Lemon Cream Crazy

This is a special for Rebekah at the Cooking Vent

Lemon Cream (adapted from Epicurious)

Frosting:
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
Lemon curd , chilled

Lemon Curd:

• 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons finely grated fresh lemon zest
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into bits

Whisk together juice, zest, sugar, and eggs in a 2-quart heavy saucepan. Stir in butter and cook over moderately low heat, whisking frequently, until curd is thick enough to hold marks of whisk and first bubble appears on surface, about 6 minutes.
Transfer lemon curd to a bowl and chill, its surface covered with plastic wrap, until cold, at least 1 hour.

I added 8 oz of cream cheese and an extra cup of powdered sugar to this to thicken it up a bit. It seemed rather soupy at firsty, atleast too soupy to frost a cake. So instead of frosting the cake with it, I used it as lemon cream. So, it being a mix of lemon curd and lemon frosting, it turned into lemon cream. This also made ALOT! With this one batch of lemon cream, I made lemon cream cake, lemon cream cupcakes, and I used it as a drizzle over fresh blackberries- delicious!




Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream

    adapted from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook
    makes 12 cupcakes
    Print this Recipe!
1 cup all-purpose flour
a scant 3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup whole milk
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  
Put the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and butter into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or use a handheld beater and beat on slow speed until the mixture is a sandy consistency and everything is combined.  Gradually pour in half of the milk and beat until the milk is just incorporated.  
Whisk the egg, vanilla and remaining milk together in a separate bowl for a few seconds, then pour into the flour mixture and continue beating until just incorporated.  Scrape any unmixed ingredients from the side or the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula.  Continue mixing until the batter is smooth.  Just a few minutes.  Do not overmix.
Spoon the batter into paper lined muffin tins, dividing between the 12 cups.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until light golden and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.  Let the cupcakes cool slightly in the pan, then turn them out onto a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.  


Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

    from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook
    makes enough for 12 cupcakes, double this recipe to frost an 8-inch cake
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 tablespoons whole milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Beat the powdered sugar and butter together in an electric mixer fit with a paddle attachment on medium low speed until the mixture comes together and is well mixed.  Turn the mixer speed to low.  Combine the milk and the vanilla extract and slowly stream it into the butter and sugar mixture.  Once incorporated, turn the mixer to high and beat until the frosting is light and fluffy, at least 5 minutes.  The longer the frosting is beaten, the fluffier and lighter it becomes.  If you find that your frosting is getting to warm in the summer months, stop beating and set in the fridge for a few minutes.  Once chilled, hook the frosting back up the the mixer and beat once more until you reach the desired consistency.


So For the cupcakes, I used a Wilton piping bag, with a round tip, however Wilton does sell an extra long tip made especially for filling cakes (which I recommend buying, I am going to!) Pipe the lemon cream into the top of the cupcakes after they have cooled, before  they are iced. Then I dyed the simple vanilla buttercream frosting yellow (about 3 drops)

If y’all really like lemon, you should definately try  making the lemon cream cake I gave the recipe for.