Lemon Cupcakes With Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting


 Last month was so busy that I couldn't even find a better time to bake a cake for my elder one.  I even told one of my friends that I might try a citrus flavor for the birthday cake, but it never happened.  Feeling guilty, I finally decided to make some cupcakes to compensate after couple of weeks.   I took these cupcakes to church and everyone loved it.



I believe in pairing or matching to some extent.  That being said, let it be food or anything else there should be some kind of chemistry between the things you pair, otherwise it may not result in anticipated results.  The cupcakes I made were perfectly paired with the frosting and I couldn't have made it better if I had experimented with some other frosting.  Yes, you read it right; it was an experiment that worked out perfect.  Since I am not a big fan of very sweet frosting, the lemon cream cheese frosting was just apt for my taste.



Now let me share with you something that happened the same week to me that is related to pairing too :).  Curious?  Ok, here you go... I had mentioned in my previous posts that I go to work early.  Our summer dress code at work changes beginning of October.  The pain of wearing hosiery or stockings begins around this time.  I  try to pair socks/hosiery and keep them in the drawer to grab them easily in the morning.  That day as usual I grabbed a pair, put on the hosiery (black ones) to match my black skirt and went to work.  Since I do this in the early morning, I use the dim light so that I don't wake up anyone else.  The sun won't rise till 7:00 am, so remember its still dark when I got to work.  Got busy with work and at lunch time I decided to step outside and check out for some fall home decoration.  Went to the store and bought few stuff and got back.  Got out of my car, the sun was shining bright by this time.  As I was walking through the parking lot, I simply looked at my legs...I was shocked.  What did I pick?  How did this happen?  I was wearing navy blue hosiery on one and a black one on another.  I turned around and saw group of people coming behind me who went out for a walk.  I was literally running into our building so that no one would notice... finally pulled it out.  It was such an embarrassing situation.  I am not sure if anyone had noticed the hosiery mismatch while I was in the store.  Kids sometimes do the opposite day and wear different color socks to school, but it was not any sort of opposite day for me, it was an imperfect pairing...:)....Have you ever experienced anything similar?



Yields - 24 cupcakes

Ingredients

Cake
2 cups - all purpose flour
2 tsp - baking powder
1/2 tsp - salt
1 3/4 cup - sugar
5 - eggs
2 lemon - juice from 2 lemons
1 tsp - lemon zest
1 cup - oil

Frosting

8 oz - cream cheese at room temperature
1/2 cup or 1 stick - butter at room temperature
2 1/2 cups - powdered sugar
1/2 lemon - juice from half a lemon
1/2 tsp - lemon zest
3 drops - organic yellow food color (I used India Tree brand)

Directions
  • Pre heat oven to 350 ° F.
  • Sift flour, baking powder and salt 3 times and keep it aside.
  • Using a stand or hand mixer, whip together the eggs and sugar till fluffy.  Now gently add the oil, lemon juice and lemon zest.  Whisk again for 20 seconds.  Gently fold in the flour mix and mix for 1 min.
  • Bake for 20 minutes in a muffin tin lined with cupcake liners.
Frosting
  • In a cold stand mixer bowl, mix the cream cheese till it is smooth.  Add the butter and whip again till soft.  Now add powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time and mix till soft peaks are attained.
  • Add lemon juice, lemeon zest and yellow food color and whip for 30 seconds.
  • Cover the bowl of frosting with a plastic wrap and refrigerate for atleast 15-20 minutes before piping.
  • Pipe the frosting on the cupcakes as desired.
Notes:
  • Refrigerate the cupcakes in a cake caddy or in a closed container till ready to serve.
  • Instead of cupcakes, you can make a 8 inch round cake and decorate it with the lemon cream cheese frosting.
  • The frosting is not too sweet, so if you like more sweeter and stiffer frosting add more powdered sugar while whipping the frosting.

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