Springtime Lemon Cupcakes with Blackberry Lemon Buttercream Frosting

                                                          (Baby Shower cupcakes)

                                               (Easter cupcakes)
   

Spring time is the perfect time for lemon desserts.  I admit I'm pretty lucky since I have a beautiful lemon tree next door which provides the best, juiciest lemons ever! 

A few weeks ago I started working on this recipe for a Baby Shower we were catering for a friend.  I needed a Lemon Cupcake recipe with a fruit topping.  I found a recipe online with the combination of ingredients I wanted to use for this cupcake.  I tried it once as the recipe directed, but was not happy with the consistency of the cake (not enough lemon flavor and not moist enough for me, and the frosting was a bit too sweet).

Faye and I discussed how to modify the recipe a few times and I did a few more trial runs and in the end these lemon cupcakes turned out absolutely delicious! They're moist with the wonderful fragrance and flavor of lemon, and once you top them off with the Blackberry Frosting they're just perfect!

   I have now made these cupcakes for an Easter brunch and also for the Baby Shower and each time they were delicious.   I hope you give my Springtime Lemon Cupcake with Blackberry Lemon Buttercream recipe a try for Easter. Your family & guests will love it!

Happy Cooking.

(Shower :Springtime Lemon Cupcakes with Blackberry Buttercream, Chocolate cupcakes with Peanut Butter Cream Filling and Peanut Butter Buttercream frosting)

Spring Time Lemon Cupcake with Blackberry Lemon Buttercream Frosting
Adapted from All Recipes
Makes 16 cupcakes

Ingredients:

Cupcake:

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

2 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 eggs

1 egg yolk

 2 teaspoons vanilla

1 ½ cup flour

2 teaspoons baking powder
dash of salt

½ cup half and half 

Zest of 1 large lemon (I use the a fine grater)

Juice of 1 large lemon

Frosting:

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon salt

4 cups powder sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

½ cup seedless blackberry jam

16 blackberries for decorating

Prep Work:

Set oven at 350 degrees.  

Line cupcake pans with cupcake liners
Place 1 cup of granulated sugar and the lemon zest in a small bowl. Using your finger tips, squeeze the zest and sugar together to release the oils from the zest into the sugar. The sugar will become very fragrant. Set aside.

Directions

-In a large bowl, mix flour with baking powder and salt with whisk. Set aside.
-Beat ½ cup of butter with the 1 cup of lemon sugar for about 3 minutes, till light and fluffy. Add Vegetable oil and mix until combined.
-Add eggs, egg yolk and vanilla. Beat till well incorporated.
-Mix in the flour mixture just until incorporated.
-Combine the half and half with the lemon juice in a small bowl. Gradually add this to your batter just until combined. Do not overbeat.
-Divide batter evenly between the prepared pans.
-Bake for 16-18 minutes, remove from oven and place the pans on cooling racks. Remove the cupcakes from the pan and place on a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

Frosting

Beat softened butter and vanilla.  Gradually add powdered sugar till creamy.   Finally add the blackberry jam and lemon juice and mix until well combined and fluffy.

Frost each cupcake and add a blackberry on top.

                         (Easter baskets filled will Springtime Lemon cupcakes)

My Favorite Banana Cupcakes with Creamy Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

It's funny how excited I get when people give me ingredients to bake with. I would be perfectly happy with a box full of butter for my birthday...seriously. My friend Merry brought some extra over-ripe bananas to work and I knew I wanted to make Banana Cupcakes. These cupcakes had been haunting me since I last made them over a year ago. I remember them being the best Banana Cupcakes I had ever eaten, but I had lost the recipe.... until I was going through my notes on my iPad the other day and found it!

 

So now I am sharing My Favorite Banana Cupcake Recipe with you! I absolutely love the texture of this cupcake; it's light, not too dense, with the perfect amount of banana flavor. You won't mistake them for dressed up banana muffins at all. I paired these cupcakes with a creamy Vanilla Bean Buttercream Frosting. I originally wanted to make a Honey Cinnamon Buttercream, but my husband vetoed that idea (hence the sprinkling of cinnamon on top). Really any of your favorite frosting recipes would work well with cupcake. Next time (and there will be many next times) I'm going to try Salted Caramel or Peanut Butter!

 

Regardless of how you frost it, I hope you'll try this recipe for My Favorite Banana Cupcakes and that it becomes one of your favorites too!

 

 

 

My Favorite Banana Cupcake with Creamy Vanilla Bean Buttercream Frosting

Makes 24 cupcakes

Recipe adapted from A dash of sass

 

Cupcake Ingredients:

2 1/4 cup Cake Flour
3/4 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
2 sticks unsalted Butter, softened
1 1/3 cup Granulated Sugar
2 Large Eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 cups Mashed Bananas (approx. 3 large over ripe bananas)
1/4 cup Whole Milk + 1/2 teaspoon distilled white vinegar or fresh lemon juice
1 1/4 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
 

  

Frosting Ingredients:

2 sticks Unsalted Butter, softened but still slightly cold

2 teaspoons Vanilla Bean Paste

3-4 cups Powdered Sugar (preferably sifted)

pinch of salt

Heavy Whipping Cream


Directions:
 

Preheat oven to 350f. Line 2 cupcake or muffin pans with paper liners.

In a medium size bowl, sift together the Cake Flour, Baking Powder, Baking Soda, Salt and Cinnamon. Set aside.

In another medium size bowl, combine the mashed bananas, "soured" milk, vanilla and eggs. Mix until combined.

In the bowl of your electric stand mixer fitter with a paddle attachment (or using an electric hand mixer), cream together the butter and sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy (approx. 2 minutes).

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Add the wet and dry ingredients to the batter alternating between them - add 1/3 of the flour mixture, 1/2 of the banana mixture and repeat, mixing just until combined after each addition.

Using a large cookie scoop, scoop the batter into the prepared pans dividing evenly between each cup.

Bake at 350f 18-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Remove from oven and cool in pan for 1 minute, then remove to wire cooling rack to cool completely.


While the cupcakes are cooling, make the frosting:

In the bowl of your electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter at medium speed until creamy. Add the powdered sugar and a pinch of salt and pulse a few times to coat the powdered sugar you don't create a big sugar dust cloud, then mix on medium speed. With the mixer running, add the vanilla bean paste. Then add the heavy whipping cream a few tablespoons at a time. Beat at medium-medium high speed for about a minute. Check the taste and consistency. Add more powdered sugar and/or heavy whipped cream as needed. I wanted the frosting on this cupcake to be on the creamier side, so I added whipping cream to get my desired consistency.

To be honest, when I make frosting I just eyeball the ingredients and add/adjust as needed...