Glazed Lemon Cupcakes

The Picky Apple loves lemon-y desserts.  Me?  Not so much.  As a result I don’t make them very often.  Last week we watched an episode of Everyday Baking on PBS featuring cupcakes, one of which was lemon.  This is a new show featuring desserts from the pages of Everyday Food magazine.  We weren’t too crazy about the host…he didn’t seem very comfortable in front of the camera, but it was obvious he was a professional baker.  The Picky Apple thought the lemon cupcakes looked yummy, so I promised to bake them sometime soon.  Today he got his cupcakes, and he seems to really like them. I was pleased with how they turned out as well.  My only complaint about the recipe is that it calls for the zest and juice of one lemon.  There are varying sizes of lemon, and the lemon I used was of the giant variety.  I was afraid there would be too much lemon, but the cupcakes have just the right amount of tartness.

Glazed Lemon Cakes

from Everyday Baking

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for muffin tin
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for muffin tin
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk, or plain low-fat yogurt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Zest of 1 lemon, finely grated, plus juice, plus 2 tablespoons more lemon juice for the glaze
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 6-cup jumbo muffin tin. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour with the baking powder and salt. In a small bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, vanilla, and lemon zest and juice of 1 lemon. Set aside.
2. With an electric mixer, cream butter and granulated sugar until light. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. With mixer on low speed, add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of buttermilk mixture.
3. Divide evenly among muffin cups. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a cake comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool 10 minutes in tin, then cool completely on a rack.
4. Set rack over wax or parchment paper. In a small bowl, stir confectioners’ sugar with remaining lemon juice until smooth. Pour over cakes, spreading to edges with a small knife. Let set 30 minutes.