I'm all for vanilla buttercream and icing but sometimes it's good to add a bit of variation to basic cake recipes. So I thought I'd try Squires Kitchen Real Fruit Fondant Icing Mix, they do lots of different flavours including strawberry, blackcurrant and lemon, but I went for the raspberry flavour.
It comes in a 250g pack and is very pale pink... you'd therefore think you'd end up with pale pink icing but as soon as you add the butter (125g) and water (2tsp) it becomes a vibrant pink making for very attractive cupcakes! You can also use the mix for a thinner consistency for fabulous fondant fanices.
So what does it taste like? It's extremely fruity and you really get a strong flavour of raspberries which is great. It's very moreish but extremely sweet so only for those with a sweet tooth... but if you're reading this...then that's probably you!! Of course you could achieve a similar result by making a basic buttercream and then whizzing in some fresh fruit of your choice, this is also a good option and it looks good too but this fondant icing mix is definitely worth a try, especially when you don't have fresh fruit or it's out of season.The mix is made with freeze dried fruit powder which you can buy online and it can be used in all sorts of ways in your baking. A contestant even used it on the Great British Bake Off to flavour her meringues! Finally, if you like the cupcake wrappers you can buy them in packs of 12 in different designs from Culpitt.