A few months back one my besties hosted a Emmy Viewing Party at her place. At friend and family gathering, I'm typically the person that brings dessert; shocker, I know. A few days prior to this Emmy Viewing Party Extravaganza I had made a Three Layer Lemon Pound Cake with lemon curd center filling and a whipped lemon icing. So, I thought there might be a way to recreate that recipe into cupcakes. I think cakes can be a little overwhelming to bring to a small party sometimes, but I find cupcakes to be fun, easy and generally more welcoming.
When I made the cake version a few days prior, it was my first time making pound cake from scratch. A pound cake is more of a dense and heavy cake... one that can easily be molded or soak up large amounts of liquor, like in a rum cake. I'm sure pound cake is good for other things too, but who really cares. I stopped looking after I learned it was good for soaking up liquor even though there's not liquor in this particular cake.
After I made the cake batter I needed to pick the appropriate cupcake holder. I had just enough 'pink leopard print' ones leftover from the cupcakes I made for a friend's surprise bday party (I'll blog about those later), so I used those. Plus, I figured the pink would be a nice contrast to the yellow cake, yellow lemon curd and white frosting.
Side Note: I think I have finally mastered the perfect amount of cake batter to cupcake tin. But that's not to say there aren't a few 'reject' cupcakes in every batch. I'm a perfectionist in every way and baking is no exception. I want each cupcake to be perfectly rounded, fluffy and raised.
Once the cupcakes were in the oven, I started on the lemon curd. When making lemon curd be sure to follow the recipe very closely. There are only a few steps, but they're crucial. Tip - Stir it constantly; don't stop until it's done. After the lemon curd is thick and delicious, put it in a bowl, cover it and drop it into the refrigerator for about 4 hours. It need to cool and thicken. Once the Lemon Curd was safely in the refrigerator, I took the cupcakes out of the oven and let them cool. While the cupcakes cooled and the lemon curd rested in the refrigerator, it was time for a little culinary break; sometimes in the form of a beer or a glass of wine. #dontjudge
Next up: Lemon Icing. Tip - Buy more lemons that you think you could possibly use, trust me. Squeezing fresh lemon juice for use in the cake batter, the lemon curd and the lemon icing is exhausting I tell you. When I made the cake version a few days back, I had a hard time figuring out how to thicken the icing without compromising the flavor and recipe. So, after several batches I stuck into the refrigerator for a few hours. After is hardens, take it out and let it sit at room temperature for about 30 - 45 minutes. It should soften just enough to get into a pastry bag. This worked perfectly for the cupcakes.
While you're 'softening' the icing at room temperature, you can start making the center holes in each cupcake. Carving out a small, but deep hole helps fill the cupcake center more evenly and it's easier to get the lemon curd in there. Once you've done that, fill the lemon curd that has been cooling in the refrigerator into a pastry bag. Then, start piping it into the cupcake centers. For some cupcakes, you'll want to stop filling it just as it gets to the top, but for these, I wanted a layer of the lemon curd on the top of the cupcake to show through and below the lemon icing. So I piped it into the center, then continued in a circular motion to cover the top of the cupcake. Continue that until you've finished all of the cupcakes.
Once you're done filling and topping the cupcakes with lemon curd, you'll want to scoop the lemon icing into a separate pastry bag. Again, it should be just soft enough to scoop into the pastry bag, but not runny. The heat from your hands on the pastry bag will soften it up more as you pipe it onto the cupcake. To get a perfect dome on the cupcake, you need the frosting to be slightly firm. So you'll want to do this as quickly as you can because the icing can soften quickly from your body heat. Once you've finished, top each cupcake off with a single raspberry. It adds a little hint of color and flavor.
To keep the icing from melting, I put the finished cupcakes into the refrigerator. For this occasion, I left them in the refrigerator until I headed over to my friend's place for the Emmy Viewing Party Extravaganza. When I got there, everyone thought they were so pretty! I'll take pretty! But the real test comes when people taste them. Anything can look pretty, but not everything tastes good.
But, these seemed to be a success on both accounts! I think the key to balancing the flavors for this cupcake was the pound cake. It grounded the flavor and allowed for the lemon curd and icing to stand out without being too sweet.
The cupcake was a perfect little golden statue in it's own right... ok, ok, that is a little much! =)
Here is the final product:
