"Pucker Up"

It's been a few weeks awhile since I've posted and I don't even know what to say.  Looking back at my past few years of blogging, it seems like I always take a baking hiatus in the Spring.  Might have to do with the fact that I'm all 'baked-out' from the Fall/Winter holidays, coupled with beautiful Spring Texas weather where the last thing I want to do is stay inside and bake.  Whatever the reason, I have a few recipes to share today.  :)

A few nights ago I hosted a "Pucker-Up for your Sweetie!" bridal shower with a few ladies from work.  The theme idea came from Pinterest, of course, and turned out precious.  Lemons, limes, oranges, sweet and tangy candies, grapefruit margaritas, lemonade, and more!

My contribution for the shower was the desserts.  I found a recipe for Pink Lemonade Cupcakes that looked cute and sounded tasty.  These cupcakes were so easy (love glorified boxed mix recipes) and the frosting was perfect-tart and sweet!

Next I made "Lemon-Cheesecake Shooters" which were a graham cracker crust, my whipped cheesecake filling, and homemade lemon curd, topped with a raspberry, all served in a cute little votive.  So delicious- I love this combination!

                           

For the recipes, just follow the links above!  Here are a few other pictures of the sweets table :)

Pucker up!

Lemon Cream Cake

This weekend we celebrated my mother-in-law's "not a day over 30"-th birthday.  For this special occasion, I made Dorie Greenspan's Perfect Party Cake---Tara style.  (Same cake recipe I used for the Lemon cupcakes) The original recipe is a very white lemon-scented cake with an 'egg-white' buttercream, layers of raspberry preserves, and covered in coconut.  I made a lemon cake with homemade lemon curd filling and a lemon-cream cheese-buttercream.  Mmmm....

I originally intended to just use the buttercream recipe that the cake recipe called for, but I wasn't a huge fan. So I added some cream cheese and a little powdered sugar and ended up with a delicious fluffy, whipped cream cheese frosting.  

The lemon curd recipe was from Ina Garten and it was absolutely delicious.  Tart and sweet.  I have the extra bit in a container in the fridge and have been eating it by the spoonful. 

Once again, didn't get good quality daylight pictures of the cake when we cut it, but you'll get the idea from the ones below.  

The frosting was very delicate so the cake needs to be refrigerated.  I brought it out about 2 hours before serving and you can already tell that it was getting pretty soft.  

I loved this cake.  The lemon-scented fluffy white cake with a fluffy white frosting that wasn't too sweet and the tangy lemon curd...YUM.  Will definitely be making this again.  If you don't want to go through the trouble of making the egg-white buttercream, I think just a traditional lemon cream cheese frosting would be great, as well. 

Lemon Cream Cake

(printable recipe)

Dorie's Perfect Party Cake 

from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

2 1/4 cups cake flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/4 cups buttermilk

4 large egg whites

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 tsp grated lemon zest

1 stick (8 tbsp) butter, room temperature

1/2 tsp lemon extract

Center a rack in the oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare 2- 8 inch cake pans.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Whisk together the milk and egg whites in a medium bowl.

Put the sugar and lemon zest in a mixer bowl or another large bowl and rub them together with your fingers until the sugar is moist and fragrant. Add the butter and, working with the paddle or whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat at medium speed for a full 3 minutes, until the butter and sugar are very light. Beat in the lemon extract, then add one third of the flour mixture, still beating on medium speed. Beat in half of the milk-egg mixture, then beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients until incorporated. Add the rest of the milk and eggs, beating until the batter is homogeneous, then add the last of the dry ingredients. Finally, give the batter a good 2-minute beating to ensure that it is thoroughly mixed and well aerated. Evenly distribute batter into cake pans. 

Bake 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.  Allow to cool for 5 minutes before transferring cakes to cooling racks.  Cool completely before frosting. 

Buttercream (modified):

1 cup sugar

4 large egg whites

3 sticks (12 oz) butter, room temperature

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (2 large lemons)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1-8oz package cream cheese, room temperature

2 cups powdered sugar

Put sugar and egg whites into large heat proof bowl and fit bowl over a pan of simmering water and whisk constantly, keeping the mixture over the heat until hot to the touch, about 3 minutes.  The sugar should be dissolved and mixture should look like shiny marshmallow cream.  Remove bowl from heat.

Working with the whisk attachment, beat the meringue on medium speed until cool, about 5 minutes.  Add the butter a stick at a time, beating until smooth.  Once all of the butter is in, beat the buttercream on medium speed until it is thick and smooth, 6-10 minutes.  During this time, buttercream may curdle or separate, keep beating until it comes together again.  

Modified version:

Add package of cream cheese to buttercream and blend until smooth.  Gradually add in 2 cups of powdered sugar or until desired consistency or sweetness. 

Lemon Curd (Ina Garten)

3 lemons

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/4 lb. butter (1 stick), room temperature

4 extra-large eggs

1/2 cup lemon juice, 3-4 lemons

1/8 tsp salt

To make lemon curd:

Removed the zest of 3 lemons and place in food processor with sugar.  Pulse until zest is finely minced with sugar.  Cream the butter in separate bowl, add in sugar/lemon mixture.  Add eggs, one at a time, until combined.  Add lemon juice and salt.  Place in saucepan and cook over low heat until thickened, stirring constantly.  (about 10 minutes or 170degrees). Remove from heat and cool, then refrigerate in air tight container. 

To assemble cake:

Using a sharp serrated knife, slice each cake in half horizontally.  Put one layer or cake plate or cardboard cutout, spread layer of lemon curd, followed by layer of frosting.  Place 2nd cake round on top and repeat.   Continue until last layer then use remaining buttercream to frost top and edges.  Refrigerate until ready to eat.

Dinner party for six...or two

If you're like me, after you made those chocolate chip cupcakes from last week, you were left with 4 egg yolks sitting in a tupperware, in the refrigerator, for days, thinking "What ever will I do with just 4 egg yolks?" And if you're like me even more, you immediately thought "make lemon curd!" (Obviously)

Surprisingly, I thought all lemon curds were made solely with egg yolks. But the more I researched, I found that lots of recipes call for whole eggs, not just the yolks.  I ended up doing a makeshift recipe of my own, because I didn't understand why all of them called for so much sugar and butter.  I also don't have any fresh lemons on hand, so I ended up using bottled lemon juice and some extract.

I convinced myself earlier this week that I needed to stop baking so much and replace that time with running more, but alas, Texas heat is already in full swing and I don't want to get burned running out in the  peak sun time.  Hence, I bake cook make lemon curd.

Then it occurred to me...how cute would it be to make mini-lemon tartlets?! But I wanted graham cracker crust because that was easier and didn't require turning on the oven.   And then I thought, how cute would it be to make mini-lemon curd tartlets with meringue topping?!  Genius.

So there you have it folks.  A graham cracker crust with homemade lemon curd and a cute meringue topping.

I pretty much made these recipes up as I went along and thankfully they all turned out okay.  Perfect for a tasty after supper treat for a dinner party, and tonight, that will include me and the hubs. (And the dogs...but they don't get one)

Mini-Lemon Meringue Tartlets*

Lemon curd:
6 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar (heaping)
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 tsp lemon extract
2 tbsp butter

In a medium saucepan, heat an inch of water to boiling then bring down to simmer.  In a metal or glass bowl, whisk together egg yolks and sugar until completely combined.  Whisk in lemon juice and extract. Place bowl over simmering water.  Continue to stir for 7-10 minutes until mixture begins to thickens and coats the back of the spoon.  Remove from heat.  Add 1 tbsp of butter and whisk until completely melted. Add 2nd tbsp of butter and whisk until melted and combined.  Place piece of saran wrap over bowl and allow to cool.  Refrigerate.

Crust:
1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
3 tbsp butter
1 tbsp sugar

Melt butter.  Add crumbs and sugar and mix until combined.  Line cupcake tin with 6 cupcake liners.  Distribute crust mixture into each of the liners and press down firmly.  Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Meringue**:
2 egg whites
4 tbsp sugar

With stand or hand mixer, whip egg whites until they become white and frothy.  Add sugar 1 tbsp at a time and continue to whip until bright white and makes stiff peaks.  Refrigerate.

Assembly:
Remove crust from cupcake wrappers carefully and put on plate.  Add dollop of lemon curd and spread evenly.  With a piping bag (or ziploc) and tip (or cut a hole in ziploc), pipe on meringue to each individually.  Place under broiler for 1 minute or until meringue is light brown.


*apparently there are two ways to spell tartlet/tartellette.  Spell it how you please. :)
**I already had 4 egg yolks in the fridge and so only used two egg whites.  If you are starting from scratch, you can double the amount of meringue you make and then maybe make those little meringue cookies.  Or make the chocolate chip cupcakes.

You won't use all of the lemon curd for these, only about 1/4-1/2.  So safe the rest and eat if on some yummy scones or toast....or by itself?

Hello, cupcake!

Have you ever made a batter that was so unbelievably good, you couldn't get it in the oven soon enough for fear you would devour every last bit of it, raw eggs and all?  Or icing that's so addicting you just want to pipe it into your mouth instead of on the cake? Usually, cookie dough is my downfall.  Until yesterday.  May I present to you my new favorite cupcake...Lemon Zest Cupcakes.  Or Lemony Goodness Cupcakes.  I haven't quite decided. But they are cupcakes with lemon zest, juice, extract. You name it. And they are amazing. 

I came across this recipe the other day on a new blog and immediately knew I had to try these.  For one, I love lemon bars, lemon meringue pie, lemon girl scout cookies. All of the above.  Also, I've been looking for a few cake recipes to try out for my friend's wedding---she's asked me to do the groom's "cup"cakes and he's more of a lemon guy than chocolate.  I plan to do a few different flavors, lemon now being one of them.

The cake was moist and delicious---maybe the buttermilk use?  And the icing is cream-cheesey with a hint of lemon that makes you slightly pucker your mouth. 

Carrot cake move aside.  This lemon stuff is where it's at. 

Lemon Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting 

From My Baking Addiction

For the Cake
2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
4 large egg whites
1 1/2 cups sugar
lemon zest from two lemons
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon pure lemon extract

Center a rack in the oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare cupcake tins by using liners or spray with non-stick cooking spray.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Whisk together the milk and egg whites in a medium bowl.

Put the sugar and lemon zest in a mixer bowl or another large bowl and rub them together with your fingers until the sugar is moist and fragrant. Add the butter and, working with the paddle or whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat at medium speed for a full 3 minutes, until the butter and sugar are very light. Beat in the extracts, then add one third of the flour mixture, still beating on medium speed. Beat in half of the milk-egg mixture, then beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients until incorporated. Add the rest of the milk and eggs, beating until the batter is homogeneous, then add the last of the dry ingredients. Finally, give the batter a good 2-minute beating to ensure that it is thoroughly mixed and well aerated. Place the batter into the cupcake tins.

Bake for 18-22 minutes, or until the cupcakes are well risen and springy to the touch – a thin knife inserted into the centers should come out clean.  Cool on wire rack.

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:
2 (8) ounce package cream cheese, softened
1 stick butter, softened
2 lbs. confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
juice of one lemon

Using a mixer, blend the butter and cream cheese together until well combined. Gradually add in the confectioners’ sugar until fully incorporated. Finally mix in vanilla and lemon juice.