It’s Furious Balancing

Yes, gentle readers, it’s another cooking post.¹  Fret not; there is no pork involved in this one.

I have made cupcakes.  From scratch cupcakes, mind you, and there’s a back story.

One of the recent additions to my blog roll is Cake Wrecks (“When Professional Cakes Go Horribly HIlariously Wrong”).  When I discovered it, I spent more than a few hours reading through the archives; Jen, the blogger, is quite the humorist.  A side-bar advertisement there caught my eye a few weeks ago.  Despair, Inc. — famous for it’s demotivational posters — was selling Valentine’s Day candy conversation hearts.  They’re marketed as Bittersweets and I knew right away that I had to get them.

They did not disappoint.  When I had the lovelies in my eager little hands, my first thought was, “What can we make with these?“ ²

Cupcakes.  Lemon cupcakes³ with icing and a snarky heart on top.

The Lemony Cupcakes of Snark

Cupcake Ingredients:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened⁴
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups sour cream

Frosting Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons butter, softened
• 2 1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon grated lemon peel
• 1 tablespoon milk⁵

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

Combine dry ingredients and added them to creamed mixture alternately with sour cream.  The batter will be thick.  Fill greased or paper-filled muffin pan with 1/4 cup of batter.  Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean.  Cool 10 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

For frosting, cream butter and sugar in mixing bowl.  Add lemon juice, vanilla, lemon peel, and milk.  Beat until smooth.

Frost cupcakes.  Add snark as desired.

* * * * *

1. Well, baking post, technically speaking. [↩]
2. And it was we. The Husband, with his methodical eye to detail that sometimes drives me bat-shit crazy, frosted them.  He did a most excellent job; this was highly appreciated since the baked goods I make look like a baboon applied the frosting with a trowel. [↩]
3. I was thinking plain vanilla or “yellow” cake, but The Husband said lemon sounded appropriate.  Lemon it was. [↩]
4. The original recipe says “butter or margarine.”  Don’t use margarine in baked goods. Just don’t. Trust me on this one. [↩]
5. I used heavy cream. [↩]

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 8th, 2009 at 4:02 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.