lemon cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.

If you thought yesterday’s chocolately-marshmallowey cupcake madness was too good to be true, just wait until you try these.

I made these for Meg’s 65th birthday over the weekend, after the idea was given to me to do some type of a lemon meringue. Strangely, I had just seen these gorgeous cupcakes over at the Food Librarian, and I was in love with the idea of putting a cupcake spin on it. The original recipe comes from Martha Stewart and has a true meringue topping, but the adaptation I found used a cream cheese frosting instead, so I did the same. Mine aren’t as pretty, but I bet they taste just as good.

Everyone raved over them, and they are such a refreshing change from the typical chocolate, vanilla, or red velvet cupcakes I usually make. There is a layer of lemon curd underneath the frosting that totally makes them, and for some reason I had so much fun making it. Trying something new always gets me excited.

{It’s the small things in life}

Lemon Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Recipe courtesy of Martha Stewart, adapted from Food Librarian

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs, room temperature
• Finely grated zest of 3 lemons (about 3 tablespoons), plus 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 cups lemon curd (see below)
• Cream cheese frosting (see below)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.

With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is until incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in zest and vanilla. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of buttermilk and lemon juice, and beating until just combined after each. Do not overmix! This is the key to perfectly moist cupcakes.

Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until golden brown and a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes. Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.

Makes 24 cupcakes.

{However, I had run out of cupcake liners, so I made 12 cupcakes and a 9-inch cake. This is typical – I am always running out of something and figuring it out last minute. Instead of sending Daniel off to the store, I just improvised}

Lemon Curd

Makes about 2 cups

• 8 large egg yolks
• Finely grated zest of 2 lemons
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 3 lemons)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 sticks (10 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cold, cut into pieces

Combine yolks, lemon zest, lemon juice, and sugar in a heavy-bottom saucepan; whisk to combine. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon (be sure to scrape the sides of the pan), until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon, 8 to 10 minutes, and registers 160 degrees on an instant-read thermometer.

Remove saucepan from heat. Add salt and butter, one piece at a time, stirring until smooth. Strain through a fine sieve into a medium bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly onto the surface of the curd to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until chilled and set, at least 1 hour or up to 1 day.

1:1:1 Cream Cheese Frosting

(Doubled to frost 12 cupcakes and 1 9-inch cake)

• 2 8oz blocks of cream cheese
• 2 cups of powdered sugar
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

Mix together with a paddle attachment until smooth.

{Doesn’t get any easier than that}