Every time I've ever baked in my kitchen (or any kitchen, for that matter), I've always learned something, each and every time. During this bright, summery-themed adventure (part of my 7 Hour Baking Marathon a couple nights ago), I learned something new about myself:
I don't like the combination of lemons and blueberries. At all.
I was always entranced by the two together: the colors complimented each other so perfectly, so shouldn't the tastes have too? I always assumed so, but when I tasted the buttercream from this recipe, my taste buds gave their answer: a big, fat, slightly-repulsed no.
That's just my opinion, of course. People can't seem to get enough of this combo, especially during summer when both fruits are at their best. Maybe it's just because I've never really liked blueberries (I think. I don't care for them on their own, but when they're baked into a pastry, I can't get enough of them. Plus their color is to die for.. Love-Hate Relationship much?), or maybe it's just because that night, after spending about an hour of working with lemons, lemons, and oh, more lemons, the taste started nauseating me, and then with the addition of lemon zest into the frosting...my taste buds were just not happy campers.
After I forgot about the cupcakes for a few days in my fridge though, the frosting wasn't all that bad. Regardless though, my family went bonkers for it, so I guess it's all good.
The cupcakes we're really amazing though. The recipe came from a blogger named My Baking Addiction, and it was absolutely wonderful: the cupcakes were perfectly soft, fluffy, sweet, and lemony. I didn't get a chance to try out the lemon curd recipe that went with it though, but if anyone wants to try it, the recipe can be found here.
Now, after spending 2 hours baking these little gems and making the frosting to go with them, but then being disappointed with the frosting, there was no way I'd let my hard work go to waste and leave these cupcakes plain, so I made a quick icing to go on them: by whisking about 2 tablespoons of milk, a drop of lemon extract, and enough powdered sugar to thicken it, I had a simple but perfect topping for my little cakes.
The original recipe for these cupcakes can be found here, or, you can just follow it down below for a few tips and pointers. Happy baking! :]
Lemon Cupcakes
Ingredients:
♥ 2 1/4 cups cake flour
♥ 1 tablespoon baking powder
♥ 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
♥ 1 1/4 cups buttermilk, well shaken, room temperature
♥ 4 large egg whites, room temperature (crack egg whites into a bowl, and let come to room temperature)
♥ 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
♥ 2 lemons
♥ 1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
♥1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
♥ 1/2 teaspoon pure lemon extract
1. Preheat oven to 350°. Line cupcake tins with paper liners. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. (this can just be done by simply whisking everything together.)
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the milk and egg whites.
3. Place lemons on a plate. Zest each lemon completely with a zester. If you don't own a zester (or can't find yours like me), you can simply use a grater.
4. Place the sugar and lemon zest in the bowl of your mixer or another large bowl and rub them together with your fingers until the sugar is moist and fragrant.
5. Add the butter and, working with the paddle or whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat at medium speed for a full 3 minutes, until the butter and sugar are very light. Beat in extracts.
6. Add one third of the flour mixture, still beating on medium speed. Beat in half of the milk-egg mixture, then beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients until incorporated. Add the rest of the milk and eggs, beating until the batter is homogeneous, then add the last of the dry ingredients. Finally, give the batter a good 2-minute beating to ensure that it is thoroughly mixed and well aerated.
7. Using a large ice cream scoop (about 3 tablespoons), distribute the batter between 24 muffin wells, filling each well 2/3 full.
8. Bake for 18-22 minutes, or until the cupcakes are springy to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the centers come out clean. Cool on wire rack.
Ahhh! I still cannot get over how perfect they came out.
The link for the buttercream and curd recipes are listed in the link above. Sadly, as I made the frosting, my camera battery decided it was going to die and leave me camera-less, so I have no pictures for that. I do have pictures of the finished product though...
Enjoy!
No comments:
Post a Comment