Lemon Diva Cupcakes

I came across this gem the other day when i was on a quest  for cupcake recipes it caught my eye as I'm quite a big fan of lemon and all things tart ( lemon meringue pie is my favourite desert) and mother inlaw  has an amazing lemon tree in her garden.

This recipe is by Julie Goodwin and she made this recipe in the Master Chef Australia mystery box challenge, she went on to win the challenge so i figured if its that good id better give it a whirl!

I was very happy with the result the recipe was easy to follow and the lemon flavour was very intense, my husband and my darling friend Sera (cupcake monster) seemed to enjoy them too!
The only thing i had a bit of a gripe about was the cupcake papers i used, they seemed to let of a plasticy smell while in the baking procedure .. my hubby actually asked what was melting ... so yeah i wont be using them again


Lemon Diva cupcakes - makes 12

Ingredients:

100 g unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup (165 g) caster sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

finely grated zest of 3 lemons

2 eggs

1. cups (200 g) self-raising flour

1/2 cup (125 ml) milk



Icing

125 g unsalted butter, softened

2 cups (300 g) icing sugar mixture

11/2 tbs lemon juice

yellow food colouring (optional) i didn't use any in mine

1 Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan-forced). Line a 12-hole medium Muffin  pan (1/3 cup capacity) with paper cases. Using electric beaters, beat the butter, sugar and vanilla extract until light and creamy. Mix through the lemon zest.



2 Add the eggs one at a time, beating well a er each egg. Gently fold through the flour and milk in two alternate batches. Divide the mixture evenly among the paper cases.



3 Bake for about 20 minutes, or until golden brown and springy when touched. Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before decorating.



4 To make the icing, use electric beaters to beat the butter until light and creamy. Add the icing sugar a little at a time, beating constantly. Add half the lemon juice and beat until well combined. Add the remaining lemon juice a little at a time, and tint with food colouring if you like. I then decorated with some long strings of lemon rind, if i had had some more time i thought some little flowers would be cute oh well maybe next time!