1 post tagged “meyer lemon”
Despite the impression you may get from reading this blog, I actually don't have that much of a sweet tooth. A few squares of dark chocolate after dinner or the occasional scoop of Chunky Monkey and I'm good. Even when I was pregnant, I didn't go too overboard with sweets. People asked me all the time if I was having any cravings (OK they asked me that pretty often - but not as often as the big 3 questions: 1. When are you due? 2. Do you know if it's a boy or a girl? 3. Do you have a name picked out? I got asked these questions so much, from everyone from my boss to the checkers at Jewel, that I thought about having a t-shirt printed with "August 9. Boy. Yes but we're not telling.") Anyway, back to the cravings - I had a hard time noticing if I had any pregnancy cravings because I am such a weird eater to begin with. A secret penchant for pickled herring and drooling over the idea of kimchee and cream cheese on a Wasa cracker is part of my normal, non-gestational life, so any cravings I had would have had to be pretty out there to attribute it to the pregnancy. However, a Dinkel's cake with fresh strawberry filling whipped cream frosting served at a co-worker's birthday party in my 2nd trimester haunted my dreams for weeks.
And then there was the lemon cake. The meyerless lemon cake I wrote about on this very blog almost 2 and half years ago. The tart, fragrant, lemon cake that I started longing for when we were in the midst of packing to move in mid-February. Not a great time for extensive kitchen usage. By April we were settled in enough in our new digs that I was able to bake a cake. But now that cake, with it's tangy, sweet glaze and candied lemon slices seemed practically austere in comparison to the fluffy white Dinkel's cake. So I decided to whip up some creamy frosting and convert the recipe to cupcakes (easier for transporting to Deerfield where we shared them over dinner with my college roommate Heidi, who was also expecting, and her family).
When I spotted a cute little bag of meyer lemons in the Jewel last week - and let me just digress for a second to say, how weird is it that they have something as esoteric as meyer lemons yet they don't have any cupcake liners except for ones with Disney princesses on them?? Oh Jewel, you fickle bitch. Anyhow, when I saw the lemons I decided to ressurect the cupcake recipe for my weekend's social activities - a meet up with some other Chicago area moms & babies, and brunch at my friend Juliet's with her family. I'm happy to say that not only do pregnant ladies love these cupcakes, they are also popular with mothers, fathers, and most children.
Meyer Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
Adapted from Domino and Bon Apetit
Ingredients:
14 Tablespoons (1 3/4 sticks) unsalted butter
4 large eggs, separated
1¼ cups sugar
2/3 cup buttermilk
6 meyer lemons
2 cups cake flour or all purpose flour
1¼ teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 8-ounce package of cream cheese
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions:
Set out 6 Tablespoons of butter and the package of cream cheese to come to room temperature.
Preheat the oven to 325° F.
Melt the remaining 8 Tablespoons (1 stick) of butter in saucepan. Set aside and let cool.
Using a microplane zester, zest 5 of the lemons. Set aside 1 teaspoon of zest for the frosting. Squeeze the juice from the zested lemons to yield about 1/2 cup of juice. Set aside.
Line 2 cupcake pans with paper liners. (Or if you only have 1 pan, you can just bake them in 2 batches, just make sure to let the pan cool to room temperature before pouring in the 2nd batch of batter.)
In a mixing bowl, using an electric mixer, beat egg yolks with 1 cup of the sugar until thick and light in color, about 2 to 3 minutes. Beat in buttermilk, lemon juice, and zest.
Sift together cake flour, baking powder and salt.
In a separate bowl, beat egg whites with an electric mixer until they hold soft peaks. Then add ¼ cup of sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks form.
Fold half the flour mixture into egg-yolk mixture, followed by half the egg white mixture—so you don't deflate the batter. Repeat with remaining flour and egg white mixtures.
Take about 1 cup of the batter and stir it into melted butter. Gently fold butter mixture into the rest of the cake batter.
Spoon batter into cupcake liners in pan, up to about 1/2 an inch from the top. Bake for about 25-30 minutes, until toothpick stuck in center comes out dry. Allow cupcakes to cool in pan for 15 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack.
While the cupcakes are baking, make the frosting and garnishes. Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese and butter in large bowl until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in powdered sugar. Beat in reserved 1 teaspoon of lemon zest and vanilla.
Use a canelle to carve long strips around the remaining lemon and then use your fingers to twist the strips into tight coils. Set aside curls.
Squeeze the juice from the lemon and fold it into the frosting, then cover and refrigerate until firm enough to spread, at least 30 minutes.
When the cupcakes are fully cooled, use a cake decorating tip spiral peaks of frosting onto cupcakes, or simply spread frosting on with a knife. Garnish with lemon peel curls.
makes about 20 cupcakes
And then there was the lemon cake. The meyerless lemon cake I wrote about on this very blog almost 2 and half years ago. The tart, fragrant, lemon cake that I started longing for when we were in the midst of packing to move in mid-February. Not a great time for extensive kitchen usage. By April we were settled in enough in our new digs that I was able to bake a cake. But now that cake, with it's tangy, sweet glaze and candied lemon slices seemed practically austere in comparison to the fluffy white Dinkel's cake. So I decided to whip up some creamy frosting and convert the recipe to cupcakes (easier for transporting to Deerfield where we shared them over dinner with my college roommate Heidi, who was also expecting, and her family).
When I spotted a cute little bag of meyer lemons in the Jewel last week - and let me just digress for a second to say, how weird is it that they have something as esoteric as meyer lemons yet they don't have any cupcake liners except for ones with Disney princesses on them?? Oh Jewel, you fickle bitch. Anyhow, when I saw the lemons I decided to ressurect the cupcake recipe for my weekend's social activities - a meet up with some other Chicago area moms & babies, and brunch at my friend Juliet's with her family. I'm happy to say that not only do pregnant ladies love these cupcakes, they are also popular with mothers, fathers, and most children.
Meyer Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
Adapted from Domino and Bon Apetit
Ingredients:
14 Tablespoons (1 3/4 sticks) unsalted butter
4 large eggs, separated
1¼ cups sugar
2/3 cup buttermilk
6 meyer lemons
2 cups cake flour or all purpose flour
1¼ teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 8-ounce package of cream cheese
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions:
Set out 6 Tablespoons of butter and the package of cream cheese to come to room temperature.
Preheat the oven to 325° F.
Melt the remaining 8 Tablespoons (1 stick) of butter in saucepan. Set aside and let cool.
Using a microplane zester, zest 5 of the lemons. Set aside 1 teaspoon of zest for the frosting. Squeeze the juice from the zested lemons to yield about 1/2 cup of juice. Set aside.
Line 2 cupcake pans with paper liners. (Or if you only have 1 pan, you can just bake them in 2 batches, just make sure to let the pan cool to room temperature before pouring in the 2nd batch of batter.)
In a mixing bowl, using an electric mixer, beat egg yolks with 1 cup of the sugar until thick and light in color, about 2 to 3 minutes. Beat in buttermilk, lemon juice, and zest.
Sift together cake flour, baking powder and salt.
In a separate bowl, beat egg whites with an electric mixer until they hold soft peaks. Then add ¼ cup of sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks form.
Fold half the flour mixture into egg-yolk mixture, followed by half the egg white mixture—so you don't deflate the batter. Repeat with remaining flour and egg white mixtures.
Take about 1 cup of the batter and stir it into melted butter. Gently fold butter mixture into the rest of the cake batter.
Spoon batter into cupcake liners in pan, up to about 1/2 an inch from the top. Bake for about 25-30 minutes, until toothpick stuck in center comes out dry. Allow cupcakes to cool in pan for 15 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack.
While the cupcakes are baking, make the frosting and garnishes. Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese and butter in large bowl until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in powdered sugar. Beat in reserved 1 teaspoon of lemon zest and vanilla.
Use a canelle to carve long strips around the remaining lemon and then use your fingers to twist the strips into tight coils. Set aside curls.
Squeeze the juice from the lemon and fold it into the frosting, then cover and refrigerate until firm enough to spread, at least 30 minutes.
When the cupcakes are fully cooled, use a cake decorating tip spiral peaks of frosting onto cupcakes, or simply spread frosting on with a knife. Garnish with lemon peel curls.
makes about 20 cupcakes
