A Zest For Cupcakes

A busy week.  Have I been photographing outdoor flowers like crazy?

Yup.

Have I been taking blurry pictures of birds to help in identification?

Sure thing (that's a male downy woodpecker, by the way).

Have I been making bouquets...

...and then taking endless photos of my favorite flowers?

Definitely.

Have I been checking the trees constantly at dusk for signs of those owls?

To an annoying degree, yes.

But I've also been knitting up a storm.  In some long-forgotten yarn swap, I received a partial ball of this yarn:

Rainbow yarn is not my favorite, but you never know how it will knit up.  Sometimes it settles in a predictable rainbow order, and sometimes it pools in a pleasant way.  I decided to use it to knit a pair of tiny newborn baby booties for a pregnant friend who doesn't yet know the sex of her baby.  

As you can see, the yarn pooled...one side of the bootie this way:

...and another side this way:

The booties are a Mary Jane style, and I chose a dark purple for the strap.  I thought it would coordinate well with all the colors.

The bottoms are a waffle-like garter stitch...not that a newborn will be doing a lot of walking on them!

By next week, I hope to have one of two gloves finished to post...if my wrist holds up!

I've also been baking quite a bit.  Actually, I've baked more in the past 3 days than I've baked in the past 6 weeks...jumbo cinnamon, cardamon, and nutmeg-stuffed rolls with a decadent cream cheese buttercream frosting, rich pumpkin coffee cake with a thick ribbon of cheesecake, zesty lemon cupcakes, and dense, sweet banana bread with a buttery, sugary oatmeal streusel.  What can I say...when the mood strikes, I bake!  Thankfully I've been able to send much of it to work with Todd, although we still have a freezerful of lemon cupcakes.

They're not such a bad thing to be stuck with, though.  Light and delicate crumb, bursting with juicy blueberries and blackberries, and topped with a lemon zest-studded cream cheese frosting?  Not too shabby!

Lemon Cupcakes
Annie's Eats
Makes 14 - 16 cupcakes

For the cupcakes:
¾ cup plus 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour, divided
¾ cup cake flour
1½ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
8 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
zest of 1 lemon
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tbsp. lemon juice
½ cup plus 2 tbsp. milk, at room temperature
1 cup fresh (or frozen) blueberries (I added blackberries, too)

For the frosting: 
8 oz. cream cheese
5 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1 tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
zest of 1 large lemon

Directions
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Combine 3/4 cup all purpose flour, your cake flour, baking powder, and salt.  In a separate bowl, beat together your butter, sugar, and lemon zest until fluffy - about 3 minutes.  Add eggs one at a time (be sure to beat after each addition).  Finally, mix in the vanilla and lemon juice.  Toss in half of the dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated, and then blend in the milk.  Finally, mix in the remaining dry ingredients.  Don't overmix!

In another bowl, toss your fruit with the remaining 2 tablespoons of flour and fold it into your batter.  Spoon into your greased cupcake tins, filling about 3/4 full, and bake for 18 - 22 minutes, until cupcakes are firm.

They look like little sponge cakes!

While your cupcakes are cooling,  beat together your butter and cream cheese until well-mixed, about three minutes.  Mix in lemon juice and zest, and then gradually add confectioners' sugar.  Mix well.

I used an M1 star tip to frost my cupcakes.

It's probably my favorite tip.  I think the design is so beautiful.

 These cupcakes are so good and spring-like, with the bright lemon zest and sweet fruit.

I hope you give them a try this week.  Enjoy!