Ingredients

Step by step

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C, fan 160°C, gas 4. Line 2 cupcake trays or muffin tins with 18 white paper cupcake cases.
2. Put the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until pale, light and creamy. Gradually beat in the eggs a little at a time until smooth, adding a little flour if the mixture curdles. Grind the pistachios to a powder in a small food processor.
3. Stir the flour, pistachios, baking powder and lime zest and juice into the mixture and beat until smooth. Divide the mixture between the cupcake cases.
4. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown, risen and just firm to the touch. Cool in the tin for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.
5. Make the icing by beating the butter and icing sugar with 1-2 teaspoons boiling water for 3-4 minutes until creamy and smooth, with a piping consistency that will hold its shape. Add ¼ teaspoon rose water (take care, as it is very intense), then adjust to taste.
6. Snip off the end of a piping bag and fit the piping nozzle. Using the end of the tube of food colouring, paint a stripe of colouring up either side of the piping bag (make sure you keep a little colouring in the tube for tinting the rose cupcake icing), then fill the bag with half the icing for the hydrangea cupcakes. Pipe lots of small stars all over the surface of half of the cupcakes to make these.
7. Squeeze any icing that is left in the piping bag back into the bowl, then add a little extra colouring to tint all the icing pale pink, mixing the colour through evenly. Add a little more boiling water, if needed, to give a softer piping consistency, then spoon into the same piping bag. Holding the piping bag so that the nozzle points directly down and, starting in the middle of each remaining cupcake, pipe a swirl of buttercream to make a rose that covers the top of the cake. You can now chill all the cupcakes for half an hour to help the icing set firm, if you wish.
8. Trim the ends off the herb sprigs and stand the herbs in a glass of cold water so the stems stiffen as much as possible. To assemble the bouquet, first put something in the base of the flowerpot or bucket to weigh it down if the container is lightweight. Sit the polystyrene ball in the top of the flowerpot, pushing it down well to make sure it is secure – you can also use some tape to hold it steady. Starting at the centre top of the polystyrene ball, insert 3 cocktail sticks about halfway into the ball, keeping them quite close together. Now gently push a cupcake onto the cocktail sticks, which will hold the cake in place. Repeat all over the polystyrene ball, working to keep it balanced, spacing the cupcakes out evenly.
9. Use the herbs to fill the gaps in between the cupcakes (if preparing ahead, add the herbs just before serving). Use a cocktail stick or skewer to make a hole first, then stick a herb sprig into the hole, adding different herbs randomly all over. Take care not to brush against the icing as you work.
10. Watch this...

    Cupcake flowerpot bouquet