Lemony Cupcakes

On this quiet Mother's Day, what a better way to pass the time by doing what generations of mothers have been doing – bake something yummy! Recently I received some new goodies that I have been wanting to try – special cake flour, lemon oil, and a tool that pops the center of a cupcake out so you can fill it with special fillings (think Hostess chocolate cupcakes). Today’s recipe – White cake with butter cream frosting. The plan is to modify the cupcakes to create a lemon center with lemony butter cream frosting.

I love cupcakes, and I feel that my cupcakes are getting better and better with every batch made.  This morning I made the trip to the grocery store to pick up a couple missing ingredients – full-fat yogurt, heavy whipping cream, and lemon curd. Anytime you bake, preparation is key. Unfortunately, I forgot to check the ingredients for the frosting, but luckily I had just enough butter and powdered sugar, but no lemons. Not to worry, I have my new lemon oil that should work just fine. Yes, the plan was to make ‘lemon’ cupcakes, and I really did forget to buy lemons.

This recipe uses the ‘paste’ method for the cake. That means all of the dry ingredients are mixed first, then the butter is added to create a paste-like mixture. Then 5 eggs are added and beaten in one at a time. Finally a cup of yogurt with the flavorings is beaten in. The standard flavorings are vanilla extract and almond extract; I added lemon oil to give the cake a slight lemon flavor. The technique used for making the cake will affect the outcome. Cakes are really tricky, if you beat the additions for too long, you will get a tough and dense cake. Not long enough and the cake has a course texture. It’s very difficult to gage the right timing, but with practice, I have learned a good balance.

The cupcakes baked up perfectly – well, almost. Since the cake is so white, it is hard to tell when they are done. I kept checking them at about the right time, and since they were so white, I assumed that they were not done yet. A minute later, I realized my mistake and pulled them from the oven in the nick of time. Only a couple cupcakes were brown on the edges. Yikes!

After the cupcakes cooled (on a rack – if left in the muffin tin, the cake sweat will cause the cakes to become rubbery, and no one likes rubbery cakes!), I used my handy-dandy new ‘cupcake corer’ . It was easy to do, and BONUS – I was left with a bowlful of cupcake sweet-spots :) I wanted to try a couple of techniques for a lemon filling; the first one I made a lemon-pudding using standard Jell-O brand pudding mix with one cup of heavy whipping cream and ¾ cup of milk. This makes a richer, thicker pudding that is great for cake and tart fillings. The second version was easy, a spoon of Lemon Curd in the center. Lemon curd is amazing, it’s like lemon jelly and is usually spread on biscuits and other breakfast goodies, and it makes a perfect filling for my cakes.

I filled half the batch with each filling, and topped each with a healthy piping of butter cream frosting. Since I forgot to buy lemons, I relied on lemon oil for the frosting, which was not sufficient. There was a light flavor, but I was aiming for the tart bite of lemon.

Now for the taste test: the lemon curd version was definitely the winner. I brought a couple over to a friend’s apartment for a second opinion, and he agreed with my assessment. While the pudding version was good, the frosting flavor drowned out the lemon pudding and would be a good cupcake for someone who does not like the crisp, real lemon flavor. On the other hand, the lemon curd has a wonderful tart flavor that made the cupcake. The flavor was well-balanced with the frosting, however, I would like even more curd per cupcake. The cake of the cupcake was super moist and delicious, in fact, it’s the most tender and moist cake I have ever made from scratch. Can’t wait to make some other versions of these cupcakes with other fruit flavors!