Cupcakes for Baby Caleb!

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of making cupcakes for my cousin, Alison's baby shower. Alison is having a baby boy, Caleb and he is going to be so loved! I searched long and hard for the perfect cupcake recipe. I wanted something out of the ordinary and delicious at the same time! I tried out 4 different recipes before finding this one and although it was tasty, I am still on the search for that 'to-die-for' cupcake!

I found this recipe in my Cupcakes! cookbook by Elinor Klivans. I made lemon snowballs with 7-minute frosting. This recipe yields 12 cupcakes.

Cupcakes:

1 1/3 cups cake flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

6 Tablespoons whole milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup sugar

6 large egg whites

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 12 muffin tin cups with paper cupcake liners.

In a large bowl, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar on low speed until the whites are foamy and the and the cream of tartar is dissolved, about 1 minute. Beat on medium-high speed until soft peaks form.

Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into medium bowl. Sir the milk, vanilla and almond extracts into a small bowl.

In another large bowl, using an electric mixture on medium speed, beat the butter and sugar until smoothly blended and lightened in color, about 2 minutes. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed during mixing.

On low speed, add the flour mixture in 3 additions and the milk mixture in 2 additions, beginning and ending with the flour mixture and beating until each addition is incorporated before adding the next.

Use a rubber spatula to fold the egg whites into the batter until no streaks of white remain.

Fill each paper liner with 1/3 cup of batter, to about 1/4 inch below the top of the liner. Bake just until the tops feel firm and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few dry crumbs clinging to it, about 20-23 minutes. Cool the cupcakes for 10 minutes in the pan on a wire rack. Remove the cupcakes from the pan and cool completely on the wire wrack.

Lemon Curd Filling:

1/4 cup unsalted butter

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

2 large eggs

2 large egg yolks

1 cup sugar

2 Tablespoons cornstarch, dissolved in 1/4 cup water

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

In a medium saucepan, heat the butter and lemon juice over medium heat until the butter melts and the mixture is hot, about 130 degrees on a thermometer.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk the eggs, egg yolks, and sugar together to blend them, then whisk in the dissolved cornstarch.

Whisking constantly, slowly pour the hot butter and lemon juice into the yolk mixture. Return the mixture to the saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a large spoon, just until it comes to a boil and thickens; about 6 minutes.

Strain into a small bowl, and stir in the lemon zest. Press plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the sauce, use a toothpick to poke a few holes in the plastic to let steam escape.

Refrigerate until cold; the sauce will thicken further as it chills.

7-Minute Frosting:

1 1/4 cups sugar

1/3 cup water

3 large egg whites

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

Put the sugar, water, egg whites, and cream of tartar in the top of a double boiler and beat with a handheld electric mixer on high speed until opaque, white, and foamy, about 1 minute.

Put the bowl over, but not touching, a saucepan of barley simmering water.

Beat on high speed until the frosting forms soft peaks that stand straight up if you stop the beaters and lift them up, about 7 minutes.

Remove from water and add the vanilla and almond extracts, and continue beating for 2 minutes to further thicken the frosting.

To fill the cupcakes, cut a cone shaped piece, about 1 inch across and 1 inch deep, out of the middle of the top of each cupcake and set the piece aside.

Spoon 1 Tablespoon of the lemon filling into each hold and replace the cone shaped piece.

Immediately frost the cupcakes.

Serve cupcakes immediately or cover and refrigerate to serve cold.

Hope you enjoy!! Let me know if you have any cupcake recipes you would like to share! :)