I bought some Easter candy and thought I should put it to good use!
Lemon Cupcakes
Adapted from Martha Stewart’s Lemon Meringue Cupcakes
This made 24 Cupcakes
Ingredients
3 cups cake flour
1 tbs baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
Zest of 3 lemons and 2 tbs fresh lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
1. Preheat oven to 325 F (165 C) and line your muffin tin with paper liners. Wisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
2. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition, scraping down sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in zest and vanilla. Add flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with 2 additions of buttermilk and lemon juice, and beating until combined after each.
How Butter, sugar and eggs should look combined
Fluffy Vanilla Frosting
From Martha Stewart Cupcakes
Ingredients
3 cups unsalted butter at room temperature
2 pounds icing sugar, sifted
1 tsp vanilla extract
Purple gel food coloring
1. With an electric mixer, beat the butter on medium-high until pale and creamy, about 2 minutes.
2. Reduce speed to medium. Add the icing sugar ½ cup at a time, beating after each addition and scraping down sides of bowl as needed; after every two additions, raise speed to high and beat 10 seconds to aerate the frosting, then return to medium. This should take about 5 minutes. Frosting will be pale and fluffy.
3. Add vanilla, and beat until frosting is smooth, add small amount of purple gel food coloring to achieve a lavender color, and beat until color shows through.
To Decorate
Pipe frosting in big swirls and add the sprinkles you want first before the icing becomes stiff. Stick chocolate bunny right in the center. The big swirls will keep him in place. Add jelly beans and any other candy you desire. If you don't have a piping bag use a spatula and 1/4 cup of frosting to make a nice rounded top.
