Showing posts with label lemon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lemon. Show all posts

pink lemon cupcakes

18 March 2009

as i mentioned in my last post, i had a "cupcake baking cheer-up a friend date" this weekend which was pretty great. there is something really wonderful about being in the kitchen and working on projects together while you are doing a little soul pouring and then in the end, there is this pretty little sweet product. and let's face it, you can't help but smile when you see cute little cupcake all decked out with pretty frosting and sparkle sugar.

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we pulled out the baking books and supplies and just started to wing it a bit. and yes, those are tiny cupcakes on the spatula on top of my cupcake book, next to my cupcake spoon rest...i am a big nerd. we decided on coconut lime cupcakes (see my last post) and a batch of pink lemon cupcakes. as you can see both recipes are really similar with a few small exceptions, so we really just made a double batch of simple vanilla cupcakes and divided it in half and did the citrus-ing to them and switched up the frostings a bit and the result was two completely different tasting cupcakes that were both really delicious.


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basic lemon cupcakes!
makes about 12 cupcakes

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
zest of 1 lemon
juice of 1 lemon

beat butter on high until soft, about 30 seconds.
add sugar. beat on medium-high until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
add eggs one at a time, beat for 30 seconds between each.
whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt and add to the mixture. add the milk and vanilla. mix to combine.
add the zest and the lemon juice and blend thoroughly.
scoop into cupcake papers about half to two-thirds full (depending on whether you want flat or domed cupcakes).
at this point, heather threw in a handful of shredded coconut to add texture and flavor, but that is optional. i personally didn't like that texture, but a lot of people loved it.
bake for 22-25 minutes until a knife or toothpick comes out clean.

grenadine frosting!

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter - room temperature
6 oz softened cream cheese
2-3 tablespoons of grenadine
2-3 cups powdered sugar

bring cream cheese and butter to room temperature and beat together until creamy.
add powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, until desired sweetness and texture.
add grenadine one tablespoon at a time. grenadine is a syrup, so it can easily overwhelm your frosting with that syrup-y flavor...just be sure to add it a bit at a time until you get a taste you like.


these sort of reminded me of a little cocktail in cupcake form and i really loved them. nothing cures a hung over sunday with a little cocktail cupcake.

ps...i promise i will start blogging and making things OTHER than cupcakes soon!
 
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