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Lemon Cupcakes

Happy Sunday, G.O. readers!

I hope everyone is having a peaceful, relaxing Sunday.  I’m super excited that I awoke to a much cooler morning today.  Here along the Gulf Coast, it’s a treat to get a September morning that’s in the upper 50’s.  Our temps don’t usually start dropping until mid to late October.  It’s usually chilly by Halloween.  So the mild temps have me floating a bit this morning. Yay! 

Sorry I didn’t get to post as much this past week; we were slammed at work, (we had quite a few people out, and we tend to have more traffic in the office after a holiday); but I wanted to make sure I touched base with everyone today, and I also wanted to go ahead and post the lemon cupcake recipe my friend, D used a few weeks ago.  I’ve yet to make these myself, but they look and sound delicious.  So here we go:



Ingredients:

Cupcakes:
3 cups self rising flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temp
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs, at room temp
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons lemon zest
1 cup whole milk, divided
2 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice divided

Lemon Cream Icing:
2 cups chilled heavy cream
3/4 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Line 30 cupcake pan cups with paper liners.
  2. Sift the self-rising flour and salt together in a bowl. In another bowl, beat the unsalted butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, beating each egg until incorporated before adding the next. Mix in the vanilla extract and lemon zest.
  3. Gently beat the flour mixture into the butter mixture, one third at a time, alternating with half the milk and half the lemon juice after each of the first 2 additions of flour. Beat until just combined; do not over mix.
  4. Fill the prepared cupcake liners with batter 3/4 full, and bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 17 minutes. Let the cupcakes cool in the pans for about 10 minutes before removing them to finish cooling on a rack.
  5. To make the icing, beat the cream in a chilled bowl with an electric mixer set on Low until the cream begins to thicken. Add the confectioners’ sugar and lemon juice, a little at a time, beating after each addition, until fully incorporated. Increase the mixer speed to High, and beat until the icing forms soft peaks, about 5 minutes. Spread on the cooled cupcakes. Refrigerate leftovers.
My friend, D chose to use store bought lemon icing instead of using the home made icing recipe that goes along with the cupcakes.  That decision, I leave up to you, my friends.  I still may make these soon, or I may opt to just make the Pumpkin Spice cake recipe I saw on the Diva’s Can Cook website, (love that site)!
 
I’ll be back tomorrow with a Motivation Monday blog entry.  Until then, keep enjoying your Sunday morning, (or what will soon be afternoon now).  I leave you with this mellow Sunday morning tune from Maroon Five:
 
Let’s make today a great one!
Girl October