Lemon Cupcakes (Or: Your Parents Don’t Love You As Much As You Think They Do)

My mom has a green thumb like nobody’s business. So, growing up, even though we were city dwellers who essentially lived on bedrock, we were never short on fresh peaches, apricots, and other more sporadic bounties (a year of watermelons, a couple of seasons of strawberries, and maybe some cantaloupe). And we, the kids – also known as free labor – had to pick them all. We had a love/hate relationship with fruit, my siblings and I.

After we had all left for college, my folks downsized into a house with a more appropriate size yard. While beautifully landscaped, not a peach or apricot were to be found. It was a childless, and fruitless, house.

And then my mom decided to grow lemons.

And then the deer decided to eat said lemons.

But my mom, the tough cookie she is, didn’t give up. No, siree. She enlisted the help of my engineer father and they rigged a “personal” greenhouse for their Meyer lemon tree. So we named it Fred. Fred the Lemon Tree. You see, we figured that any lemon tree that had it’s own individual, mobile greenhouse (so that the tree could be wheeled around the house to take advantage of the best sun/shade ratio) surely deserved a name. Plus, it made my parents sound a little nutty, which is always a bonus for us kids.

And Fred did not disappoint. He produced a bumper crop of extra large, extra sweet Meyer lemons. He was the honor roll kid of lemon trees and my parents made sure we took a gander at him every time we went up to their house. I hate to admit it, but I got a little jealous of Fred. He was replacing me as Favorite Child (yes, my siblings read my blog).

And then my mom gave me a lemon. It was big and smooth, almost DayGlo in color. I had somehow become the proud owner of one of the prized lemons. It was a lot of pressure. I put it on my window sill above my kitchen sink and stared at it for a few days. What could I make with my Fred lemon? What would be worthy of it?

There was only one answer: Lemon Cupcakes. You see, if you are given a grand lemon, you can’t hide it in something complex where the other layers of the dish keep it from shining like the star it is. But you also can’t keep it too simple, like sucking on it with sugar (not that I’ve ever done that) because it will ruin your teeth and I don’t want to be responsible for that. You have to do something gloriously lemony, but tooth friendly.

Cupcakes. Because we all know the answer to most of life’s questions is, in fact, Cupcakes.

These Lemon Cupcakes are very light and not too sweet. If you like your cupcakes on the sweet side, feel free to dose up your sugar. Just remember, if you get the batter too sweet, you won’t really taste the lemon WHICH IS THE WHOLE POINT when you have a Fred lemon, right?

 

Lemon Cupcakes

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup sugar (more if you like your cupcakes sweeter)

2 large eggs, room temperature

2 teaspoons good vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups AP flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup whole milk

juice plus zest from two medium lemons (add more after tasting batter if lemon is too subtle)

 

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line cupcake tin (12) with liners.

Whisk flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set aside.

Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Add vanilla, and then eggs one at a time, until incorporated.

Slowly add the flour mixture, one third at a time until just blended, scraping down the sides a few times to make sure it is all incorporated.

Add the lemon juice and zest and mix until blended. Do not overmix.

Pour into liners and bake for 18 minutes, or until cupcakes spring back when touched with your finger.

 

Lemon Buttercream

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

3 1/2 cups powdered (confectioners’) sugar (plus more if frosting is too runny)

1/4 cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

juice plus zest from one medium lemon

1/4 teaspoon salt

 

Cream butter until fluffy.

Add powdered sugar, one cup at a time, until fluffy.

Add the heavy cream and vanilla extract and mix until well smooth.

Add the lemon juice, zest and salt until smooth. Check consistency and add more powdered sugar, if needed.

 

 

 

Tagged as: Lemon Trees, lemons, Meyer lemons