Lemon Cupcakes!

Sunday is the birthday of one of my student supervisors at work. She requested lemon cupcakes with cherry buttercream frosting, so I can only oblige her. However, I love blueberries and lemon as well. So I'm going to use the same lemon cupcake and top one dozen with cherry buttercream. With the second dozen, I'm going to fill them with lemon curd and top them with a wild blueberry buttercream. Naturally, fresh fruit is always the best, but since these fruits are getting pulverized by the mixer, I'm going to use frozen wild blueberries (I was lucky enough to find some delicious fresh cherries at the local Fresh Market). I think the best way to incorporate the blueberries will require that I let them thaw and drain since I want to to avoid adding excess liquid to my frosting.

Incidentally, about a year ago, I made some amazing lime cupcakes filled with lime curd and topped with lime frosting, but I never posted the recipe. The original recipe for Key Lime Cupcakes is found over at Bon Appetit. I have to say I preferred regular limes. Key limes have a lemony quality that I'm not fond of. Either way, I'm using a modified version of that recipe for my lemon cupcakes.

Luscious Lemon Cupcakes
yield: 24 - 28 cupcakes

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 1/2 cups sugar

4 large eggs
5 tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp finely grated lemon zest (about 3-4 lemons worth)

2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups self-rising flour

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (325 if you're using a dark pan). Line two 12-cup muffin pans with cupcake liners.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes on medium speed. Add the eggs, one at a time, followed by the lemon juice and lemon zest. The mixture may look curdled; don't worry.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flours. Add the flour in three additions alternately with the buttermilk in two additions. Using a scant 1/3 cup batter, pour into lined muffin tins. I had enough batter for about 28, though I was very careful not to overfill because that seems to be a problem with me. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 20-25 minutes.



Cherry Buttercream Frosting
yield: enough frosting for 1 dozen cupcakes

This recipe, and I think the whole idea my friend had for these cupcakes, comes from une Gamine dans la Cuisine. Those are some beautiful pictures!

1 cup of unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 tsp salt

3 to 4 cups of confectioner's sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
zest of 1 lemon

1/2 cup fresh cherries, finely chopped


Make sure to avoid adding too much of the cherry juice to the frosting. It can break down the buttercream.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and salt until light and fluffy. Gradually add 3 cups of the confectioner's sugar. After the sugar, add the vanilla, lemon zest, and cherries. If the frosting is a little loose because of the cherry juice, add more of the confectioner's sugar gradually until it's of spreading consistency.

Blueberry Buttercream Frosting

1 cup unsalted butter
1/4 tsp salt

3 to 4 cups confectioner's sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
zest of 1 lemon

1/2 cup thawed, drained, wild blueberries

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and salt until fluffy. Gradually add 3 cups of the confectioner's sugar. After the sugar, add the vanilla, lemon zest, and blueberries. The blueberries don't need to be chopped because the mixer will pulverize them enough. If the frosting is loose, add more confectioner's sugar.

Lemon Curd
yield: about 3/4 cup lemon curd

2 lemons, zested
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp cornstarch
pinch of salt

3 large egg yolks
1/4 cup lemon juice

4 tbsp butter, sliced into 4 pieces

Combine zest, sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a medium saucepan. Whisk to combine. Add egg yolks and whisk until pale yellow. Whisk in juice and set pan over low - medium heat. Stir with a wooden spoon until thick. Usually, this takes 10 minutes of cooking over a medium low flame. Strain through a mesh sieve into a bowl. Add butter, one piece at a time and stir until combined before adding another piece. Cool. Cover and chill. This makes about 3/4 cup lemon curd (and can be used to make lime curd as well). This can be made up to 5 days in advance.

Notes on Assembly

For the cupcakes, both frosting recipes made plenty for the dozen cupcakes they needed to frost. So I may dial those recipes back in the future. I only used the lemon curd filling in the blueberry cupcakes to give them a real lemony bite. Otherwise, I simply used a rosette tip to pipe the frosting on top! Wonderful!