a taste of spring - a post by lacey

Happy Thursday! I hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend with your families and friends. My parents and little brother left early Sunday morning to make the five hour drive to visit my older brother in Georgia. Pretty rotten thing to do, don't you think? Leave your daughter at home alone on Easter Sunday?! I made a fuss about it, but their minds were made up. I ended up having a pretty good time with the house to myself-free reign over the television, long hot showers, coming and going as I pleased. I was even inspired to make some cuppycakes!
After attending the Easter Sunday service at my church, I decided that the best way to continue celebrating was to bake something. I had received a cupcake cookbook as a gift some time ago, and after looking through all of the recipes and drool worthy pictures, I finally decided on lemon cupcakes. The recipe was very easy, very straightforward. I had the batter mixed, poured, and in the oven in about 15 minutes. While the cupcakes baked, I whipped up (literally) the lemon frosting.
I couldn’t believe the baking luck I was having-no forgotten ingredients, no spills, no shattering glass bowls. As much as I love trying out new recipes, something always seems to go wrong when I attempt to cook or bake. I once made mac and cheese from scratch (Martha Stewart recipe, thank you), and it literally took me 3 ½ hours to make from beginning to end. And it did not taste like it took me 3 ½ hours (not in a good way.) When I tried to make apple crumble, I left the butter for the flour and butter crust half melted in the microwave until the next day. My apple crumble was more like apples, rolled in flour, baked in the oven until shriveled and chewy. You can only imagine the utter joy I was experiencing this past Sunday. When I took my cupcakes out of the oven, they were perfectly golden brown just like the recipe called for. Golden brown! Not blackened! Since my first batch came out so well I decided to take advantage of my good Easter fortune and make another batch! I frosted both batches once they cooled and packaged up two boxes to bring to my co-workers the next day. My success with these cuppycakes has inspired me to take on another cupcake recipe. Chocolate cherry? Strawberry swirl with cream cheese frosting? I’m willing to try anything-unless it’s an apple crumble cupcake.

I'm feeling generous. Go make yourself some cupcakes.

Lemon Cuppycakes:

3/4 cup self-rising white flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
8 tbsp soft butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
finely grated rind of 1/2 lemon
2 tbsp milk
Lemon Frosting:
6 tbsp butter, softened
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice

*Preheat the oven to 375 F. Put 12 paper baking cups in a muffin pan.
*Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl. Add the butter, sugar, eggs, lemon rind, and milk, and using an electric beater, beat together until smooth.
*Bake the cupcakes in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, or until well risen and golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool.
*To make the frosting, put the butter in a bowl and beat until fluffy. Sift in the powdered sugar, add the lemon juice, and beat together until smooth and creamy.
*When the cupcakes have cooled, frost generously and enjoy!

(recipe from Cupcakes by Susanna Tee)

P.S. Ok, so I didn't want to say anything, but I have to confess that I did have one slight mishap while making the cupcakes. After I finished baking, cooling, and frosting the cupcakes, I was leaning inside the fridge with a plateful to store overnight. The edge of the plate hit the fridge door and three cupcakes, one right after the other, fell and landed face-down on the floor. I freaked. But then I gathered myself and calmly reached down to pick them up expecting a terrible sticky mess. Instead I picked them up fully intact with frosting! The frosting had hardened just enough to keep from smearing all over the floor! I used a knife to fluff the frosting up a bit and placed them back on the plate. (The five second rule totally exists.) I think my little accident proves just how awesome this recipe is. Or maybe I revealed a little too much information about how I treat food that I serve to other people.