milk.

The chocolate decorations are what really elevate these cupcakes from tea to tea time. Anti-Hero is one of the 3 songs from Midnights that has a music video (along with Lavender Haze and Bejeweled), so I had plenty of extra inspiration for the decorating these cupcakes! In the video, there are a bunch of ‘ghosts’ (read: people wearing sheets, sunglasses and funky hats), which have become pretty iconic. I knew, almost immediately, that I wanted to decorate my cupcakes to look like the ghosts, because a) they’re so CUTE and b) they’re so iconically Anti-Hero. I singled my decorations down to a single ghost, my favourite ghost: Fedora Ghost:

To make Fedora Ghost, I use a combination of white modelling chocolate, dark chocolate chips, Rolos and giant chocolate buttons. Basically, chocolate 4 ways. What’s not to love? Ultimately, these Anti-Hero cupcakes end up as a delicious tea time treat, vaguely reminiscent of a classic Fondant Fancy, amped up with the flavours of tea and chocolate!

So, those are the basics of the Anti-Hero cupcake. Now, let’s get into some specifics.

Earl Grey-Infused Milk

To get the Earl Grey flavour into both the cupcake batter and the buttercream, we need to make some infused milk. Luckily, it’s super easy to do! All you have to do is put the milk and tea bags into a small saucepan, bring the whole thing to a simmer, then turn off the heat, cover it and allow the milk to infuse as it cools down to room temperature- about 30 minutes. Once it’s cool, you can remove the tea bags (make sure to squeeze them to get every last drop of flavour!) and discard them, leaving you with Earl Grey-infused milk. So easy, right?

Earl Grey has quite a subtle flavour, so I’ve tried to really amp up the flavour in the batter/buttercream by using 4 tea bags for 100ml of milk. It might seem like a lot, but you need to get a really concentrated flavour in the milk, because adding too much liquid to either the batter OR the buttercream can cause them to split (more on that later). I found that this ratio of tea:milk makes for the perfect hit of Earl Grey in the finished cupcakes, without any of the bitterness that you can get from over-brewing the tea bags.

Making the Earl Grey Cupcakes

Once you’ve got your infused milk, you can move on to making the cupcake batter. For this, I used my All-In-One Method (I recently made a post where I described this process in depth- you can check it out here if you want to learn more). Essentially, you just put all the ingredients, making sure to sift the dry ingredients beforehand, into the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment, and whisk until it’s smooth, light and airy. SO easy! To flavour this batter, I used 3 tbsp of the Earl Grey-infused milk. I also added a few drops of vanilla extract, just to bring out the flavours in the tea even more.

As always, I like to divide my cake batter into the cupcake cases using a standard-sized ice cream scoop- I find this is the perfect size and makes scooping the cupcakes so much quicker! For these cupcakes, I opted to use dark brown cupcake cases, to match the fedoras on my ghosts. I used these ones, but they’re slightly smaller than my normal cupcake cases and not overly thick, so I’m still on the lookout for the perfect dark brown cases!

Once your cupcakes are all scooped, you just need to bake them at 170°C for 25-30 minutes, until they have risen and the tops spring back when touched lightly. This is a slightly lower baking temperature than most cupcake recipes suggest! I found that, at higher temperatures, my cupcakes were coming out with super peaked tops, almost like volcanoes- a sure sign that the oven temperature is too high! Baking the cupcakes at a lower temperature ensures they rise into perfect, even domes, making them a) prettier and b) easier to pipe onto!

I like to transfer the baked cupcakes to a wire rack as soon as they come out of the oven. The reason for this is that, if left in the baking tin as they cool, the bottom of the cupcake cases can become greasy. By taking them out of the tin immediately, you can prevent this. Do be careful though, because the cakes (and the tin!) will be very hot. Once you’ve transferred them, make sure to let the cakes cool completely before you decorate them, or the buttercream will melt.

Making the Earl Grey Buttercream

For these cupcakes, I opted to make a typical American buttercream, flavoured with the same Earl Grey-infused milk as the cake batter. American buttercream is one of the easiest icings to make, but I do have a few tips and tricks to make the process even more straightforward and produce an even more delicious buttercream.

Quick note here: when I was making my buttercream for these cakes, disaster struck! My icing… split! Only slightly and, strangely enough, it split after I’d piped it onto my cakes, by which point I was tired and decided to just go with it, knowing it would be covered up later anyway. Ah well, these things happen! It was a combination of me baking these cupcakes in a warm, humid kitchen & getting cocky and adding too much infused milk. I’ve tinkered with the recipe a little to make sure this won’t happen to you if you use this recipe, so don’t worry!

This buttercream recipe only uses 4 ingredients. To make it, you will need:

• Softened unsalted butter

When you’re making buttercream, the butter absolutely has to be softened (i.e. at room temperature). You should be able to press your finger into the butter and make an indent in it easily, but it shouldn’t be melty or liquid. Soft butter will ensure that your ingredients can incorporate fully into a smooth, creamy buttercream.

• Icing sugar

I know that sometimes sifting can feel like a super mundane job. Unfortunately, when you’re making buttercream, it’s wholly necessary. Not sifting your icing sugar can leave you with a lumpy buttercream, which is just… not the vibe. Take it from me: sift your icing sugar!

• Earl Grey-infused milk

The amount of infused milk this recipe makes is enough for both the batter and the icing. Adding the infused milk to the buttercream will get loads of delicious tea flavour into the icing, without compromising the smooth texture. Just make sure not to add too much, or else your buttercream may split (again, speaking from experience…).

• Salt

Listen, I’ve never fully got on board the whole ‘salt in baked goods’ train. I just… don’t think it makes much of a difference? However, there are some baked goods for which I will wholeheartedly embrace the addition of salt- salted caramel being the obvious choice (side note: I recently posted a recipe for salted caramel ice cream, so definitely check that out if salted caramel is your thing!). This icing, randomly, weirdly, unexpectedly, needs salt. I’m not talking loads of salt- just a little pinch. At last, I have found an instance where I can understand the famous bakers’ and chefs’ claims that ‘salt brings out the flavour of the other ingredients’, because, in this recipe, it really does. Go figure.

The best American buttercream is whipped a lot. The more you whip it, the fluffier it gets. The fluffier it gets, the less cloyingly sweet and stodgy it is. Therefore, be patient and whip the icing- you will be so glad you did! I like to start by whipping the butter, on its own, for about 2 minutes, until it’s super pale and fluffy. Then, I add half of the icing sugar, incorporate it by hand (to prevent an icing sugar cloud) and then whip it for another minute. I add the infused milk and whip again for a further minute. Finally, I add the remaining icing sugar, incorporate it by hand, then whip the whole thing for a final minute. You can do this with an electric hand whisk or a stand mixer (fitted with the paddle attachment), but I don’t recommend doing it by hand. It’s possible, yes, but only at great cost to your arm muscles. Save your arms and go electric- you’ll thank me later.

Making the Chocolate Fedoras

I said we were creating Fedora Ghost, so, obviously, we have to make some fedoras. Luckily, they’re super easy to make! You only need two ingredients, Rolos and giant chocolate buttons (I used Cadbury), as well as a small frying pan. That’s it!

Side note here: is there some Rolo-related stockist drama I don’t know about? I’ve been having real trouble finding them lately, particularly in the bigger supermarkets. The ones I used here were purchased from a corner shop, so, if you’re struggling to find Rolos too, maybe try your nearest one of those!

Anyway, if you have managed to obtain the Rolos, you can get started on making the fedoras. You’ll need 1x Rolo and 1x giant chocolate button per fedora, so 12 of each if you’re making a single batch of this recipe (the standard-sized Rolo tubes that I purchased each had 12 Rolos in, so 1 tube should be perfect. Having said that, sometimes the caramel can ooze out of Rolos, making them a little messy, so if you want perfect fedoras, it might be worth buying an extra pack to give yourself more options- you can always eat the leftovers!).

Begin by warming the frying pan over medium heat. When it’s hot, turn off the heat and use the residual heat of the pan to melt the base of a Rolo. You don’t need to melt it a lot, just enough that you can stick the Rolo to the chocolate button. To get a similar shape to the hat in the music video, I opted to stick the Rolo to the flat side of the chocolate button (so that the domed side was facing down). Repeat this process for each hat, making one for each cupcake, then set your fedoras aside for the chocolate to harden while you get on with the other decorations.

Decorating the Cupcakes

First up, you’ll need to pipe the buttercream onto the cupcakes. For this, you’ll need a piping bag fitted with a large, round piping tip (I used a #1A tip). Put the buttercream into the bag, then hold the bag vertically, so that the tip is centred above the surface of the cupcake. Apply a gentle pressure, lifting the bag as you go, to create a tall ‘dollop’ of icing in the centre of the cake- the aim is to bring the icing upwards, not outwards (i.e. the surface of the cake won’t be covered, just the very centre), like in the photo below:

Once you have iced your cupcakes, you need to chill them in the fridge for at least 15 minutes. This will firm up the buttercream, making the next stage much easier.

One quick note here: modelling chocolate, much like fondant, is hygroscopic, meaning it will absorb moisture from its surroundings. I recommend decorating these cupcakes the same day that you plan to serve them, otherwise you run the risk of your modelling chocolate ‘sweating’. This doesn’t affect the overall flavour, but will affect the texture/appearance of your cupcakes.

When you’re ready to decorate your cupcakes and the buttercream has chilled, you can start creating the modelling chocolate ‘sheets’ for your ghosts. Do this just before you want to put them on the cakes, or the modelling chocolate might dry out before you have a chance to drape it over the icing. Knead the modelling chocolate into a smooth ball, then break off a piece- about 15g. Shape it into a ball and dust your work surface with icing sugar, then use a small rolling pin (dusted with more icing sugar!) to roll it out very thinly, trying to maintain a roughly circular shape, until it’s about 12cm in diameter. If the edges are looking a bit ragged, use a small, sharp knife to cut a neater, wavy edge all around, keeping that rough, circular shape. After that, you can carefully lift up the chocolate sheet and drape it over your cupcake. Use your hands to press the chocolate around the buttercream below, allowing it to fold organically. Repeat this process for each cupcake.

Once you have all of your cupcakes covered in their modelling chocolate ‘sheets’, you can add the eyes. For this, I used 2x dark chocolate chips per cake (one for each eye). You want to press the chips into the modelling chocolate, so that they sit about half of the way down the buttercream dollop. Push them in pointy side first- not only will this look neater, but the point of the tip will pierce the modelling chocolate and help to secure the chips.

Side note: if these weren’t Taylor Swift-inspired cupcakes, I would have been tempted to leave them at this stage: they’re SO CUTE! I think these cupcakes would be perfect, left at this stage, for a fun Halloween treat.

Nevertheless, these are Taylor Swift cupcakes, so we have to turn these spooky eyes into super cool sunglasses. I used this black edible marker to draw in a bar between the two chips, but I wasn’t crazy about the result. It was quite finicky to do and doesn’t look super neat. If I were to make these again, I would probably melt a tiny bit of dark chocolate and use a cocktail stick/skewer (maybe even a piping bag with a very fine tip?) dipped into it to etch the little line across. I think that would be neater and ultimately easier, even if it requires a couple of extra steps.

The final step was to attach the chocolate fedoras that I made earlier. Modelling chocolate isn’t overly sticky, so you can’t just stick the fedora on top or it would fall off! Instead, I used the same frying pan-method that I used to make the fedoras. After I heated up the pan, I used it to melt the base of each hat (i.e. the domed part of the giant chocolate button), very slightly, then used that melted layer to stick the hat to the top of the modelling chocolate ‘sheet’. It worked really well, but do be careful not to melt the button too much, or it might ooze out as you press the hat down, making your cupcakes a little untidy!

With that, the Anti-Hero cupcakes are finished! I have to be honest, these cupcakes kind of give me more… Mafia vibes (??) than Anti-Hero, BUT they are still super cute. Also, the tea flavour is very much Anti-Hero and not at all Mafia, so I’m still counting this one as a win. I hope you’ve enjoyed my tutorial for these Anti-Hero cupcakes- let me know if you try them out!

Gemma

xxx

Recipe

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Anti-Hero Cupcakes

These cute cupcakes, inspired by the music video for Taylor Swift's hit song Anti-Hero, are flavoured with Earl Grey and reminiscent of classic Fondant Fancies, making them a perfect treat for tea time (everybody agrees!).

Course Dessert, Snack

Keyword Chocolate, Cupcake, Earl Grey, Halloween, Infused milk, Taylor Swift, Taylor Swift Cupcakes, Tea

Prep Time 2 hours hours

Cook Time 25 minutes minutes

Total Time 2 hours hours 25 minutes minutes

Servings 12

Equipment

• 1 piping bag
• 1 large round piping nozzle (I used a #1A tip).
• small rolling pin

Ingredients

For the infused milk:

• 100 ml milk
• 4 Earl Grey tea bags (see Note 1).

For the Earl Grey cupcakes:

• 150 g caster sugar
• 150 g Stork (see Note 2).
• 3 eggs
• 150 g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 pinch salt
• 3 tbsp infused milk
• 3 drops vanilla extract

For the Earl Grey buttercream:

• 100 g unsalted butter, softened
• 220 g icing sugar, sifted
• 2.5 tbsp infused milk
• 1 pinch salt

To decorate:

• 12 giant chocolate buttons (I used Cadbury)
• 12 Rolos
• 24 (about 7-8g) dark chocolate chips
• Black edible ink marker (see Note 3).
• 180 g white modelling chocolate (see Note 4).
• Icing sugar, for dusting.

Instructions

Make the infused milk:

• Put the milk and tea bags into a small saucepan. Place over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Remove from the heat and cover, then leave to cool down to room temperature- about 30 minutes. When the milk has cooled, remove the tea bags, squeezing out any excess milk for extra flavour, and discard.

Make the Earl Grey cupcakes:

• Preheat the oven to 170°C. Line a 12-hole cupcake tray with dark brown cupcake cases and set aside.
• Place all of the cupcake ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment. Mix on low speed until most of the flour is incorporated, then gradually increase the speed to high. Beat until light and fluffy- about 30 seconds.
• Use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl and ensure everything is fully combined. Use a regular-sized ice cream scoop to divide the batter between the 12 cupcake cases, then bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes, or until the cupcakes spring back when touched gently.
• When the cupcakes are baked, remove them from the oven and transfer immediately to a wire rack, to prevent the bottom of the cases from becoming greasy. Allow to cool completely before decorating.

Make the Earl Grey buttercream:

• Place the softened butter into a medium-sized bowl. Using an electric whisk, whip on high speed until the butter is pale and fluffy.
• Add half of the icing sugar to the whipped butter. Use a spatula to incorporate the sugar (this will prevent an icing sugar cloud), then beat with the electric whisk, on high speed, for a further minute.
• Add the infused milk, then beat for another minute. Add the remaining icing sugar, stir in with a spatula, then beat the whole thing for a final minute. Transfer the icing to a piping bag, fitted with a large, round tip, ready to decorate the cupcakes.

To decorate:

• Pipe the buttercream onto each cupcake- you are aiming for a tall-ish cone in the centre of the cupcake. To achieve this, hold the piping bag vertically in the centre of the cake, then apply gentle pressure, lifting as you go to add height. Place the iced cakes into the fridge for about 15 minutes, to allow the buttercream to firm up, while you make the other decorations.
• To make the chocolate fedoras, warm a small frying pan over medium-high heat. Once the pan is hot, turn off the heat. Use the heat from the pan to melt the base of a Rolo (be careful of your fingers near the hot pan!). When the base has melted a little, stick the Rolo to the flat side of a giant chocolate button, making sure it is centred. Repeat 11 more times, for a total of 12 chocolate fedoras, then set all the chocolates aside to harden.
• When the buttercream on the cakes is firm, you can start making the 'sheets' for the ghosts. Knead your modelling chocolate to bring it back to a smooth, pliant dough, then break off a small piece (about 15g). Dust your work surface and rolling pin with icing sugar, then roll out the ball, keeping the chocolate in a roughly circular shape, very thinly (about 12cm diameter). Use a small, sharp knife to cut off any messy edges with a wavy line, then carefully lift up the chocolate and drape it over the chilled cupcake. Press it against the central buttercream dollop and arrange the folds evenly.
• Before the modelling chocolate firms up, press two dark chocolate chips into the chocolate, to act as eyes. Using the black edible marker, draw a bar connecting the two chips to create the sunglasses (see Note 3).
• Heat the same, small frying pan you used to make the fedoras back up over a medium heat. Once the pan is hot, turn off the heat and use the warmth of the pan to melt the bottom of each fedora slightly (this will allow them to stick to the top of the modelling chocolate). Press one fedora on top of each ghost cupcake. Be careful not to over-melt the chocolate, or it will ooze out when you push it down onto the cupcake.
• I recommend adding the chocolate decorations (from the modelling chocolate 'sheets' onwards) on the day you plan to serve the cakes, to prevent any 'sweating'. The iced cupcakes will keep for 2-3 days in an airtight container (or the fridge), while the fully decorated cupcakes are best eaten on the same day.

Notes

1. I like to use decaf tea when I’m baking with it, so that I can have a cake at any time of the day without worrying, but feel free to use caffeinated tea, if you prefer.
2. As always, I like to use Stork in place of butter for my cakes- I think it makes for a fluffier, moister cake. If you don’t want to use Stork, just substitute it with an equal quantity of softened, unsalted butter. 
3. I used an edible ink marker to join the two chocolate chip ‘eyes’ into sunglasses, but it was a little bit finicky and I wasn’t super happy with the result. If you want to use an edible marker, I recommend you press the chips in, then remove them and draw the bar between them, before pressing the chips back in, to make the process easier. Otherwise, you could use some melted dark chocolate, either by placing it into a piping bag fitted with a very fine tip OR by dipping a cocktail stick into it and etching a small line that way. 
4. As always, you can use any edible modelling paste for this. I’ve opted to use white modelling chocolate, because I like the taste and the colour, but you could also use fondant or marzipan, if you prefer. All of these modelling pastes will ‘sweat’ if left on the cakes for too long though, so I would still only add them to the cupcakes on the day you plan to serve them, no matter which paste you choose to use.

Let’s get into it, shall we?

Table of Contents

• The Lavender Haze Cupcake: Explained
• Cold Infusion vs Hot Infusion
• How to Make Chocolate Koi
• The Reverse-Creaming Method
• Food Colouring 101
• Whipped Cream Icing
• Decorating the Cupcakes
• Recipe

The Lavender Haze Cupcake: Explained

The Lavender Haze Cupcake has 3 main elements:

• Smoky lavender cake
• Smoky lavender whipped cream icing
• Chocolate koi decoration

Obviously, these cupcakes absolutely had to be flavoured with lavender. I mean- the song is literally called Lavender Haze. In the music video, the titular ‘haze’ is portrayed as a smoky purple mist- so, to get that ‘hazey’ vibe, I wanted to introduce a smoky element. To do that, I used lapsang souchong, which is a smoked tea. The combination of lavender and lapsang souchong makes for quite a mature flavour- think floral and a little musky. These cupcakes won’t be for everyone, much like how both lavender and lapsang souchong aren’t for everyone. However, I think the (admittedly, slightly unusual) combination of flavours embodies the song perfectly, so you should definitely give it a try!

To get the flavours into these cupcakes, I infused the milk (for the cakes) and the cream (for the icing). To get the best results, I did this in two ways: hot infusion (the more standard method) and cold infusion. More on that later.

Instead of a typical buttercream, these cupcakes are decorated with infused whipped cream. I think this is the perfect topping for 2 reasons: firstly, whipped cream is inherently so much lighter and airier (dare I say… hazier?) than buttercream. As a result, it just fits with the vibe I was going for with these cupcakes. Secondly, the cold-infused whipped cream really helps to lift the flavours in the cake, making it the perfect topping for these cupcakes. I find the whipped cream icing gives these cupcakes a fresher, lighter taste, making them even tastier!

The decoration of these cakes is hugely influenced by the song’s music video- particularly the scene in which Swift sits among clouds, surrounded by floating koi (strange, yes, but we roll with it).

Even though the koi themselves appear to be an Easter Egg for the release of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), I still wanted to include them on these Lavender Haze cupcakes, so I made little chocolate koi- there’s a full tutorial for this below. The cupcakes themselves are lavender-coloured (lavender/purple food colouring is a key ingredient in this recipe! You can read more on that below) and half of the whipped cream is purple too! In fact, the piping on top reflects two aspects of the song/its music video: the white ‘clouds’ (see koi scene, above) and the purple ‘love spiral’ in the middle (I even have a few different decorating variations for you!).

So, that’s the cupcakes explained. Essentially, they are smoky lavender cupcakes, topped with two colours of smoky lavender cream, decorated with chocolate koi. Obviously, you can make these cupcakes without the extra decoration (i.e. just the cupcakes and cream on top, with no food colouring), if that’s more your vibe. Now though, let’s get into some specifics…

Cold Infusion vs Hot Infusion

As I said before, this recipes uses both hot and cold infusion to get the smoky lavender flavour into the cupcakes. This is not to make life more complicated, but to ensure you get the best out of all of your ingredients! Let’s discuss the difference between the two methods first:

For this recipe, you’ll use the hot infusion method to infuse the milk for the cupcake batter, while you’ll use the cold infusion method to infuse the cream for the whipped cream icing. Because flavours can change and become less intense during baking, it’s better to use a hot infusion for the cupcake batter. However, because the whipped cream is not baked, you don’t require as intense a flavour, so the cold infusion method can be used successfully. The benefit of using a cold infusion for whipped cream is two-fold: not only does cream whip up best when it is completely cold (meaning you’d have to chill it after hot-infusing anyway!) but, when you heat cream, you run the risk of splitting/curdling it, which would render it useless for whipping! Therefore, using both infusion methods for this recipe means you get the best flavour and the most successful results. It may seem like a bit of a faff, but, I promise, it will pay off!

One final note on the infusing process before we move on: both lavender and lapsang souchong are strong flavours. Don’t make your infusions too strong, because the delicate balance between the two ingredients is essential for these cakes. For the hot infusion of milk for the cake batter, I only leave the teabag in for 10 minutes and the lavender for 15 minutes– truly, that’s all you need! The cold infusion cream is a little more forgiving- I find 3 hours gives the perfect amount of flavour, but you can adapt this to your tastes by leaving it in the fridge for more/less time for a stronger/weaker flavour, respectively.

How to Make Chocolate Koi

My Lavender Haze Cupcakes are topped with little chocolate koi, in a nod to the song’s music video. These are actually pretty simple to make- they don’t even require any specialist tools (only some specialist ingredients)! Here’s what you’ll need:

Ingredients:

• Modelling chocolate

I used white modelling chocolate for the bodies of my koi because I love the taste (I used this brand). However, you could use any other pale, edible modelling paste, such as marzipan or fondant. You need 3g of your chosen modelling paste for each koi, and you’ll need 1 or 2 koi per cupcake, depending on how you decorate it. This recipe makes 12-16 cupcakes, so you’ll need 36-96g of paste in total (though it might be a good idea to have some extra to practise with!).

• Flaked almonds

I used flaked almonds for the fins of my koi. Admittedly, koi have a lot of fins in real life, but I settled for 2, just to give the general impression. If you need to make a nut-free version of the koi, make sure you use a nut-free modelling paste (definitely not marzipan!) and use scissors to ‘snip’ two little fins on the side of the body, which you can then flatten & shape using your fingers, instead of using flaked almonds.

For each koi, you’ll need 2x flaked almonds, but you’ll want a selection of almonds to pick from, so that you can get matching pairs. Because the koi are so small, you’ll need to pick out the smaller almonds to get fins that are in proportion to the body!

• Edible ink markers in orange and black

The koi in the Lavender Haze music video are white with black and red/orange splotches. To achieve that look, I used these edible ink markers by Sugarflair, in the shades Liquorice and Tangerine. Using edible ink markers gives you more control and means that your koi are less likely to stain your mouth when you eat them, but you can substitute them with regular or powdered food colouring, if you prefer.

• Icing sugar

Because you’ll be working with modelling paste, you’ll need a little bit of icing sugar for dusting your work surface and hands throughout the process.

Equipment:

• Small, sharp knife
• Baking tray lined with greaseproof paper

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Weigh out 3g of modelling chocolate for the body. Knead on a clean surface, dusted with icing sugar, until smooth, then roll into a ball between the palms of your hands.

2. Roll the ball into a sausage shape, tapering one end slightly. Curve the tapered sausage slightly.

3. Use your finger to press down on the very end of the tapered part of the body, to flatten out the tail. Carefully peel the koi off of your work surface and dip the underside of the tail into some more icing sugar, to prevent further sticking.

4. Use a small, sharp knife to make an incision in the flattened tail, separating the tail into two fins.

5. Select two similarly-sized and shaped flaked almonds for the fins. Gently press one into each side of the thicker part of the body. Set aside on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper to dry out a little while you make more koi.

6. Once you have made all your koi bodies, you can add colour. Starting with the orange edible ink marker, scribble little patches of colour randomly over the body and fins of each koi. Set aside to dry for 10-15 minutes.

7. After the orange colour has dried for 10-15 minutes, repeat the process with the black edible ink marker. Set aside to dry for at least 30-40 minutes before using to decorate cupcakes.

And there you have it! Handmade chocolate koi- ready to decorate your cupcakes with. These may seem a little fiddly at first, but with a bit of practise, you’ll be making them super quickly!

The Reverse-Creaming Method

These cupcakes are made using the Reverse-Creaming Method. Typically, when you make a cake, you cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, beat in the eggs, then fold in the remaining dry ingredients. With reverse-creaming, the process is flipped on its head. You start by mixing the butter into the dry ingredients (plain flour, caster sugar and baking powder), until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs, like this:

In a separate jug, you whisk together milk, eggs and vanilla, which you then pour into the butter/dry ingredient mixture in a slow, steady stream, with the mixer on low, before turning up the speed and giving the batter a final beat to smooth out all the lumps. The end result is a super easy, moist cake that is slightly denser than a typical sponge. I learned about the reverse-creaming method from The Scran Line, but it was popularised by Rose Levy Beranbaum in 1988.

While I usually use the standard creaming method for my cakes, I opted to use the reverse-creaming method for this recipe for a couple of reasons. Firstly, recipes made using the reverse-creaming method naturally have a larger quantity of milk in them. Because the infused milk is vital to this recipe and because it’s much easier to infuse a bigger quantity of milk (as opposed to a couple of tablespoons) without wastage, having more milk suits this recipe perfectly. The second reason is that I wanted the cakes themselves to be purple. Because cakes have a high sugar content, they tend to brown around the edges/top when baked, which obscures any colour used in the batter. You can get around this by baking your cakes at a very low temperature for longer- this recipe calls for 35-40 minutes at 140°C- a very low oven for cakes (this is another tip I learned from The Scran Line). The moister cupcake given by the reverse-creaming method can handle that low, slow bake much better than a typical sponge, which might dry out!

Although I learned about reverse-creaming from The Scran Line, I wasn’t crazy about the cake recipe from that website- it was a little too dense and tough for my taste (it did, however, look INCREDIBLE- no browning whatsoever AND a super smooth top and bake). Instead, I adapted the cooking time of this recipe, by Benjamina Ebuehi. These ratios, plus the low, slow cooking time, gave me the moistest, easiest cupcake that retained its purple colour during baking. It caramelised slightly more than The Scran Line’s recipe, but not so much that I was willing to sacrifice the delicious texture.

Food Colouring 101

I learned the hard way that not all food colourings are made equal. When you’re colouring a batter, you need a food colouring that a) will not be affected by the heat of the baking process and b) is specially formulated to combine evenly into high-fat mixtures. I have always used food colourings from Wilton, which are great, but they are no good at all for baking with. I tried to get a pretty, lavender cake and I ended up with cakes that either had an off-putting grey tinge or a bizarre ombre of pink to blue (???). Anyway, infuriated, I tried out a new brand, Colour Mill, which even happens to have a specific lavender shade, which is apparently specifically formulated to work well with high-fat mixtures/baking.

It was perfect! I used it for both the cake batter and the whipped cream, and I was so pleased with the results. Not only did it give a super even colour, but it was also incredibly easy to use because it comes in a squeeze-y bottle, so I didn’t have to faff around with cocktail sticks/spoons.

Whipped Cream Icing

Ah, whipped cream, the bane of my life. No, but in all seriousness- why is it so temperamental? You underwhip it and it slides off your cakes. You overwhip it by a second and you have butter. You pipe it and it loses its shape. You cannot win! There are whole YouTube videos out there comparing different ways of stabilising whipped cream, ranging from the pretty gross (cornflour (?!)) to the straight-up different food item altogether (surely adding cream cheese just makes it… cream cheese icing?). Anyway, after years of strife, I think I’ve cracked it- and it’s a lot easier than you might think!

I ‘stabilise’ my whipped cream with icing sugar. You only need a couple of tablespoons, but it really does help it keep its structure. I mean, this is not strictly stabilised whipped cream- you will need to refrigerate the cakes after decorating them, because, if your cream gets too warm, it will melt. Long story short, add the sugar, don’t leave your cakes out in the sun for hours (i.e., don’t be a silly sausage) and keep them refrigerated as much as you can. You’ll get great tasting whipped cream that stays firm. Win.

The other thing to consider is how much you whip your cream. Cream has this incredibly annoying habit of going from pourable to butter in the space of a few seconds. Once your cream is whipped, it will keep getting thicker the more you mess with it, whether you are just lightly stirring it or, yes, even piping it. Whip your cream so that it just hold stiff peaks. When you lift the whisk, it should just hold its shape, but the cream should still look soft and glossy. By the time you get it in the piping bag and onto your cupcakes, the cream will be perfect.

This recipe calls for half of the cream to be coloured lavender. In the recipe, I tell you to split your infused cream in half and add colouring to one bowl before whipping it and I strongly suggest you do this! I know it seems so much easier to whip all the cream and then colour it, but, by the time you have incorporated all of the colour evenly, your cream will be overwhipped and you’ll have to start again 🙁 . By adding the colouring at the start, you’ll have more control over the finished colour (you can still add more as you whip, before you get to stiff peaks!) and perfectly whipped cream.

Decorating the Cupcakes

You can decorate these cupcakes however you want! I tried out a few different styles, all of which use the same whipped cream and 1-2 piping tips, so you can easily mix-and-match, if that’s your vibe. Once you know the basics, they’re all super easy to achieve.

The ‘Love Spiral’

Named after one of the lyrics in the song, the ‘Love Spiral’ only uses purple cream in a piping bag fitted with a large, open star tip. If you want to use this technique, don’t divide your cream into two bowls and just colour the whole lot lavender. After that, it’s a very straightforward swirl of icing on top of each cake: hold the piping bag vertically above the centre of the cake and apply a gentle pressure. Keep applying that pressure as you move out from the centre of the cake and ‘draw’ a circle around the perimeter, then continue around in a spiral, building up the icing and coming back towards the centre as you go, until you reach the middle. At this point, release the pressure to finish off the spiral. Done!

The Cloud

As further tribute to the cloud/koi scene in the Lavender Haze music video, this icing style makes the top of the cupcake into one fluffy cloud. Super dreamy! You only need uncoloured cream for this style, so skip the food colouring and whip up all the cream in one. Place the cream into a piping bag fitted with a large, round tip, and pipe little dollops of cream around the perimeter of the cupcake.

Use an angled palette knife (or teaspoon, if you don’t have one!), to gently drag from the centre of each dollop, into the middle of the cake, like in the photo below:

Once the bottom layer is done, repeat the process, piping dollops then dragging them into the centre, on top of the first layer, making sure to offset the dollops.

Finish off the cupcakes with a final dollop on top, in the centre, and you have a cloud cupcake!

The Combo

The cupcakes in the thumbnail were decorated with a combination of the two styles. For this style, you’ll need to colour half of your cream lavender, while leaving the other half white. Pipe the first layer of the ‘Cloud’ icing style as above, using the white cream in a piping bag fitted with a large, round tip, then make a smaller ‘Love Spiral’ in the centre, using the purple cream in a piping bag fitted with a large, open star tip.

Once you have iced all of your cupcakes, all that’s left to do is decorate each one with 1 or 2 chocolate koi and you have your Lavender Haze Cupcakes!

Recipe

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Lavender Haze Cupcakes

Inspired by Taylor Swift's song 'Lavender Haze', these smoky lavender cupcakes are topped with whipped cream clouds + a love spiral, as well as some handmade chocolate koi, in a nod to the song's music video.

Course Dessert, Snack

Keyword Cupcake, Lapsang souchong, Lavender, Lavender Haze, Reverse creaming method, Taylor Swift, Taylor Swift Cupcakes, Whipped cream

Prep Time 2 hours hours

Cook Time 40 minutes minutes

Infusing time 3 hours hours 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 5 hours hours 55 minutes minutes

Servings 12 – 16 cupcakes

Equipment

• 12-16 lavender cupcake cases
• 1 large round piping nozzle
• 1 large open star nozzle
• 2 piping bags
• 1 offset spatula

Ingredients

For the smoky lavender whipped cream:

• 500 ml double cream
• 1.5 tsp dried lavender (see note 1)
• 1 lapsang souchong tea bags
• 2 tbsp icing sugar
• Lavender food colouring

For the chocolate koi decorations:

• icing sugar , for dusting
• 36-96 g white modelling chocolate (see note 2)
• flaked almonds (see note 3)
• edible ink markers, black and orange (see note 4)

For the smoky lavender cupcakes:

• 240 ml milk
• 1 1/2 tsp dried lavender (see note 1)
• 1 lapsang souchong tea bag
• 250 g plain flour
• 250 g caster sugar
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 100 g unsalted butter, at room temperature (see note 5)
• 2 eggs
• 1/8 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

Make the smoky lavender cream:

• Begin by cold-infusing the smoky lavender cream, as it will need to infuse for about 3 hours. Add the cream, dried lavender and lapsang souchong teabag to a bowl, cover and place into the fridge. Leave for 3 hours, while you make the rest of the cake components.

Make the chocolate koi:

• Dust a clean work surface with icing sugar. Knead your modelling chocolate on the surface, until you have a smooth ball.
• Take 3g of the modelling chocolate and roll into a ball between the palms of your hands (dip it into the icing sugar if it gets too soft/sticky). Flatten your palms slightly and continue rolling to elongate the ball- you're aiming for a rough sausage shape. Gently taper off one end of the sausage for the tail. Bend the sausage slightly, so your koi has a curved body.
• Use your finger to press down on the very end of the tapered part of the sausage to flatten it and begin the tail. Carefully peel the 'tail' off the work surface, then dip the underside of it into icing sugar to prevent further sticking. Use a small, sharp knife to make a cut down the centre of the flattened tail.
• Select 2 small flaked almonds (try to find 2 that are a similar size/shape to each other). Gently insert one almond into the chocolate on each side of the thicker part of the body. Set this first koi aside to dry out a little while you make the others- you will need 1 or 2 per cupcake, depending on how you plan to decorate.
• Once you have shaped all of the koi, it is time to decorate them. Using the orange edible marker first, gently sketch rough patches of colour all over the body and almond fins of the koi. Set these aside to dry for 10-15 mins, before repeating with the black marker. Set the decorated koi aside to dry, at room temperature, while you make the cupcakes (at least 30-40 minutes).

Make the smoky lavender cupcakes:

• Preheat the oven to 140°C (120°C fan) and line a 12-hole cupcake pan with lavender cupcake cases (this recipe will make 12-16 cupcakes, so you may find you need an additional 4 cases to line another cupcake pan).
• Begin by infusing the milk. Place the milk, lavender and lapsang souchong tea bag into a small saucepan. Place over medium heat and bring to just below a simmer. When you see little bubbles forming around the edge of the pan and steam starting to come from the milk, turn off the heat, cover and set aside.
• After 10 minutes, remove the teabag from the milk (you can discard the teabag at this point). After a further 5 minutes, strain the milk into a jug through a fine mesh sieve and discard the lavender. Allow the infused milk to cool to room temperature before proceeding.
• Sieve the flour, sugar and baking powder into the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the butter and mix on low speed for 2-3 minutes, until the mixture resembles fine sand and no large lumps of butter remain.
• Add the eggs and vanilla extract to the cooled infused milk. Whisk to combine and then, with the mixer on low, add the wet ingredients to the butter/dry ingredient mixture in a slow, steady stream. Once you have added all of the wet ingredients, stop the mixer (the mixture will still look a little lumpy and undermixed at this stage) and add the lavender food colouring. Turn the mixer up to medium speed and mix until you have a smooth, evenly coloured batter- about 1 minute.
• Fill the cupcake cases about 3/4 of the way full (I use a regular-sized ice cream scoop). Bake for 35-40 minutes, until the cupcakes spring back when touched lightly. Carefully remove from the pans as soon as the cupcakes come out of the oven (this will help to prevent greasy cupcake cases) and transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Prepare the whipped cream topping:

• Once the cream has been infusing in the fridge for 3 hours, strain it through a fine mesh sieve to remove the lavender and the teabag. Divide the cream into two equal parts (about 250ml each- though you will inevitably have lost a little cream in the straining process) and place each half in a separate, medium bowl (see note 6).
• Sift 1 tbsp icing sugar into each bowl of cream, then whisk (I prefer to use an electric hand whisk) the cream in one bowl until stiff peaks form (be careful not to overwhisk, or you will end up with butter).
• Colour the second bowl of cream lavender with food colouring, before whipping to stiff peaks, like the first bowl. Once both creams are whipped, you can proceed to decorating the cupcakes.

Decorate the cupcakes:

• Fit one piping bag with a large round nozzle, and another with a large open star nozzle. Place the uncoloured cream into the bag with the round nozzle, and the lavender cream into the bag with the star nozzle.
• Begin with the uncoloured cream. Pipe dollops of cream around the edge of each cupcake, then use the offset spatula to drag each dollop into the centre, to make the 'clouds'.
• Switch to the lavender icing. Pipe a spiral of cream into the centre of each cupcake, in between the clouds.
• Once the cupcakes are iced, place a chocolate koi on top of each cake to decorate. Once iced, the cupcakes must be refrigerated and are best eaten within 2-3 hours, though they will keep for up to a day. If you want to make the cakes in advance, you can bake the cupcakes and keep them, undecorated, in an airtight container for 2-3 days, then decorate just before serving.

Notes

1. Make sure the lavender you purchase is culinary grade. You can buy the packet I got here. 
2. I used white modelling chocolate, but you can use any pale modelling paste, e.g. fondant or marzipan. You will need 3g of modelling paste per koi, so decide how many koi you want to put on each cake to work out how much paste you need.
3. You will only need 2x flaked almonds per koi, but it is best to have more than you need. This will ensure that you are able to find matching pairs of flaked almonds that are on the smaller side, so that the fins are proportional to the bodies of the fish. 
4. I used edible ink markers for easier application (you can find the markers I used here– I used the shades Liquorice and Tangerine), but you can use regular or powdered food colouring if you prefer. Regular food colouring will, however, take longer to dry and be more likely to stain your mouth when you eat it. 
5. I prefer to use Stork in place of butter in my cakes, because I think it produces a lighter, softer crumb. If you’re using Stork, substitute the butter for an equal amount of Stork. If you’re using unsalted butter, make sure it is softened and at room temperature before you begin baking. 
6. Once cream reaches soft peaks, it will stiffen up incredibly quickly, even when mixing with a spatula by hand. It’s best to split the cream into two separate bowls and add the lavender food colouring to one bowl of cream before whipping it, so you can get an even colour distribution without worrying about overmixing the cream and ending up with butter!

I really hope you have enjoyed this post- I had so much fun coming up with the concept for these cupcakes and working out the recipe for them. Let me know what you think in the comments! I’d love to hear which Taylor Swift song you’re most excited to see in cupcake form!

Gemma

xxx