Lemon Curd Filled Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Icing

If the title of this post isn't enough to make you pucker, I'm not sure what will.

But before I get started on today's post, I just wanted to mention how excited I am these days.  Jérôme has been hard at work on the new website we're developing for my blog.  Well, let's be honest.  He's developing it.  I'm just telling him what to do ;)  

The new website will make it much easier to sort through my recipes by type, ingredient, meal, season, etc.  It will also make it easier to print the recipes without having to print all of my constant babbling and photos.  So excited!!!!  But since we're leaving shortly for France, we're thinking that we will probably launch it in early May.  So stay tuned!! 

You may have surmised from my recent posts that I have become addicted to cake decorating.  Or perhaps, more to the idea of cake decorating than cake decorating itself, since I have yet to truly decorate a cake.  Well, for real, that is.  I did do Logan's first birthday cake last year.  But that probably doesn't count in the world of real cake decorating.

In true Lindsay style, I'm super impatient for my cake decorating class to start at the West Island Women's Centre.  However, since we will be in France for the first two classes (ugh!), I still have to wait a whole 5 weeks before I can begin to learn the inner workings of fondant...

So in the meantime, I decided to do a little cupcake decorating of my own.  Simple cake decorating.  Since I don't know how to do anything more complicated than this just yet.  But it settled my cake decorating hunger.  For the moment, at least.  Never mind my "I love everything lemon" hunger (which, as a side note, was soooo bad when I was pregnant with Chloé!).

The only thing is that I don't know what to do with all of these cupcakes now.  I've stuffed as many as I can into the freezer, but still have more than I'll be able to eat myself.  And Jérôme hates lemon. A true sign that something is full of super duper lemony deliciousness is if Jérôme hates it.  And this passed the test.  So if you live anywhere near me and love lemon, just leave a comment below and I'd be happy to oblige (first come, first serve) ;)

I got this recipe from My Baking Addiction.  I made it as is, but added some lemon curd in the centre of each cupcake to make them extra lemony.

For the cake:

2 1/4 C cake flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/4 C buttermilk
4 large egg whites
1 1/2 C sugar
lemon zest from two lemons
1 stick (1/2 C) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. pure lemon extract 

1.  Centre a rack in the oven to 350 degrees Farenheit.  Prepare cupcake tins by using liners or spray with non-stick cooking spray.

2.  Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.  

3.  Whisk together the milk and egg whites in a medium bowl.

4.  Put the sugar and lemon zest in a mixer bowl 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. 

6.   Beat in the extracts, then 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.  Place the batter into the cupcake tins.  

6.  Bake for 18-22 minutes, or until the cupcakes are well risen and springy to the touch - a thin knife inserted into the centres should come out clean.  Cool on wire rack.

Once the cupcakes were cooled, I scooped out a bit of the cake centre to be able to add in the lemon curd.  Here's a tip on how to fill your cupcakes.  

When I decided to make these, I thought that I had some leftover lemon curd in the basement that I had canned awhile back.  Turns out it was all gone.  So I quickly whipped up a batch, all the while breastfeeding a screaming Chloé.  Which led to me not cooking the lemon curd enough, since I wasn't really paying enough attention to it.  So mine was a bit runnier than it should be.  But delicious all the same.

For the cream cheese frosting:

2 (8 oz.) packages of cream cheese, softened
1 stick (1/2 C) butter, softened
2 lbs. confectioners' sugar 
2 tsp. vanilla extract
juice of one lemon

1.  Using a mixer, blend the butter and cream cheese together until well combined.  Gradually add in the confectioners' sugar until fully incorporated.  Finally mix in vanilla and lemon juice.

I learned how to make the swirl design on the cupcakes by watching a video here.  I used a number 96 decorating tip.  If you need tips on using an icing bag, click here.
 

These would be great decorated with a few fresh blueberries on top.  But I didn't have any...

Makes 24 cupcakes.

These freeze well, even with the icing.
Difficulty level: moderate (though a bit time consuming)