Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Frosting

This week was the last week that one of my best friends Cristina was going to be home for winter break before heading back to Harvard to start another semester in her Middle Eastern Studies master’s program, so I invited her over to bake some cupcakes from scratch! This cupcake recipe is incredibly moist and the lemon flavor really kicks in through the icing. The batter for the cupcakes is very thick but that is what makes them so great when they come out of the oven! Enjoy!

Be sure to check out Cristina’s blog too!

Cupcakes

Ingredients

1 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
3 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups sour cream

Directions

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add lemon juice and vanilla; mix well.

Combine dry ingredients.

Add to creamed mixture alternately with sour cream. Batter will be thick (as shown in the last two images of this section).

Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups with 1/4 cup of batter.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.

Cool for 10 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

These (left) look like baby faces! And these (right) look like snowmen!

Frosting

Ingredients

3 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
2 1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon water
Yellow food coloring

Directions

Cream butter and sugar in a small mixing bowl. Add lemon juice, vanilla, and water; beat until smooth. Add as many drops of yellow food coloring to get the desired shade of yellow frosting.