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Ready for the moistest, lemony, delicious cupcakes ever?

I’m absolutely IN LOVE with spring inspired lemony desserts. And I think you already know that one of my favourite things to bake is cupcakes. I could probably just have an entire cupcake blog and that would be okay with  me.  It’s true, I’m just a cupcake kinda gal. A few months ago, I found myself craving sugar like no one’s business. Most likely because I have given sugar up in its refined form. But, hang on. You are allowed to “treat YO SELF” once in a while, right? RIGHT.

With warmer weather behind us, these sunshiny lemony cuppie cakes are perfect to make. I can’t help smiling just looking at these.

For a homemade cupcake, they are super fluffy and bursting with an infusion citrus. I topped with them with a light as air whipped buttercream frosting which compliments the lemon flavor perfectly.

Bestest part? This cupcake recipe is so simple to make. Like most of my recipes, I threw together ingredients I had on hand and didn’t even need to go the supermarket to get one thing. Once the cupcakes were baked and completely cooled, I dumped out my collection of Wilton tips to frost them. Can I tell you something? I always end up using the Wilton 1M. I don’t know why. Perhaps it’s because it makes such beautiful rose-ish looking swirlies?

I also found these amazing sprinkles in spring colours so I went to town with over decorating them. I’m still stepping on stray sprinkles which tend to fly up in the air when you least expect it never to be seen again until one gets stuck to the bottom of your foot.

Even bestester part? These only took me less than 1 hour to make. You know why? I do this when I’m in a rush (which is always) but it works. Once the cupcakes cool for a few minutes after baking them, I throw them in the refrigerator which serves two purposes.

1.   The obvious reason – they cool down quicker and,

2.   They get super moist when you speed up the cooling process. Case in point, my all-time best recipe for banana cake calls for rapid cooling from oven directly to the freezer for the super de duper moistest cake EVER.

Believe me, this recipe is the best thing you can do for yourself right now. even if you think you don’t like lemon, trust me, you will be wearing your happy cupcake face after just one bite.

LEMON CUPCAKES WITH FLUFFY WHITE BUTTERCREAM

·      3 cups all-purpose flour

·      3 teaspoons baking powder

·      ½ teaspoon sea salt

·      1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

·      2 cup white sugar

·      4 large eggs (I only had extra large eggs on hand so I used 3 + 1 yolk)

·      1 teaspoon real vanilla extract

·      3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

·      2 tablespoons lemon zest

·      1 cup buttermilk (or sub in any milk)

1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and line a 12 cup cupcake pan with paper cups. (you are going to have enough batter for 24 cupcakes so if you have a 24 cup cupcake pan use it)

2.  Sift the dry ingredients - flour, baking powder and salt together in a bowl.

3.  In the bowl of your stand mixer (or with an electric mixer) with the paddle attachment, beat the softened butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

4.  Beat in the eggs one at a time, beating each egg until incorporated and scraping down sides of bowl before adding the next. Mix in the vanilla, lemon juice and lemon zest.

5.  Turn the mixer on low and gently incorporate the flour mixture into the butter mixture, ⅓ at a time, alternating and add the milk. Beat until just combined; DO NOT OVER MIX.

6.  Fill the prepared cupcake liners with batter with an ice cream scoop about ¾ full, and bake in the preheated oven for 18 - 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean Let the cupcakes cool in the pans for about 10 minutes before removing them to finish cooling on a rack or you can cheat like I did and put them into the fridge for 15 minutes to cool quickly.

WHIPPED LEMON FROSTING

·      1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

·      4-5 cups powdered confectioners’ sugar

·      1 teaspoon lemon juice

·      1 teaspoon lemon zest

·      2 tablespoons whipping cream

In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment or with an electric hand mixer, beat butter until light and fluffy. Slowly, add 4 cups of the powdered sugar, beating on low until well combined. Add in lemon juice, zest, and whipping cream. Beat until combined. Add additional powdered sugar if you want a stiffer buttercream for piping. Place buttercream frosting into a piping bag fitted with a Wilton 1M tip or any desired tip. Or you can use an offset spatula to spread the buttercream onto the cupcakes as well. Either way, they taste just as delish. Method one is just FAHN SAY ER..