The photos and recipes for today are for Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes. I love this combination of flavors, the lemon is so refreshing and the blueberries give it a sour twist. It is much more common to see raspberries paired with lemons to achieve the sweet and tart combination these cupcakes have. Using blueberries instead of raspberries is a nice twist on tradition. As a further surprise, I decided to make these stuffed cupcakes. A beautiful lemon treat packed with a blueberry center. The basics of this cupcake are a lemon batter, lemon curd and fresh blueberries.
The Lemon cake recipe is a modified version of one of Martha Stewards recipes. This recipe will make 12 cupcakes. Preheat your oven to 350, line your cupcake pan with parchment liners and spray the liners with pan spray. (It will make removing them easier and cleaner)
For the lemon cake base you will need:
1 1/2 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup and 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
keep the sugars separate, they will be used at different times
1/2 cup skim milk
1/3 cup oil (canola or vegetable)
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
Finely grated zest of 2 lemons, plus 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
Finely grated zest of 1 small orange
4 large egg whites, room temperature
Mix together your flour, salt and baking powder, set aside.
Mix together your flour, salt and baking powder, set aside.
In a separate bowl mix together your first sugar, milk, oil, vanilla, zests and lemon juice.
In a electric mixer whip you egg whites until they begin to foam (medium speed works well for this). Slowly add your second sugar a tablespoon at a time at a high speed until you get silky smooth stiff peaks.
Now its time to mix together all the bowls you set aside. Use your milk mixture as your base, and starting with your flour mixture add the flour and eggs in three stages. Make sure your ingredients are fully mixed before adding the next, but be careful! The key here is to gently fold in your egg whites. You don't want to knock out all that air you just beat into them.
These cupcakes will bake for 8 to 10 minutes, be sure to rotate half way through baking. When a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean, they are done. Remove from oven, and cool on a wire rack.
I tried two different recipes for the lemon curd filling and decided on the butter based version. It is not as healthy for you, but you cant beat the creamy texture. I got my butter based lemon curd recipe from The Joy of Baking, here is the recipe.
3 large eggs
3/4 cups granulated sugar
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (do not use the bottled kind)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces at room temperature
1 tablespoon lemon zest
In a stainless steel bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water, whisk together the eggs, sugar and lemon juice until blended. Cook, stirring constantly (to prevent it from curdling), until the mixture becomes thick (like sour cream). This will take about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and pour into a clean bowl. Add the butter one piece at a time, whisking while it melts. Add the lemon zest. Cover with plastic wrap, firm against the curd, not the edge of the bowl and refrigerate until completely cool.
Now its time to mix together all the bowls you set aside. Use your milk mixture as your base, and starting with your flour mixture add the flour and eggs in three stages. Make sure your ingredients are fully mixed before adding the next, but be careful! The key here is to gently fold in your egg whites. You don't want to knock out all that air you just beat into them.
These cupcakes will bake for 8 to 10 minutes, be sure to rotate half way through baking. When a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean, they are done. Remove from oven, and cool on a wire rack.
I tried two different recipes for the lemon curd filling and decided on the butter based version. It is not as healthy for you, but you cant beat the creamy texture. I got my butter based lemon curd recipe from The Joy of Baking, here is the recipe.
3 large eggs
3/4 cups granulated sugar
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (do not use the bottled kind)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces at room temperature
1 tablespoon lemon zest
In a stainless steel bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water, whisk together the eggs, sugar and lemon juice until blended. Cook, stirring constantly (to prevent it from curdling), until the mixture becomes thick (like sour cream). This will take about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and pour into a clean bowl. Add the butter one piece at a time, whisking while it melts. Add the lemon zest. Cover with plastic wrap, firm against the curd, not the edge of the bowl and refrigerate until completely cool.
Once your curd is cool, you can add your blueberries. Lightly crush them but rolling a rolling pin over them on a hard surface. Fold them into the lemon curd.
Next, with a melon baller, remove the bottom of each cupcake. Set aside the initial cake bottom, then very carefully hollow out the inside of your cupcake. The insides are great for snacking on after you've finished assembling these.
With a pastry bag or small spoon, fill the insides of each hollowed out cupcake with the lemon curd blueberry mix. Leave a little extra space to seal up with the cake piece you set aside.
Serve with a light dusting of powdered sugar and fresh blueberries!
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