Lemon Cupcakes

I love lemon. Love it.

I made these a couple of times this summer for J's birthday and a co-worker's birthday. I would make them again in a heartbeat. The lemon cake and lemon curd are both good enough to eat alone, but put them together and add a whipped cream frosting...there's nothing better.

I used up all my lemon zest in the making of the cupcakes, but I think a little sprinkling of lemon zest on the frosted cupcakes would make these even prettier.

Lemon Filled Cupcakes

The Cupcakes:

Ingredients:
2 2/3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter, room temperature
1 2/3 cup sugar
1 TB lemon zest (or 1 tsp lemon extract)
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup milk

Directions:

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.

In a large bowl, cream together butter, sugar and lemon zest until light and fluffy.

Mix in eggs one at a time, followed by vanilla extract.

Stir in 1/3 of the flour mixture, then half of the milk, then another 1/3 of the flour, then the remaining milk, and finally the remaining flour. Mix just until incorporated.

Divide batter evenly into paper lined muffin tins. I did mini cupcakes. They're so much easier to eat than regular sized cupcakes.

Bake in a preheated, 350 degree oven for about 11 minutes (for mini cupcakes) or 17 minutes (for regular sized cupcakes), until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Cool completely on a wire rack.

I believe I got about 50 mini cupcakes from this batter. You should be able to get 24 regular sized cupcakes.

The Lemon Curd Filling:

Ingredients:

2/3 cup lemon juice
4 tsp fresh lemon zest
10 TB sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

In a small sauce pan, over medium heat, combine sugar and lemon juice. Add the lemon zest and stir until sugar is dissolved completely.

In a medium bowl, lightly beat egg. Whisking constantly, very slowly stream the hot lemon-sugar syrup into the egg. Beat for 2 minutes (only 1 if you’re using an electric mixer), then transfer back into the saucepan by pouring the mixture through a sieve.

Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the curd just comes to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.

Transfer to a small airtight container and store in the fridge.

Makes about 1 1/2 cups.

The Whipped Cream Frosting:

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups plus 2 tbsp. whipping cream
3 tbsp. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:
Beat all ingredients (use the whisk attachment on a stand mixer) on medium-high until the whipped cream holds stiff peaks.

Put it all together:

Once your cupcakes have cooled, cut a cone out of the top of each cupcake. I like a lot of filling in my cupcakes, so I generally also scrape more crumbs out of the hole to make room for more curd.

Fill the hole with lemon curd. You can use a spoon, but I like to use my mechanical pastry bag with a large open tip. It is super fast to squirt it in.
Top the cupcake with a swirl of frosting.

Adapted from:
Lemon Curd Filled Cupcakes
by Baking Bites
Whipped Cream Frosting
by Annie's Eats