Lemon cupcakes with raspberry buttercream frosting

First post, and it’s already cupcakes. Yaay, one of my favorite things in the world. They’re cute, sugary and small (so you can eat 2 and pretend it actually wasn’t that much) and well, you get a lot of them out of your money ( so plenty to shaaaaare).

So, here it goes, very lemon-y lemon cupcakes. I actually made this for a “welcome the new baby party” a woman from our church had. Since I made them out for the first time, I did a test-run on tuesday (literally, because I transported them on my bike to university on wednesday to see if I could without smashing them completely). Actually I am really glad I tried it beforehand because my friends told me I could go down on the lemon a little bit AND the buttercream fristing was horrible. It was waaay to runny (maybe because I used lactose-free cream cheese, I don’t know) although I already added more sugar than I should have (which is supposed to firm things up a bit). So when I made them the next time, I created my own buttercream frosting and tadaaaaaa, it worked (*imaginary jump in the air, clap your hands and dance sur place*). The people at the babyparty totally ADORED them (even the brother of the baby who was kinda skeptical tasted them, looked at his mom and said “echt lekker”  (“really good” in dutch). The Lemon Cupcake Recipe, with small adaptations, is from Sally’s Blog which is awesome and everyone should totally check it out!!!
So, tie your aprons, here we go.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.  Cream Butter and Sugar together (it should be really nice and creamy and well blended), then crack the eggs and cream them with  the butter and sugar mixture. Add the vanilla

You see the little bits of butter/sugar mixture on the edges? Scrape them down and mix them all in!

In a second bowl, mix Flour, baking soda and salt (you want to mix it really well because the most awful thing is lumps of baking soda in your cupcakes. Trust me!). The cute little box is the one I keep all my little bags (baking soda, yeast, baking powder…) in. They’re really handy when it comes to organizing your room/dorm closet and they’re pretty and cheap (bought this one at a thrift store fore 50cents and after a good clean it is perfectly useable).

Mix the batter (but don’t overmix it, otherwise your cupcakes won’t get that fluffy texture you’re aming for) and last, add the milk.

Spoon the batter into prepared baking cups lined with parchment liners (it can also go without them, but they were for a party so I had to fancy things up a little) to about 3/4 height.

In the beginning I was actually really worried about the fact that the paper was standing off the cupcakes so much. I was even already looking for scissors to cut it AFTER they bake. BUT after 25 min. in the oven…

…they came out beautifully (well at least most of ’em, the second batch was nicer but I didn’t take any fotos of it).

Let them cool down and enjoy (or frost them if you want to, for example with my raspberry buttercream frosting) which will make them even more deliciooooooous. Even my roommates were coming out of their rooms to get some (and this is how you ensure your roommates will ALWAYS love you and not be mad when you make a huge mess of the kitchen. Feed them cupcakes!)

 

Enjoy!

Lemon cupcakes (Sally’s Baking addiction with slight modifications)

You need
1/2 cup (115g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature preferred
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract or, if you don’t have any, sub 20 g of regular sugar with two packages of vanilla sugar (e.g.Dr. Oetker’s) which is sometimes easier to find here in Europe than vanilla extract.
1 and 1/2 cups (190g) all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder finely sifted
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (120ml) milk (almond-, soy- or oatmilk works well too)
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon extract and 1 ts grated lemon peel. The recipe calls for juice and zest of two fresh medium lemons, but it is really hard to  find organic lemons here so I prefer using ready-made zest and aroma (I kind want to make a post about that too to explain it a bit more but maybe later).

And this is how we do it
Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°C). Line 12-count muffin pan with paper liners. Set aside.

Make the cupcakes: Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together on medium-high speed in a large bowl until creamed (about 2-3 minutes). Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl in between. Add eggs and vanilla. Beat on medium-high speed until everything is combined, about 2 full minutes. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking powder and salt. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in 3 additions, beating on low speed after each addition. Batter will be thick. Beat in the milk. If you use lemon juice, beat in lemon zest, and lemon juice on low speed until just combined. When using lemon aroma (we’re students, we’re allowed to do this) it’s kind of a feeling thing. My aroma isn’t very strong so it took me 1 1/2 teaspoons to get the right flavor. In this case I like testing just a little of the batter as I go before adding more lemon in. Better start of with a little aroma and increase the amount as needed than having over-lemoned cupcakes! Do not overmix this batter at any point. Spoon batter evenly into 12 cupcake liners (I only had enough for 11). Bake for about 20-25 minutes. Check at 18 minutes, then again at 20. A toothpick inserted in the middle will come out clean when done. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before frosting.