Lemon Cupcakes

I haven't been making cupcakes for quite a while now. Cupcakes are such a novelty these days and everywhere you go people seem to be raving about them. You would have thought it would be just another "fad" that would dwindle away after a while but I think they are here to stay. There are even bakeries that just specialize in nothing else but cupcakes! Who would have thought about that! In fact I was just watching an old re-run of Martha Stewart this morning and she had a segment on cupcakes as well. She did a round up of the best cupcakes in the United States. And guess who was in the audience with a special mention, none other than the famous trio from Cupcakes Take the Cake . If you want to find out what is new in the cupcake scene, head over to their blog which is an eye-opener.

Anyway I've always had this craving for citrus types of cupcakes or cakes So in line with my long absence from baking cupcakes I decided to come up with a batch of lemon cupcakes.



Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Butter Icing
Makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients:

125g unsalted butter, softened
125g caster sugar
1/2 large Lemons, finely grated zest only
1 tsp full finely chopped lemon peel
2 eggs, beaten
150g plain flour
1/2 tsp Baking powder

For the lemon butter icing

75g Butter, softened
175g icing sugar, sifted
1/2 large Lemon, finely grated zest only
1-2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

Method

1) Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4. Line a 12-hole fairy cake tin with paper cases.

2) Cream the butter in a large bowl until soft. Add the sugar and grated lemon zest and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy. Gradually add the beaten eggs, then sift in the flour and baking powder and fold into the mixture. Alternatively, whiz all the ingredients together in an electric food mixer.

3) Divide the mixture between the paper cases and bake in the preheated oven for 12–15 minutes, until risen and golden. When cooked, the centre of each cake should be slightly springy to the touch. Remove the cakes from the tin and put on a wire rack to cool before you ice them.

4) For the lemon butter icing, cream the butter in a bowl with a wooden spoon or hand-held electric beater until very soft. Gradually add the icing sugar and beat into the butter, along with the lemon zest and enough lemon juice to soften the icing to a spreadable consistency.

5) When the cupcakes are cool, spread a generous heaped teaspoon of lemon butter icing over the top of each one or using a star tip to pipe the cream on top of the cupcakes.