Spring has arrived in England; everywhere you look daffodils and crocuses are providing splashes of colour, brightening up gardens and roadsides. To celebrate the joys of spring, I thought that a nice brightly flavoured citrus dessert would be just the thing. And then… Maki announced that the theme of this month’s Is My Blog Burning was to be cupcakes. Well. What could be better than a lemon cupcake? Even a chocolate cupcake would have to work hard to beat that.

In the United Kingdom, we don’t have cupcakes. We have… fairy cakes. Tiny cakes of sponge (if you’re lucky, it’ll be moist sponge) served at children’s birthday parties. It is debatable whether a fairy would actually eat one. Classically topped with plain glace icing and a lurid glace cherry. If I’d known as a child, what luscious cupcakes were available on the other side of the Atlantic, I’d have revolted at my birthday parties until someone made the good stuff. Now that I’ve tasted cupcake heaven, will I ever be able to serve up plain old fairy cakes to my future children? I guess I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it….

So, onto today’s IMBB: Triple-Lemon Cupcakes. What you can’t see in the picture above is the filling–a tart, voluptuous lemon curd. The cupcake is flavoured with a hefty amount of lemon zest (yet is not bitter) and is very moist; the icing (or frosting if you’re across the pond) has a generous amount of lemon juice which gives it a lovely tang. Despite all the citrus, this certainly isn’t health-food!

Whilst I was preparing all the components, I worried that it would be overkill. Could there be such a thing as too much lemon? I’m happy to report that this is not the case. Cake, curd and icing work extremely well together to create a delicious dessert.

I am now utterly converted to cupcakes, and I can’t wait to see what everyone comes up with! Thank-you, Maki!

Triple-Lemon Cupcakes

Adapted from several recipes.

Lemon Curd
80ml strained, fresh-squeezed lemon juice
3 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
100g caster sugar
110g unsalted butter, cut into small chunks
1 teaspoon lemon zest

Cupcake
225g plain flour
35g cornflour (cornstarch, NOT cornmeal)
OR 2 cups cake flour can replace flour & cornflour (unsifted, spoon and level method)
2 1/2 teaspoons double-action baking powder
3/4 teaspoon fine salt
90g unsalted butter
200g caster sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
zest of two lemons
250ml milk

Icing
approx 225g unsalted butter
approx 450g sieved icing sugar
juice of half a lemon
few drops vanilla extract

Lemon zest, decorative lemon slices, or whatever you want to use to decorate it.

The curd–whisk together the lemon juice, sugar, and eggs in a heatproof bowl. Add butter. Cook over a pan of simmering water, a bain marie, until the curd is thick and the whisk leaves a trail. Even though the curd will set further when its chilled, you want it to be thick initially so that it can be piped easily. Don’t panic if the butter seems to clot, keep whisking and all will be well eventually. I hesitate to give a time for cooking as this really depends on how aggressive you’re prepared to be with the temperature. If you wimp out, as I did, then you’ll be whisking mournfully for at least 15 minutes.

Strain the curd into a fresh bowl (to remove any shell, or stringy bits of egg white). Stir in the lemon zest. Leave to cool, then chill thoroughly. Overnight is best.

The cake–Preheat oven to Gas Mark 5/190C. Line two muffin tins with paper liners. Sift flour, cornflour, baking powder and salt together. Cream butter and sugar together until well blended. Beat in egg, vanilla extract and lemon zest (best to zest directly into the bowl). In three additions, add the milk and flour mixtures alternating between the two.

Divide the batter between the tins, filling each hole just over half-full. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until risen, springy and slightly golden. Cool 10 minutes in tins; transfer to wire rack and cool completely.

The icing–I eye-balled this. It’s a basic buttercream, nothing fancy. Cream butter until fluffy. Add in approximately double the weight of sifted icing sugar, beat until fluffy again. Add, spoonful by spoonful, enough lemon juice until the icing is tangy enough for your own tastes. Put a few drops of vanilla extract in too. Beat once more. If it’s too thick for piping, then add a few drops milk to thin it down.

Construction–using a melon-baller or a paring knife hollow out a hole in the center of each cupcake. Don’t go right to the bottom. The hole needs to be able to take about 2tbsp lemon curd. Snack on the scraps–cooks perks.

Using a disposable piping bag (or a ziplock plastic bag, fill then cut corner off), pipe the lemon curd into the hollows you’ve made. Don’t over-fill.

Using a star tip, pipe the icing decoratively on top of each cupcake.

Eat!

The cupcakes should hold, filled and iced, at room temperature for about four hours. Chilled, one day. Bring up to room temperature before serving. You should be able to freeze the filled but uniced cupcake for a couple of weeks.