I totally did not type up the recipe portion of this post the week of the bake sale and neglect to write an intro or publish it. nope.
At any rate, exams are coming up, and the countdown on my laptop says I only have 13 days will my summer break starts, and I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am for my sophomore year to be over. Seriously. It's been a stressful year. I need a break.
So anyway, I really do love this recipe; the lemon cupcakes are incredibly fluffy and light, with a bright, lemony zing. I also really love it with vanilla bean buttercream; the combination is light, fluffy, and simple, with a zingy (is that even a word?) sweetness. It's my go-to lemon cupcake recipe, and I originally found it in a cookbook titled 500 Cupcakes and Muffins, Fergal Connolly and published by PageOne. The original was a vanilla cupcake- lemon buttercream affair, but I decided I wanted to switch things up and reversed the vanilla-lemon order. The original recipe calls for you to simply dump all the ingredients into a bowl and mix until smooth, but I prefer to mix them together separately in order to create a fluffier texture. I've done this the few times I've made these cupcakes, and every single one of them have turned out deliciously light and airy. Just the way I like my lemon cupcakes; or, if you make them in smaller cups, fairy cakes. Makes them sound so much more dainty.
When you make the vanilla bean buttercream, I prefer to use vanilla pods. You can use about a half teaspoon of vanilla bean paste instead, or, when I'm in a pinch, or when you simply cannot find vanilla pods or bean paste, throw in a liberal teaspoon or two of vanilla extract. If you're using vanilla pods, handle them with care; simply split them vertically down the middle and gentle open them, and, using the back of your knife thoroughly scrape the beans out and deposit the mass of vanilla-y goodness into your buttercream. Beat the frosting mixture until the mixture is thoroughly dotted with your fragrant black dots, and frost however you'd like.
Much to my disappointment, I simply cannot seem to find a picture of these cupcakes :( I'll update this post and post some when I make them again.
With that said, I gotta go back to my projects. Oh, yay.
OH, and, i was away for a week on a school trip to Romania, and the food there was amazing. stay tuned for my gushing over romanian food and a growing list of my summer to-cook list :D
recipes after the jump :)
At any rate, exams are coming up, and the countdown on my laptop says I only have 13 days will my summer break starts, and I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am for my sophomore year to be over. Seriously. It's been a stressful year. I need a break.
So anyway, I really do love this recipe; the lemon cupcakes are incredibly fluffy and light, with a bright, lemony zing. I also really love it with vanilla bean buttercream; the combination is light, fluffy, and simple, with a zingy (is that even a word?) sweetness. It's my go-to lemon cupcake recipe, and I originally found it in a cookbook titled 500 Cupcakes and Muffins, Fergal Connolly and published by PageOne. The original was a vanilla cupcake- lemon buttercream affair, but I decided I wanted to switch things up and reversed the vanilla-lemon order. The original recipe calls for you to simply dump all the ingredients into a bowl and mix until smooth, but I prefer to mix them together separately in order to create a fluffier texture. I've done this the few times I've made these cupcakes, and every single one of them have turned out deliciously light and airy. Just the way I like my lemon cupcakes; or, if you make them in smaller cups, fairy cakes. Makes them sound so much more dainty.
When you make the vanilla bean buttercream, I prefer to use vanilla pods. You can use about a half teaspoon of vanilla bean paste instead, or, when I'm in a pinch, or when you simply cannot find vanilla pods or bean paste, throw in a liberal teaspoon or two of vanilla extract. If you're using vanilla pods, handle them with care; simply split them vertically down the middle and gentle open them, and, using the back of your knife thoroughly scrape the beans out and deposit the mass of vanilla-y goodness into your buttercream. Beat the frosting mixture until the mixture is thoroughly dotted with your fragrant black dots, and frost however you'd like.
Much to my disappointment, I simply cannot seem to find a picture of these cupcakes :( I'll update this post and post some when I make them again.
With that said, I gotta go back to my projects. Oh, yay.
OH, and, i was away for a week on a school trip to Romania, and the food there was amazing. stay tuned for my gushing over romanian food and a growing list of my summer to-cook list :D
recipes after the jump :)