24 April 2009

Our friends recently let us pluck some lemons from their tree so I have been making lemony goodness ever since. I started with a great lemon chicken marinade, moved on to Lemon Bars (yes, a little on the nose I know) and rounded things off with Lemon Cupcakes. So far I have had the best luck with the Magnolia Bakery Vanilla Cupcake recipe, so I decided to modify* their recipe instead of taking my chances on an unproven lemon recipe. The results were lemony goodness that I had to share:

For the Cupcakes:

  • 1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
  • 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 4 large eggs, at room temperature {quick tip: if you are in a hurry, just put your cold eggs in a bowl of warm/hot tap water and by the time you are ready to use them they'll be room temp}
  • 3/4 cup milk*
  • 1/4 cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice*
  • 1 tbl lemon zest (use even more if you like it really lemony)*
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

  2. Line two 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake papers.

  3. In a small bowl, combine the flours. Set aside.

  4. In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not over beat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended. Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about three-quarters full. Bake for 20–25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean.

  5. Cool the cupcakes in the tins for 15 minutes. Remove from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack before icing.

I also wanted the frosting to be something very lemony, so I borrowed this lovely lemony butter cream recipe. I used closer to a tablespoon of lemon zest, but if you don't want to pack quite so much of a punch try a bit less. Also, because the lemon juice is so acidic it took quite a bit more sugar to get the texture I wanted...next time I will do 1/4 cup lemon juice and 1/4 cup milk so I don't have to use quite so much sugar.

2 comments:

hannah m said...

YUM YUM, double YUM! You've been busy in the kitchen - how fun! Is there a lemon-licious cocktail in your future tonight? Have a sip for me!

karolina said...

those look wonderful!

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