Happy Birthday to Me!!! Celebrate with a Cupcake!

Today is my Birthday.  I won't tell you how old I am but I'm over 50 and have spent a lot of those years baking.  To celebrate this Birthday, since it was on Sunday, I decided to take Friday and Monday off from work and give myself a four day weekend.  Of course I had to spend some of that time baking cupcakes.  My niece has been home in Utah visiting from New York City and has wanted to learn how to make some of my cupcake recipes. We planned Friday to be a full day of Cupcake baking.  Then a girlfriend called saying she needed cupcakes for a Baby Shower tonight.  Looks like cupcakes were definitely going to take up two days of my weekend.  What could be better?

I decided I needed a new Lemon Cupcake Recipe and decided to tweak a couple of recipes into one and create a new Lemon Cupcake with Lemon Buttercream in honor of my Birthday.  These cupcakes would serve double duty.  Some for the Baby Shower and the rest to celebrate my Birthday.  They turned out delicious!  

 

Linda's Luscious Lemon Cupcakes

Servings:  30-33

Ingredients:
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup milk

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (one large lemon)

Zest of one large lemon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions: Line muffin tins with cupcake papers.  In a small bowl, add the flour, baking powder and salt; stir to combine; set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter using an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth.  Add the sugar gradually and beat for 3 minutes or until fluffy.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.   Add lemon zest

Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the milk, lemon juice and vanilla.  With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not over mix.

Spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling about 2/3 full.  Bake in a 350° oven for 20-25 minutes.  Cool the cupcakes in the tin for 10 minutes.  Remove cakes from the tins and cool on a wire rack before icing.  Ice with your favorite Buttercream.

Lemon Buttercream

Ingredients:

2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter

6-8 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

Zest of one lemon

1-2 tablespoons whole milk

Pinch of salt

Directions: 

Cream butter until light and fluffy, approximately 5 minutes. Gradually add 4 cups of powdered sugar.  Add lemon juice, lemon zest, salt and vanilla. Continue adding powdered sugar and/or milk until frosting is of piping consistency. Fill piping bag with frosting and pipe frosting swirls onto cupcakes.

For the Baby Shower the only instruction I received from my girlfriend was that she wanted the cupcakes to be Pink and Yellow and very girly.  I knew my new Lemon Cupcakes would be perfect.  Now for the Pink...I thought about my Pink Lemonade Cupcakes but thought that would be a little too much lemon.  My favorite cupcake of all time is a Vanilla / Vanilla.  It's the first cupcake I order whenever I'm trying out a new Cupcake Shop.  So, why not a Pink Vanilla / Pink Vanilla Cupcake?  I used the recipe for Magnolia's Vanilla Cupcake which you can find here adding a few drops of rose pink gel food coloring to tint the cake a soft pink.

I frosted them with a basic vanilla buttercream again tinted a soft pink with the rose pink gel food coloring.  Sprinkled both the Pink and Yellow frosted Cupcakes with pastel non-pariels and topped them with pink and yellow baby bracelet charms.  My girlfriend was thrilled and they tasted yummy!!!

Now my Friday baking with my niece was spent teaching her how to make Swiss Meringue Buttercream and my Lemon Meringue Cupcakes.  We had so much fun baking together.  She did an awesome job on the cupcakes and is now a real pro.  we used the Magnolia Vanilla Cupcake as the base for the Swiss Meringue Buttercream.  You can find the recipe for this Buttercream and a great video demo here.  I think they turned out beautiful and the Buttercream was divine!

Next we tackled the Lemon Meringue Cupcakes.  This is a multi step cupcake.  First you have to make the Lemon Curd for the filling, second bake the cupcakes, third fill the cupcakes with the Lemon Curd, fourth frost them with the meringue and then fifth toast the meringue.  You can find the recipe and instructions here.  I think they turned out beautiful.  I'm very proud of my niece and her cupcaking skills. All in all I baked 10 1/2 dozen cupcakes in two days.  Luckily I don't have to eat them all. 

A great way to spend a Birthday weekend...baking cupcakes to eat and share.  Happy Birthday to me!

Lemon Meringue Cupcakes

Finally made Lemon Meringue Cupcakes and they turned out divine!  I have been a little wary of tackling these for a long time but they were more time consuming than difficult.  The recipe for the cupcakes and meringue is from the Culinary Institute of America.

First you need to make and chill the Lemon Curd for the filling.  This can be made ahead of time since you really do have to cook it for 20-25 minutes while stirring constantly.  This recipe can be used for any citrus curd - Lemon, Lime, Orange or Grapefruit.

Lemon Curd - Makes 3 Cups

4-5 Lemons
4 ounces unsalted Butter cut in chunks
1 cup Sugar
2 large Eggs, beaten 

Directions: Soften the lemons by rolling them back and forth with your hands on the kitchen counter; you will get more juice out of them if you do this.

Grate the zest very finely, take care that you don’t grate the white pith. Squeeze the juice out of the fruit; you will need 2/3 cup.

Put the rind (zest), butter, sugar and juice in a heatproof bowl. Stand this over a pan of boiling water and heat until the sugar and butter have melted. Lower the heat, you don’t want the water to boil now.

Whisk in the eggs, when incorporated use a wooden spoon and stir until the curd has thickened and coats the back of the spoon, 20 to 25 minutes.

Pour into a bowl and lay plastic wrap on the top of the curd. Plastic wrap should be touching the curd.

Use this recipe to make orange, lime or grapefruit curd, just make sure you have 2/3 cup juice. Keep refrigerated.

Lemon Meringue Cupcakes

These sweet and tangy treats are sure to interest young and old alike at your next special gathering. Lemon chiffon cupcakes hide a surprise lemon curd filling and are topped with fluffy toasted meringue.

Ingredients

Makes 24 cupcakes


Lemon Chiffon Cupcakes 
3 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup sugar, divided
4 large egg yolks
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Zest of 1 lemon
4 large egg whites

Swiss Meringue

4 large egg whites
1 cup sugar


Directions: Prepare the Lemon Chiffon Cupcakes.

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Prepare pans with cupcake liners. Sift the flour, baking powder, and half the sugar together into a large mixing bowl or stand mixer and reserve.

In another large mixing bowl or stand mixer bowl, combine the egg yolks, oil, water, vanilla, and zest. Mix with a hand held mixer or whip attachment until thoroughly combined, about 1 minute.

Add the egg yolk mixture gradually to the dry ingredients, mixing with a hand held mixer or whip attachment on medium speed until a paste forms. When a paste has formed, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and continue adding the remainder of the yolk mixture until it is all incorporated. Beat for an additional 2 minutes on medium speed.

In a separate mixing bowl or stand mixer bowl, whip the egg whites with a clean whip attachment on medium speed until soft peaks form. Gradually add the remaining sugar while beating the egg whites and continue to beat until medium peaks form.

Gently blend one-third of the beaten egg whites into the egg yolk mixture to lighten it. Gently fold in the remaining egg whites.

Divide the batter evenly among the prepared pans. Bake at 375°F until the top of the cupcakes spring back to the touch, about 20 minutes. Let the cupcakes cool in the pans for a few minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to finish cooling before decorating.

Prepare Swiss Meringue

Put the egg whites and sugar in the clean, grease-free bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and stir together until the sugar is blended into the egg whites. Place the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and stir frequently until the sugar dissolves and the mixture reaches 140°F. Transfer the bowl to the mixer and beat on high speed until the meringue is thick and glossy and has a stiff peak.

Finish the cupcakes
Fill a piping bag fitted with a large plain tip two-thirds full with lemon curd. Insert the tip as far as it will go inside the center of the cupcake and apply gentle pressure. Try not to squeeze too hard or lemon curd will squirt out the top of the cupcake. Stop filling once you see any lemon curd around the base of the tip. Repeat with the remaining cupcakes. Clean the piping bag and tip and fill it two-thirds full with Swiss meringue. Pipe a large pearl of meringue on top of each cupcake. Use the back of a spoon to lift up areas of the meringue, creating spikes. Lightly toast the meringue with a kitchen torch or under the broiler until the tips of the meringue are golden brown.

Now eat!