Raspberry Meringue cupcakes

pre-heat the oven to 180/170 fan/gas. line a large cookie tray with baking paper and prepare 3 cupcake trays with cases

For the Meringue: whisk the egg whites until they are fluffy and bubbly. add the sugar gradually and whisk until the mixture is stiff. an electric whisk is advised as hand whisking will become very tiring. put all of the meringue mixture into a piping bag and squeeze out little drops about 2cm wide. pop them into the oven for 10-11 minutes. then, take out the tray and let them cool for 10 mins.

For the cakes: Heat the oven to 220/210 fan/gas Beat butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. add the eggs one by one and whisk in between every addition. then add the flour, vanilla and milk and whisk until you get a batter. scoop big spoons of batter into the cases and pop them into the oven for 30 mins. after, take them out and let them cool by a windowsill for 20 mins.

For the Buttercream: Whisk the butter and sugar together until they are lumpy. add the milk and vanilla and whisk more. within 5 mins it should have formed a creamy icing. if it is still lumpy however, add more milk until it forms an icing.

cut the top off the cakes (the pointy bit) so that they are all the same height, and cut out a 1cm wide hole in the middle of the cupcakes. put the raspberry sauce into a piping bag or pipette and put it into the hole leaving a small space on top. in that space put a crumbled meringue. put the buttercream into a piping bag and swirl it around from the centre outwards, making sure to cover any cut patches of cake. Put a baby meringue and a raspberry on top for decoration.

serve up prettily and enjoy!!!!