Lemon Cupcakes Two Ways!

 My daughter- in- law recently got her MBA. To celebrate I asked what kind of cupcakes she would like, and a resounding ,Lemon cupcakes, was the answer.  I found a recipe for Lemon Raspberry Cupcakes that I adapted from Dorie's Baking:  My Home to Yours. Then I decided to make half Lemon with Lemon Buttercream and half Lemon Raspberry with Raspberry Buttercream, both from the same cupcake recipe. .You can double your variety with one recipe

Lemon Raspberry Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream
adapted from Dorie's Baking: My Home to Yours



Ingredients-Makes 24 cupcakes
2 1/4 C cake flour
1 Tbsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt
1  C whole milk or buttermilk (I made sour milk)
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tsp grated lemon zest
1 stick (or 1/2 C or 4 oz.) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 fresh lemon juice (from 2 large lemons
Raspberry fruit spread

Getting Ready
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and adjust a rack to the center position. Fill 2 cupcake pans with cupcake liners. Set aside.

Sift together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Whisk the eggs with the whole milk or buttermilk. Put the sugar and lemon zest in a mixer bowl and rub them together with your fingers until the sugar feels moist and smells lemony.

Using either the whisk or paddle attachment, add the butter to the sugar and beat at medium speed until the sugar and butter is fluffy and light, 3 full minutes.

Beat in the lemon juice, then lower the speed and add one third of the flour mixture. If you continue to mix on medium you'll get flour poofing out. The add half of the milk-egg mixture, then beat in the rest of the dry ingredients, mix until incorporated. Finally add the rest of the milk-egg mixture and beat for a full 2 minutes on medium speed to insure that the batter is homogeneous and aerated.

Divide the batter among the cupcake pan only filling 3/4 full. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Check early.

Transfer the cupcakes to cooling racks and cool for 5 minutes, then remove them from the pans, and cool the cakes to room temperature.


Once the cupcakes are cool, cut a quarter sized hole in the top of half of the cupcakes and remove.  Fill the whole with 2-3 tsp of the Raspberry fruit spread.  Replace the cut cake over the Raspberry filling.  Frost with the Raspberry Buttercream frosting.  Frost the other half of plain Lemon cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream 
Frosting.

Raspberry Buttercream Frosting.
3 c sifted powder sugar
6 Tbsp. butter, room temperature
1/4 C. milk
1 tsp vanilla


Beat butter with mixer until light and fluffy.  Gradually add sugar, vanilla and milk, and beat until desired consistency.  Stir in 2-3 Tbsp. of Raspberry fruit spread, until desired flavor 


Lemon Buttercream Frosting
3 C sifted powder sugar
6 Tbsp. butter, room temperature
1/4  C fresh lemon juice

Beat butter with mixer until light and fluffy.  Gradually add sugar, and lemon juice and beat until desired consistency.