Lemon Cupcakes II: The Remix.

I made a deal with a good friend a while ago: I would give her cupcakes in exchange for some authentic Asian food. And we both held up our end of the bargain, just a year after the fact. My friend requested some lemon cupcakes, but prefers her cupcakes to be moist and fluffy rather than dense. So I ditched the Opposite of Low-Fat Lemon Cupcakes recipe I used before because those were some pretty dense cupcakes. I pondered what to do, then decided to tweak my Key Lime Cupcakes recipe because those turned out having my target texture for this batch. 

*I'm SO excited about my next batch of cupcakes that I'll be making soon: pear champagne with vanilla bean frosting. So stay tuned, because I'm hopeful that those will be my best yet :)

Lower-fat Lemon Cupcakes:

Ingredients: (makes about 16 cupcakes)
1 3/4 cup cake flour*
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp  lemon zest*
yellow food coloring
3/4 cup buttermilk*
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt three times and set aside. Beat butter until smooth and creamy, then add sugar and beat until fluffy. Add one egg at a time, beating in between to combine. Add lemon juice, lemon zest, food coloring, and vanilla extract and beat until combined(mixture may look curdled). Add flour mixture and buttermilk in the following order: 1/3 of the flour mixture, 1/2 of the buttermilk, 1/3 of the flour mixture, rest of the buttermilk, then the rest of the flour mixture. Fill cupcake liners about 2/3 full and bake 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcakes comes out clean.

*Once again, I used my "fake cake flour" since I still don't have actual cake flour. Our brand new Publix just opened about a mile from my neighborhood, so I'm hoping they carry cake flour. Regardless, this works just fine: put 2 tbsp corn starch in the bottom of a one cup measuring cup, then fill the rest of the measuring cup with flour. Then, put one tbsp of corn starch in the bottom of a 1/2 cup measuring cup, and fill the rest with flour. Another 1/2 tbsp of corn starch in a 1/4 cup measuring cup and fill the rest with flour. And voila! Fake cake flour.

*I never measure zest. It doesn't change the chemistry of the batter so it will only affect flavor... I just zested about half of a medium sized lemon and the flavor turned out pretty well.

*Holy crap! I didn't have any buttermilk this time, but LOVED how it worked in my key lime cupcakes. Never thought I'd say this, but buttermilk may soon surpass sour cream as my favorite ingredient in a basic cupcake recipe. Sour cream makes the cupcakes very dense, which isn't a bad thing to me, but not everyone likes a dense cupcake. Buttermilk, on the other hand, makes a nice, thick batter that is a little fluffier after baked. I didn't know this before, but buttermilk is actually low fat (less guilt!!). Anyways... I decided to use the typical buttermilk substitute of putting one tablespoon of white vinegar into a one-cup measuring cup, and fill with milk to the one cup line. Let sit for five minutes. Since the recipe only calls for 3/4 of a cup, you can either put 3/4 tablespoon of vinegar into a 3/4 cup measuring cup or use one cup and only use 3/4 of it. Yes, I am a math genius.

So, these cupcakes were actually pretty scary for me, especially since the batch I made prior to these (that were supposed to go to the same friend) were BUSTED. I'll post on those later. So with that horrifying memory in the back of my mind, I worried that I suddenly lost my cupcake baking finesse. Added to that was the fact that I used TWO ingredient substitutes (cake flour and buttermilk). Then, after adding my first addition of buttermilk, I realized that I must have filled the measuring cup pretty far past the one cup line, because after adding what I thought to be about a third of a cup, there was still about one cup left in the measuring cup. DOH! So I guesstimated how much to add after that, and ended up adding a splash more at the end because the batter seemed a bit too thick. Once I popped them in the oven, I said a little prayer to the God of cupcakes, and started washing dishes so I wouldn't keep peeking at them.

So obviously they turned out just fine! Some were a little well-done, but not bad at all. Notice the time on the clock in the second picture? That's AM. I made the fondant decorations first, then decided that I would go ahead and make the cakes that night as well, since the next day was going to be quite busy. Of course I had to try one, and they turned out just how I wanted them to be. Not too lemony, but fluffy and moist.

I busted out the Wilton fondant again and spent a long time trying to figure out how to decorate them. I didn't want to make lemon wedges because I did that with the key lime cupcakes and I wanted to try something new. I started searching high and low in my house for inspiration, and stumbled upon this:

It's a necklace I bought a little while ago, and it was perfect inspiration for some spring cupcakes.

Method for making fondant flower decorations:
Knead fondant of chosen color (I decided light blue would be a nice contrast to the yellow cupcake and frosting) until soft and workable, and roll out until about 1/8" to 1/4" thick. Using a small circle (about 1/2" around... I used the small end of a piping tip coupler for this) cut out five circles per flower. Pinch one side of each circle until shaped like a tear drop, then pinch to flatten a little on that side (so it is thinner than the other end of the circle). Arrange each petal to form a flower, pressing each petal together to ensure they stick:

Then, with another color (yellow would be the obvious choice), roll out more fondant and break off into small pieces. Roll into tiny balls (about half the size of a pea) and flatten into a circle. Using a wet brush, wet the center of the flower and the back of the yellow circle and press together to bond. Set aside and let dry. Store in an airtight container if not using immediately.

I ended up scoring the petals the next day to add more detail, and used a paring knife for it. Which was really dangerous, so I suggest using a toothpick to prevent cutting your fingers off :)

On to the frosting.

OMG. This frosting is heavenly. It made more than I needed (probably the perfect amount if you want to pipe something pretty on them) and for once, I couldn't throw away the leftovers. I saved it in a Tupperware container in the fridge, and have been enjoying it smeared onto a graham cracker as a dessert. I think the graham cracker was just an attempt to not feel like a total fatty from eating the frosting by itself. It's just that good.

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting:
Ingredients:
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup unsalted butter
2 teaspoons lemon zest*
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon extract
5 cups confectioner's sugar
Yellow icing color

Directions:
Beat cream cheese, butter, lemon juice, lemon zest, and extracts together until smooth and fluffy. Add confectioner's sugar in two additions. Beat until creamy. Add more icing sugar or juice as needed for easy spreading.
*Still didn't measure the zest. I probably used about 1/4 of the same lemon I used for the cakes.

I piped a small swirl onto the top of each cupcake, then topped with one of the flowers:

LOVE.