High Heels and Ballerina Slippers : Lemon Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting

As I mentioned before in the Lemon Bars post, my love for lemon-anything grows day by day. This time, it was the fluffiness, softness, and fresh sweetness of these cupcakes that caught me off guard. These cupcakes were incredibly easy to make and the result was a well-deserved round of applause. To be honest, I was a little scared at first to use lemons in such a classic cupcake recipe, but in the end I was not disappointed by these babies. To get the cupcakes to taste right, just make sure to test the batter every once in a while before putting them inside the oven (just to make sure it's not to sour or not too plain). Other than that, these cupcakes were wonderfully light and tasteful.

Lemon Cupcakes

This recipe makes about 21 cupcakes.

Baking Time: 20 minutes at 350F

Ingredients

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
zest + juice of two medium lemons (about 1/2 cup of lemon juice, 1 teaspoon lemon zest)

Fluffy Vanilla Buttercream

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
3-4 cups powdered (confectioners') sugar
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt, to taste
additional lemon zest for decoration, if desired

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350F. Line muffin tin with paper liners. Set aside.
Using a handheld or stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar together on medium speed in a large bowl until creamed. About 2-3 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla. Beat on medium speed until everything is combined, about 2 full minutes. Set aside
In a medium sized bowl, toss together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in 3 additions, stirring by hand after each addition. Batter will be thick. Add the milk, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Mix until just combined, do not overmix.
Pour batter evenly into cupcake liners (I recommend to use an ice cream scoop for evenness). Bake for about 20 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.
To make the frosting, beat softened butter on medium speed with an electric or stand mixer. Beat for about 3-4 minutes until smooth and creamy. Add powdered sugar, cream, vanilla extract, and salt with the mixer running. Increase to high speed and beat for 3 minutes. Add more powdered sugar if frosting is too thin or more cream if mixture is too thick. Add more salt if frosting is too sweet. Frost cooled cupcakes. If topping with lemon zest, do so right before serving. There may be leftover frosting depending how much you use on each cupcake.