These little gems are perfect for Easter. The cake is the perfect combination of Vanilla and tangy lemon. I was so excited to make these! Specially for Easter. The cupcake is spongy and moist. Perfect for kids too! To decorate the cupcakes for Easter I used: Wilton Tip No. 233 to make the grass, leaf green Gel from this Wilton 8 Color Icing set, Wilton Spring Confetti Sprinkles, Wilton Nest with Jelly Beans Royal Icing Decorations and Wilton Sweet Spring Combo Pack. You can safely say that I went a bit too Easter crazy at the supermarket! I even have some other non-Easter goodies saved for future posts!

One thing you will notice is that this recipe calls for Cake Flour and not All-purpose flour. The most significant difference between cake and all purpose flour is the amount of protein content in it. Typically, cake flour consists of 7-8% of protein content while general all purpose flour consists of 11-12% of protein content. I also tried out the silicone cupcake liners that I described how to use on my previous post here.

Lemon Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
Makes 24 cupcakes
From My Baking Addiction

Ingredients for the Cupcakes
2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
4 large egg whites
1 1/2 cups sugar
lemon zest from two lemons
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon pure lemon extract (I used the juice of two lemons)

Directions:

Center a rack in the oven, and preheat it to 350°F. and line standard muffins tins with paper liners. Since I used silicone baking cupcake liners, I lined up on top of a cookie sheet and coat them with a thin layer of vegetable oil or non-stick spray.
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
Whisk together the milk and egg whites in a medium bowl.
Put the sugar and lemon zest in a mixer bowl or another large bowl and rub them together with your fingers until the sugar is moist and fragrant.
Add the butter and, working with the paddle attachment, beat at medium speed for a full 3 minutes, until the butter and sugar are very light.
Beat in the extracts, then add one third of the flour mixture, still beating on medium speed.
Beat in half of the milk-egg mixture, then beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients until incorporated.
Add the rest of the milk and eggs, beating until the batter is homogeneous, then add the last of the dry ingredients.
Switch to the whisk attachment and give the batter a good 2-minute beating to ensure that it is thoroughly mixed and well aerated.
Fill the cupcake liners two thirds of the way.
Bake for 18-22 minutes, or until the cupcakes are well risen and springy to the touch – a tooth pick inserted into the centers should come out clean.
Cool completely on wire rack before frosting.

For the Cream Cheese Frosting
Makes enough to heavily frost 24 medium-size cupcakes

Ingredients:
2 8oz. packages of cream cheese, softened
1 stick butter, softened
2 lbs. confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
juice of one lemon

Directions

Sift the confectioner’s sugar.
Using a mixer, blend the butter and cream cheese together until well combined.
Gradually add in the confectioners’ sugar until fully incorporated.
Finally mix in vanilla and lemon juice.

I had to let set the frosting for a bit (after adding a bit of green gel to color it) since the grass was not holding. A quick tip is to put it in the fridge for about 5 minutes. Then, fill the pipping bag and start working! I found that some of the buttercream starts to harden inside the tip and may cause the holes to get blocked, so have a few toothpicks handy so you can release the hardened buttercream and re-open all the little holes. Also, I had about 1 cup of frosting left, so I froze it and used it a week later as cake filling. Worked perfectly!

To make the grass you can watch this video from Wilton:

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