Lemon Cupcakes, Two Ways

This has been the perfect summer. Post graduating college, pre medical school. The beginning of the end is tomorrow, when I finally get to move in to my new house.

A week and a half from now, orientation begins. After that, well, med school really begins. Hopefully all that work will mean more delicious stress-relieving projects.

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I am not the only one with exciting things going on in my family--my sister graduated from high school in May (hooray!) and heads off to college in a month.

All these events are cause for lots of...cupcakes. Mini cupcakes. 

Here's the thing. People are so weird about cupcakes, especially at big parties. If you have out both mini cupcakes and big ones, I guarantee you the mini ones will be gone much faster---they are less messy, cuter, people somehow feel less guilty about eating them (though one should never feel guilty about eating a cupcake at a party!), and the best part? They have a phenomenal frosting-to-cupcake ratio. 

I made three different kinds of cupcakes for my sister's graduation party: lemon-coconut with lemon buttercream frosting, chocolate with raspberry buttercream (mini versions of these, without almond extract), and the always-classic vanilla with vanilla buttercream. Still obsessed with making little roses, I made a whole flowery display.

The lemon coconut recipe is here, and they are awesome, as is. But with lemon buttercream piped on top? Yes-please-thanks-I'll-have-another.

Basic Lemon Buttercream

• 2 sticks (salted) butter, softened
• 1 1 lb bag powdered sugar
• dash of milk
• 1 or 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 or 1/2  tsp lemon extract
• lemon zest, to taste (I like my frosting really lemony)

Mix butter on high until fluffy. Add vanilla extract, lemon extract, zest and about 1/2 c powdered sugar. Mix until combined. Keep adding increments of powdered sugar and milk until frosting is the consistency you like (usually about a pound for every two sticks of butter).
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I was excited to make lemon cupcakes again for another party this summer. The lemon coconut cupcake base was perfect, but I wanted to try a lemon curd filling and I wasn't sure if the lemon cupcakes and lemon curd and lemon frosting would be too much (let me know if you try it though!). So I went and made the vanilla cupcakes and filled them with lemon curd, piping buttercream roses on top. This time though? I figured out the secret to perfect lemon buttercream.........

Lemon Curd Cupcakes

Lemon Curd

I used Lauren Chattman's recipe for lemon curd from my go-to baking book Mom's Big Book of Baking (it's awesome, I sing its praises. The vanilla cupcakes are from there too). It uses:

• 6 large eggs
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
• 3/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces

She says:

"Combine the eggs, sugar, and lemon zest in a heavy medium-size saucepan and whisk the mixture until it is smooth. Add the lemon juice and butter and cook the mixture over medium heat, whisking constantly, until it is thickened, 7 to 9 minutes. Do not allow the mixture to come to a boil. Pour the lemon curd through a fine mesh strainer into a glass bowl. Cover the surface with plastic wrap. Refrigerate the lemon curd until it is cold and thick, at least 3 hours and up to 3 days."

I made these vanilla cupcakes (but mini), and then filled them with the lemon curd. After that, I noticed had a bunch of curd left over. I folded it into the frosting. Good choice. GOOD. CHOICE. Apparently lemon curd is the key to a perfect lemon buttercream.

Moral of the story? When life overestimating recipe amounts gives you leaves you with extra lemons curd, make lemonade lemon buttercream.

Oh, and the secret to these roses? Separate the frosting in two, and make one part a darker yellow than the other. Fill the pastry bag or piping tool half and half with both colors, unmixed. When you pipe the rose, the colors will fade beautifully, adding lovely contrast to the rose.

Chocolate Almond Cupcakes with Raspberry Buttercream

For the past four years, I worked as a teacher in the 4 and 5 year old classroom at a preschool attached to Bryn Mawr College. While it was a campus job, only one thing I was doing in addition to my schoolwork, I developed a wonderful relationship with the lead teacher in the classroom. The more I worked, the more she let me bring my own ideas into the classroom.

A lot of these ideas were cooking projects (Eric Carle Caterpillar Cupcakes, Eyeball Cupcakes, Valentine's Day Heart Cookies, Dirt and Worms and even pizza and bread). It was so lovely to see the kids get so invested in these projects--they not only get sensory integration (mixing, pouring, etc.) but also math (measuring), colors (i.e. how do you make purple if you only have red, yellow and blue?) and for those that can, reading (what do we need for this recipe?). One of the moms told me that while she was shopping for an end of year teacher present, her 5-year-old boy told her it should be something with which I could decorate cupcakes.....and they found the coolest cupcake decorating tool from William Sonoma--perfect gift idea, kiddo! Thanks so much!!!

I have been so excited about this new cupcake decorating tool--as I'm definitely an amateur, I've been looking up tutorials on food blogs (I love this one). Today, I decided to test it out.

I used my basic chocolate cake, knowing that it would work out just fine.  However, we were out of canola oil, so I used olive oil instead. Afraid the olive oil flavor would be too prominent, I added 1/4 tsp almond extract.  It was delicious. I made my raspberry buttercream to go on top---thickening it with extra powdered sugar. (The jam makes it pink--no food coloring added this time!). I piped with a large star from the inside out-- et voilà, a rose!

Glazed Lemon Coconut Cupcakes

Made these for Batten dinner tonight, inspired by a recipe from Isa Chandra Moskowitz's Veganomicon. It's supposed to be made as bundt cake (which bakes for an hour and fifteen minutes), but I adapted the recipe and made it into mini cupcakes with a glaze. They are very moist, lemony, and quite delicious!! The glaze also makes them really pretty--I think they would make a great vegan party snack option....

Cupcakes

• 1 1/2 c sugar
• 2/3 c canola oil
• 1 (13.5 or 14-oz) can coconut milk
• 1/4 c soy milk
• 1/4 c lemon juice
• 3 tbs lemon zest
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 c flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 350º. Line mini cupcake tins with cupcake liners (if you use mini loaf pans, line the bottom with parchment paper and grease the sides). In a large bowl, mix together the sugar, oil, coconut milk, soy milk, zest, lemon juice and vanilla extract. In another bowl, sift together the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt).  Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until just combined. 

Fill the cupcake tins 3/4 full (or, the mini loaf pans 1/3 full).  Bake 12 minutes for mini cupcakes (20-25 for mini loaves), or until a cake tester comes out clean. 

Lemon Glaze*

• 3 tbs lemon juice
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• 1/4 c soy milk
• powdered sugar
• 1/4 tsp vanilla

*A quick confession---I didn't measure the ingredients for the glaze so this is an approximation.

Combine the lemon juice, zest, soy milk and vanilla. Whisk in powdered sugar until the glaze is the consistency you desire (this is in the royal icing family, so it should be liquify but when drizzled on the cupcakes should harden a bit). Use a spoon to drip the icing onto the cupcakes (or mini loaves--see below).

Eyeball Cupcakes: a Preschool Baking Project

         I love doing cooking projects with kids.  It can incorporate everything, from color mixing (frosting/food coloring) to math (measuring), to thinking about the senses (what does vanilla extract smell like? what does mixing flour feel like? etc.).  


         
         The kiddos I teach are 4 and 5. In the early spring, we do a "body unit", where we learn about our bodies. We start with emotions, then go into learning about our five senses, then germs, and then finally muscles, nerves, bones, etc. It's always my favorite unit of the year.... And of course, we needed to make cupcakes themed with the body (see Valentines Day cookies, Eric Carle cupcakes for environmental awareness/learning about our world unit). I thought about it, and realized that cupcakes lend their shape perfectly to EYEBALLS. We got to talk about why our eyes are different colors (genes="messages" from our moms and dads), what the different parts of the eyeballs are (iris, pupil, etc.), as well as remembering how our eyes help us see!

         The cupcakes are the same, reliable Lauren Chattman Vanilla Birthday Cake recipe (see Eric Carle Cupcakes). I made them with the kids, letting them do the adding and the stirring (and the reading of the recipe, if they were able to). I helped them spread on the white frosting, and we piped the irises and pupils on together.Here is my (very minimal) adaptation of her recipe, from Mom's Big Book of Baking (a much loved cookbook, I highly recommend it!).

Vanilla Cupcakes

• 4 eggs, at room temperature
• 1/2 c milk
• 1 tbs vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 c cake flour (though I use regular all-purpose sometimes and it's fine...)
• 1 1/2 c sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 sticks butter, softened

         Preheat the oven to 350 and line cupcake tins.  Cream the butter and the sugar, and then add in the eggs.  In a separate bowl, mix the other dry ingredients together.  Add the dry ingredients slowly to the wet ones, and then fill cupcake tins to 2/3 full.  Bake for 20 minutes.




Buttercream Frosting:

• 2 sticks butter (I used salted butter for the frosting this last time and it was AWESOME.)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• dash lemon extract (this keeps it from being too sweet--around 1/8 to 1/4 of a tsp)
• 1 16 oz. box confectioners' sugar
• 1 tbsp milk

         Blend butter, vanilla, and milk in large bowl with a mixer; mix on medium high until fluffy.  Add the confectioner's sugar a little at a time until frosting is light and fluffy. Add more milk and/or powdered sugar to adjust the consistency. For a very cheap, workable way to pipe the frosting, cut the corner off of a ziplock bag and spoon the frosting into it.

Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Glaze

I have come across a perfect cake. This cake probably goes back to the Depression, when eggs and butter were hard to find. Its charm lies in its simplicity: few ingredients, quick preparation and bake time. I often make this cake in the evenings when there's no dessert in the house....start at 8, and there's warm, moist chocolate cake before 9. Nothing better than that.

The original recipe calls for 1 cup water, but I have substituted 1/2 c milk and 1/2 c decaf coffee (or 1 cup milk). Feel free to do any combination--omitting the milk makes it vegan!

Chocolate Cake

Preheat your oven to 335º and grease an 8x8 pan.

Mix together in a large bowl:

1/3 cup oil

1 tablespoon vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup coffee

1 cup sugar

Mix together dry ingredients in another bowl:

1 and 1/2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

Gradually add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix together. Pour the batter into the pan, and bake for 28 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

My favorite variation is to add raspberry glaze (as above) or raspberry filling if baked as cupcakes (I use a turkey baster to squeeze the jam into the warm cupcakes). The jam is easier to work with if it is melted in the microwave for half a minute.

(vegan) Chai Cupcakes

Since I am living at beautiful Batten House in the fall, my vegan experiments begin this summer. I started with a recipe from vegan chef Isa Chandra Moskowitz (Vegan with a Vengeance, VeganCupcakes Take Over the World).





 Batten House


In the summer of 2006, I spent three weeks in Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, France . I made a friend there who was from Turkey, and one afternoon he invited us over to his house. His mother was the sweetest woman, but she spoke no English or French. However, food has no boundaries (linguistic or national), and she gave us a lovely welcome by serving up a delicious plate of cookies and a steaming hot cup of chai tea (pure black tea with spices--no ice, no milk, no sugar). I still remember the taste of the hot chai in the height of summer, spicy and aromatic.


I have loved chai ever since then, even in more adulterated forms (like the coffee shop sugarshock version: an iced chai latte). When I saw these cupcakes (the long list of spices!), I knew they'd be a great first vegan recipe to try!

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The recipe is as follows:

Ingredients:
1 cup soy or rice milk
4 black teabags or 2 tablespoons loose black tea
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup plain or vanilla soy yogurt (*I used SilkLive! Vanilla soy yogurt, and added slightly less than a tsp. of vanilla extract to balance out the flavor)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
pinch of ground white or black pepper


For topping:
1/2 cup confectioners sugar (*I needed much less than 1/2 a cup, as well as about half the ingredients below)
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg or ground mace

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 and line tin with cupcake liners. In a small saucepan heat soymilk till almost boiling, add tea bags, cover and remove from heat. Let sit for 10 minutes.When ready to use stir teabags and thoroughly squeeze to insure as much tea is dissolved in milk as possible.


In a large bowl whisk together oil, yogurt, sugar, vanilla and tea mixture until all yogurt lumps disappear. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, cloves, and pepper into wet ingredients. Mix until large lumps disappear; some small lumps are okay. Fill tins full and bake about 20 to 22 minutes until a sharp knife inserted comes out clean.


Make sure cupcakes are completely cooled before adding topping, or the sugar will melt and not look pretty or powdery.


To assemble, sift confectioners sugar over cooled cupcakes first, then mix cocoa, cinnamon, and nutmeg together and sift onto each cupcake. Enjoy!

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For some reason my batter only yielded 9 cupcakes, but they were still delicious! Sometimes with vegan desserts have a particular taste that gives them away--these don't! The texture was slightly more like a moist quick bread (but not as dense as muffins) than a fluffy cupcake (but that's the lack of eggs and butter). Still, the overall flavor triumphed!



Warning: the black tea used makes the cupcakes caffeinated!! Substitute decaf chai if you don't want to be up at night (Celestial Seasonings makes a very good one).

Edible Eric Carle

At the end of each year, the preschool class I teach does a butterfly unit. We learn about the process of metamorphosis by reading books, doing art projects, puzzles, and even watching real live caterpillars make chrysalises and hatch into butterflies. Of course, we read Eric Carle's "The Very Hungry Caterpillar".


For a last day celebration, I decided to make a Very Hungry Caterpillar out of cupcakes. Each kid got to frost and eat one segment of the caterpillar--it made a colorful and fun special snack!