Preheat your oven to 200°C [400°F] fan. Pour the caster sugar out onto a lined baking tray and bake for 5 minutes, until warm but not caramelised.

Once the sugar is warm, turn the oven down to 100°C [212°F]. Leave the oven door open for a bit to allow it to cool down to the lower temperature.

Pass the sugar through a sieve and into a bowl. Push the sugar gently to do this, then weigh out any pieces that are too hard to pass through. These are the caramelised pieces. Discard these caramelised pieces and replace with fresh caster sugar.

Wipe down your mixing bowl, whisk and two smaller bowls with lemon juice or white wine vinegar to remove any grease or moisture. Do not skip this otherwise you risk your meringue not reaching stiff peaks!

Using the smaller bowls, separate the whites of the eggs from the yolks, measuring out 80g of the whites. This doesn’t have to be exactly 80g (no eggs are exact!). Refrigerate the yolks in an airtight container and use in another dish.

Pour the egg whites into the large mixing bowl and whisk using a standing mixer or electric hand whisk on a high speed until the whites hit soft peaks and are foam-like.

Once soft peaks are achieved, continue whisking and add the sugar 1 tbsp at a time, leaving a gap of around 30 seconds in between adding each tbsp to allow the sugar to fully incorporate into the egg whites. Do this until all the sugar is incorporated and your meringue is glossy, smooth, and has hit stiff peaks. Be patient with this as it is key for a successful meringue!

Add the cream of tartar now and whisk in briefly if using.

Using a spoon or spatula, add the meringue to a piping bag with a wide tip.

Pipe the meringue in blobs: 4-5 for the base, then 2 - 3 on top to create cute clouds. Pipe 12 clouds: 1 per cupcake.

Your oven should be down to 100°C [212°F] now, so bake the meringue clouds for 45 minutes. After 45 minutes, turn the oven off completely and leave the meringues in the oven for 2 - 3 hours to dry out and cool completely. Do not take them out of the oven as you risk collapse.

Around 2 ½ hours into the drying process of your meringues, begin making your chiffon cupcakes.

Separate your eggs into two bowls. Both elements will be used. In a large mixing bowl, whisk the egg whites until they are pale and foam-like, just as before.

Add 100g caster sugar gradually, 1 tbsp at a time, whisking for 30 seconds between each tbsp to allow the sugar to incorporate fully. Do this until all the sugar is incorporated. Your meringue should be glossy, light, and holds stiff peaks. Add the cream of tartar and whisk in briefly. Set aside for now.

Make sure that your meringue clouds are now out of the oven - they will have had around 3 hours to dry, which is plenty of time. Preheat your oven to 180°C [350°F] or 160°C fan.

In another large mixing bowl, add the yolks, vanilla extract, milk, and oil. Pour in the remaining 20g sugar and whisk everything together until fully incorporated.

Sift the flour and baking powder into the yolk mixture and fold in with a spatula. Squish any large lumps of flour with the spatula.

Add ⅓ the meringue into the yolk mixture and fold in gently until no streaks remain. Add the rest of the meringue into the yolk mixture and fold it all in gently until fully incorporated and no streaks or lumps remain. Be patient with this so that you don’t knock all the air out of your meringue.

Place 12 sturdy (can stand on their own) cupcake cases on a baking tray and fill equally with the cake mixture. Fill each one no more than ⅔ of the way to leave room for rising.

Once your oven is up to temperature, bake the cupcakes on the middle shelf for 18 - 20 minutes, until golden brown on the top and the surfaces bounce back when gently pressed on.

Once baked, leave to cool completely on a wire rack.

When your cakes are completely cool, it’s time to decorate!

Secure the meringue clouds down to the tops of the cupcakes using some icing from any of the icing pens, or with something like jam.

Top the clouds with lines of icing using the icing pens to recreate the large sprinkles, then finish with the other sprinkles - just be mindful that they won’t stick to the meringue, but will sit in some of the rivets. Stick a couple of hearts to some icing to complete your My Melody & Kuromi cupcakes.