Luscious Lemon Cupcakes

After a somewhat slow entry into my life, Mr. Red is finally hitting his stride. Over the last couple days, almost out of nowhere, I've found myself breaking out Mr. Red on a near-daily basis and I couldn't be happier about our time together. I load him up with the necessary ingredients and then let him work his magic. He's whipped up two batches of cookies, today's featured recipe, and I'm currently working on a pizza recipe for tonight which he was able to breakout his dough hook for! (Can you feel the excitement bursting out of me...clearly I'm not good at containing myself and am very easily entertained).

On Saturday, as hordes of tourists continued their dissent onto the District (I both love and hate this time of year in DC), I too found myself playing tour guide. Fortunately, it wasn't to strangers, but rather part of my family decided to come down to observe me in my natural habitat. While my parents and sister have been down many times in the 2 years since I began calling the District home, others had not. Thus, mother decided to arrange a girls outing and brought my aunt, grandmom, and her friend down for the day. After lunch and "Gian's Tour of DC," we headed back to my apartment for a little dessert I'd whipped up. 

I'm not a huge cupcake maker. While I love, and will likely never refuse, a cupcake, I often struggle with making them in a way that I'm completely satisfied with (usually my oven betrays me like Judas and I end up with darker than intended bottoms), but I decided to get back in the saddle and try my luck yet again. With spring in the air, I'm currently loving all things lemon. It's one of my favorite warm weather flavors, I think because it just screams cool and refreshing. And, to help further satisfy my craving for lemony things, I got a whole bag of lemons on sale at market, so there are many more lemon themed recipes in this blog's future!

Luscious Lemon Cupcakes

Ingredients

[Courtesy of Taste of Home]

For Filling

• 3 tablespoons plus 1-1/2 teaspoons sugar
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 4-1/2 teaspoons butter
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel

For Batter

• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
• 1-1/2 cups cake flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup buttermilk

For Frosting

(Relying on my favorite buttercream recipe)

• 12 ounces (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 pound confectioners' sugar, sifted
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

He's such a happy little worker

Preparation

1. For lemon curd, in a heavy saucepan, cook and stir the sugar, lemon juice and butter until smooth. Stir a small amount of hot mixture into egg; return all to pan. Bring to a gentle boil, stirring constantly; cook 2 minutes longer or until thickened. Stir in lemon peel. Cool for 10 minutes. Cover and chill for 1-1/2 hours or until thickened
2. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Add vanilla and lemon peel. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk
3. Fill paper-lined muffin cups three-fourths full. Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes; remove from pan to a wire rack to cool completely
4. Cut a small hole in the corner of a pastry or plastic bag; insert a small round pastry tip. Fill bag with lemon curd. Insert tip 1 in. into center of each cupcake; fill with curd just until tops of cupcakes begin to crack

This was also my first time making a filled cupcake...I was nervous but ended up loving it (probably because it allowed the nerd in me to use more fun kitchen tools)

1. For frosting, beat butter with a mixer on medium-high speed until pale and creamy, about 2 minutes
2. Reduce speed to medium. Add sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, beating after each addition, about 5 minutes. (After every 2 additions, increase speed to high, and beat for 10 seconds, then reduce speed to medium-high). Add vanilla, and beat until buttercream is smooth

Because I can't pass up an opportunity to use seasonally appropriate sprinkles, I topped the finished product with some pastel nonpareils, but lemon peel would be fun too

Happy Spring!