MangiaMore: LEMON drop cupcakes

RER 4.20.13

Another birthday (I know I have mentioned how much I love birthdays)! This time I did not make a cake like birthdays past (chocolate cake and disaster cake), I opted for the faster baking, decadent bites of fancy cake, cupcakes. Knowing the birthday boy quite well, I looked through Better Homes and Gardens Best Cupcake Recipes, a myriad of flavors, fun techniques, crazy combinations, elegant and simple. I really wanted to try them all, but I found the recipe I needed to make— Lemon Drop Cupcakes.

RER 4.20.13

My boyfriend is a sucker for lemon, from fake Country Time Lemonade, to a favorite lemon ricotta cookies, or a Christmas tradition, lemon squares. So I thought why not lemon cupcakes. First I was thinking about lemon meringue cupcakes but I thought of a cake I made once that did not turn out so successful. 

RER 4.19.13

RER 4.19.13

This lemon drop recipe was perfect; simple, straightforward for a quick baking adventure and a time crunch. I was excited (of course because a birthday was on it’s way, and it wasn’t just anyone’s birthday, all this is obvious) to try another cake recipe to add to the arsenal.

RER 4.20.13

RER 4.19.13

I rearranged the recipe (per usual) due to lack of all the correct ingredients, mainly the limoncello. My family doesn’t generally keep the Italian liquor on hand. And other than fine lemon peel, there was no other trace of lemon in the cake batter, so I improvised by adding a little lemon extract and a little fresh lemon juice. It made the cake much more flavored of lemon, though the lemon juice might have reacted with the baking soda, which made the batter bubbly. But in the end (the end result is what matters, right?), the cake was lemony delicious.

JAR 4.20.13

JAR 4.20.13

The frosting also had lemon juice in it for an extra zing. Other than the lemon juice, the frosting was of the butter cream variety, though it was comprised of equal parts of butter and shortening. I never used a recipe with shortening, but I was informed that shortening and unsalted butter were basically the same, just made of different things. So in an effort to make less frosting (as cupcakes were rapidly disappearing from the ranks) I only used half a cup of butter and 3 cups of powdered sugar (no shortening).

RER 4.20.13

I think the birthday boy liked how the cupcakes turned out, as did I. Somehow they were less rich and felt lighter because they were lemon (maybe all cakes should be lemon so we can eat more cake… I think so), but they still satisfied my sweet tooth and created a tart pucker. The cake of the cupcake was not terribly lemony, but just enough to hit at the summery feeling of lemonade and sunshine. It was the creamy frosting where the tartness was more pronounced and lively.

RER 4.19.13

Though I loved these little yellow cupcakes, I can't wait to try a new variety. Maybe not for a birthday, but there are a few graduations coming up. Stay tuned for what I choose next.

RER

4.22.13

RER 4.20.13