Wren is an amazing little girl. She has been an observer from the day she was born, never resting her little head in fear of missing something. All of this observing has helped her to learn- learn how to communicate, socialize, and play. She is so interested in everything, it's amazing. Wren's latest fascination is her name. As soon as she wakes up, she points to the W-R-E-N that I put on her dresser. We made a chant and now she has to point to the letters first thing every morning. She is also moving a lot more-not quite walking on her own yet, but definitely getting to where she wants to be. Wren loves her family and friends. My only wish before she was born was that she would be a happy kid and her happiness shines in her constant laughter, silly smiles, and sweet hugs and kisses. She brightens even the gloomiest of days and I couldn't love her more!
For Wren's birthday celebration, I was going for a sunshine theme and searched for desserts that fit this theme. I finally settled on lemon cupcakes, that were supposed to be "light as a cloud" but turned out a little more dense-probably because I substituted applesauce for oil again. I tripled the recipe and made a 9 inch cake for the sun's center, 40 cupcakes for the rays, and 24 mini cupcakes for fun. It was a lot of batter!
Lemon Cupcakes
Recipe adapted from siftingfocus.com
Ingredients
4 tbsp unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
Zest from 2 lemons
1/3 cup canola oil or applesauce
3 large egg yolks
2 large eggs
1 3/4 cups spooned and leveled cake flour
1 3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup heavy cream
Method
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
1. Prepare your cupcake tins or cake pans and set aside. Place a small mixing bowl and beaters in the freezer for step 7.
2. In a mixing bowl on medium speed, beat the butter until soft-about 3 minutes. Add the sugar and continue to beat until very light. You will need to scrape down the sides and across the bottom of the bowl at least once.
3. Beat in the lemon juice and zest. On medium speed, blend in the oil.
4. On the lowest speed, blend in the yolks, one at a time, mixing just enough to blend. Blend in the whole eggs, one at a time, again mixing just to blend.
5. In a separate bowl, thoroughly whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
6. On the lowest speed, blend half of the flour mixture into the batter. Continue on the lowest speed and blend in half of the buttermilk. Continue adding the remainder of the flour until all is incorporated. Blend in the remaining buttermilk.
7. Remove the mixing bowl and beaters from the freezer. Whip the cream until soft peaks form. Stir about one-quarter of the whipped cream into the batter to lighten. Then fold in the rest.
8. Fill your pans. If making cupcakes, the cups should be more than half full. Your baking time will depend on what you are making. My 9 inch cake baked for just over 20 minutes, regular cupcakes for 18, and mini cupcakes for 12.
9. Cool completely before frosting.
Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
4 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
Juice and zest from 2 lemons
Generous pinch of salt
4 1/2 to 5 cups confectioner’s sugar
Method
1. In the bowl of an electric mixer on medium speed, thoroughly mix together the butter and cream cheese.
2. Add the lemon juice, zest and salt and mix to combine.
3. On low speed, add the confectioner’s sugar, one cup at a time until the desired spreading consistency has been reached.
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| I also made sugar cookies using an Alton Brown recipe. I never thought to use confectioner's sugar instead of flour when rolling the cookies out. |
So cute and the cupcakes were soo yummy
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