lemon cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream Icing

By pamdabear3383

Ingredients

• Cake:
• 1 1/2 c. (3 sticks) butter
• 3 c. cake flour (has to be cake flour or the recipe won't work)
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 2 c. sugar
• 5 large eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 4 Tbsp. lemon juice
• Zest of 2 lemons
• 1 c. buttermilk
• Frosting:
• 1 1/4 c. butter (2 1/2 sticks)
• 2 tsp. grated lemon rind
• 3 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
• 3 c. powdered sugar
• 2 tsp coconut extract or fresh coconut juice (totally optional)

Preparation

Step 1

Cake:

Preheat oven to 325 & line muffin pans with cupcake liners. I used pink foil from breast cancer event because that is what I had.

In a mixer bowl fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter & sugar on a medium speed setting for 5 mins. Don't skimp on this step. You want it to be really fluffy for the recipe to work.

While butter & sugar are mixing, mix flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl. Set all that aside. After the butter and sugar are done mixed and is really fluffy, add eggs one at a time with the mixer still running. Allow the eggs to be fully mixed into the batter before adding the next one. Beat in vanilla, lemon juice, & lemon zest.

With the mixer on a low speed setting, alternate the flour mixture & buttermilk. Start & end with the flour mixture. Make sure it gets fully mixed into the mixture.

Using a standard cookie scoop, place about 2 scoops of batter into each muffin cup. Fill these almost to the top. The cupcakes won't really rise that much because they are more like a pound cake than a traditional cupcake.

Bake about 20-25 minutes or just until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the cupcakes comes out clean. You don't want to over bake these even by a second or they will start to lose their moisture.


FROSTING:

Beat butter, lemon rind, and lemon juice in an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating to spreading consistency.

I added the coconut to give the recipe a little bit sweeter taste. It was a little bitter to me. If you like how it tastes feel free to skip the coconut or add whatever other flavor you would like. Maybe even some strawberry juiced would be really good.