Blueberry Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
This pin had been haunting me all week. I kept going back to Pinterest to gaze longingly at these cupcakes, the cream cheese frosting begged me, make me.....make me....then I was on my facebook and saw that my coworker was having a birthday. She told me a while back she wanted lemon cupcakes for her birthday....so I thought, well this should work. I had most everything already in my fridge so I set out making them. Michigan summers can be quite hot and humid and I've always read that the humidity can affect your baking. This was proven to me last night. The cakes turned out a nice golden brown and when I bit into them, they were light and fluffy and flavorful, just as a cupcake should be. The frosting on the other hand, was quite a different story. For years I've relied on Better Homes and Gardens cookbook for my cream cheese frosting but I just wanted my cupcakes to look like the picture and follow the recipe to the letter. I think I went wrong with the lemon juice. I recently got married and we received the oxo citrus squeezer as a wedding gift and let me tell you that thing really juices! So I think I may have just used too much lemon juice, but the flavor was vibrant and light and the frosting wasn't too heavy like cream cheese frosting often can be.
I got a lot of compliments on these cupcakes today, and I loved them too, so this recipe is definitely a keeper.
Here's the pinterest post.... What do you think? NAILED IT!
And now for Cupcakes Part Deux
Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate frosting
After I instant messaged my co worker that she was missing cupcake day today, she was not happy about it. She said what about me and the other co worker who's birthday it was? Then I felt bad and decided to dub this week cupcake week and see how many cupcakes I could make this week.
These two co workers love chocolate. I hate chocolate cake. (Yes I said it) I hate it. I love white cake with white frosting. To me, chocolate cake always seems dry and its just a mess because you have to get out the cocoa and I just don't like the taste of it. I loathe it. Again, bringing up my cousin, she makes fab chocolate cakes. You should just see some of them. Her cake is never dry. So, I went to her to find out the secret. She's like I already gave you that recipe before! Um, ok. I never made it.
She referred me to her blog which she never writes anything on anymore....much to my dismay, because I really miss it. I can hear her saying every word I read on it and it makes me smile because I can just see her in my head saying these things. ( I love that girl she is the sister I never had) I had most of the ingredients already in my fridge but my butter supply was down because of aforementioned Blueberry cupcakes. Then she was telling me about her Swiss frosting and how she can't stand American Buttercream and I was not hearing that. I love American Buttercream! She told me I had to boil stuff and use a candy thermometer and that was just not on my agenda tonight. So I researched frostings on Pinterest and came up with the best ever chocolate frosting. I had reservations that it was truly the best ever frosting because thus far my experience with Pinterest pins claiming they are the best ever have come up lacking. But anyway this one sounded easy so I went with it.
The cake batter calls for French Roast coffee and it just so happens we got a Keurig from my Aunt and Uncle as a wedding gift and voila, we had a KCup of French Roast! I brewed it and cooled it and put together the batter. It tasted very rich and this recipe made 2 dozen cupcakes. I always use an ice cream scoop to try to keep the cupcakes uniform size. The first batch I over baked so for the second batch I only baked them for 20 minutes and the tops were just right. These cakes were moist and rich and quite frankly, the best chocolate cupcakes I've ever eaten.
The frosting left me wondering if it was going to be any good. You melted the chocolate chips in the microwave, which I thought you could probably do it in a double boiler but I just went with the flow. Ain't nobody got time for that! Meanwhile, you make a pudding like mixture on the stove and let it cool, then whip up the butter and combine the pudding mixture (after running it through a sieve) with the melted chips. Again, I was wondering if the humidity played a role in this frosting being wet and a little runny, but I am hoping it sets up after being in the fridge overnight. No matter, it tastes good and that's what really matters.
PS- I had to use my Shamrock cupcake papers because I was out of the plain ones! :(
If you want to try the cake, check out my cousin's blog and leave her a comment saying you wish she would write it again!
http://cafecococreations.blogspot.com/2008/12/rich-chocolate-cake-with-chocolate.html
Here is the frosting recipe I tried:
http://pinterest.com/pin/146015212891475569/
Here is my end result. Looks good if I do say so myself! Thanks Courtney! Love you much<3 p="">
The lemon/blueberry were divine! Ohhh, coffee in the cake - excellent - really brings out the flavor. Cupcake week you say? So what's on the menu for Wednesday? :-)
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