Recipe: Lemon Chiffon Cupcakes

I hope you all had a great weekend! I baked for a baby shower brunch this past weekend, and in addition making blueberry pancake cupcakes with maple buttercream, I also made a new recipe: lemon chiffon cupcakes filled with lemon curd and topped with a fluffy lemon buttercream! These cupcakes did take a bit of work, but they were SO worth it. The cake was light and fluffy due to the addition of the meringue, the filling was sinfully delicious, and the frosting was not too sweet and the perfect compliment for the rest of the treat. I definitely recommend trying these out for any spring or summer party you bake for since they're so light and refreshing!

Lemon Chiffon cupcakes with Lemon Curd filling and Lemon Buttercream

makes about 18 cupcakes

for the cupcakes...

• 1 1/2 lemons {to zest}
• 1 1/2 cup cake flour {don't use regular flour}
• 1 cup of sugar, divided in half
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 large egg yolks
• 1/2 cup water
• 5 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons of lemon extract or flavoring
• 8 large egg whites, room temperature

1. Preheat your oven to 325 F and line two muffin pans with paper liners.
2. Zest your lemons to equal about 2 tablespoons of zest.
3. In a large bowl, combine flour, 1/2 cup of sugar, baking powder, salt and lemon zest. Whisk well.
4. In the bowl of your stand mixer, combine the egg yolks, water, oil and lemon extract. Beat on medium speed until well blended.
5. Add the bowl of dry ingredients to the stand mixer bowl and beat on medium speed, scraping down the sides until smooth.
6. Transfer the contents of your stand mixer bowl into the large bowl, unless you have two stand mixers, which I do not! Rinse out the stand mixer bowl and dry it well.
7. In the stand mixer bowl, beat the egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form.
8. While beating, gradually add the other 1/2 cup of sugar in a slow, steady stream.
9. Continue beating for a few minutes until the sugar is dissolved and stiff peaks form.
10. Stir 1/4 of the meringue batter into the rest of the batter in the large bowl, mixing well.
11. Then gently fold in the rest of the meringue into the batter.
12. Using a 1/4 measuring cup, fill up the paper liners all the way to the top.
13. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
14. Let cool completely on wire racks.

for the lemon curd filling...

• 3 lemons {to zest}
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
• 4 extra large eggs
• 3-4 lemons {to squeeze the juice from}
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

1. Zest 3 lemons using a carrot peeler or cheese grater and put the zest in a food processor.
2. Add the sugar and pulse until the zest is very finely minced into the sugar - it should look like lemon sugar!
3. Cut up 3-4 lemons and squeeze the juice into a wet mixing cup until you get 1/2 cup of juice. Set aside.
4. in the bowl of your stand mixer, cream the butter and lemon/sugar mixture.
5. Add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl.
6. Add the lemon juice and salt. Mix all until combined.
7. Pour the mixture into a saucepan and cook over low heat until thickened, stirring constantly.
8. Remove the lemon curd from heat, cover and refrigerate for about a half hour until its cool.
9. Once cupcakes and lemon curd have both cooled, use a cupcake corer to remove the center of each cupcake and spoon the lemon curd in until it reaches the top.

for the buttercream...

• 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 lemons {to zest}
• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup whole milk
• 6-7 cups of confectioners sugar
• 4 tablespoons of lemon juice {you may have some left over from before, if not, just squeeze another lemon!}
• cut up lemon wedges for garnish {optional}

1. Zest your lemons to equal about 2 tablespoons of zest.
2. In the bowl of your stand mixer, beat butter, zest and vanilla together until there are no lumps.
3. Add the milk.
4. Add the confectioners sugar, one cup at a time, until frosting becomes thickened..
5. Once all sugar is added, let the mixer cream everything for a couple minutes until it's nice and fluffy.
6. Mix in the lemon juice until it's fully incorporated.
7. Fill up a piping bag with a large open tip and pipe a big dollop of frosting on to each cupcake.
8. Garnish with a sliced lemon!