Saturday, February 19, 2011

Welcome! & Lemon Bar Cupcakes...

Welcome to my blog :) I'm hoping to use this as a means to share my cooking & baking experiences with more people. I hope you all enjoy my recipes, photos, culinary stories, and rants/raves about law school.

Since returning home from Seattle six weeks ago, the weather in Los Angeles has been spectacular.  You can't go wrong with 80 degrees in January.  The sun decided to take a break, however, and this weekend has been a bit gray, rainy & relatively cold.  It's a nice reminder of home--the smell of the pavement when it first starts to rain, cuddling up on the couch to drink a warm cup of tea, the utter lack of motivation to go outside because you don't want to deal with umbrellas/raincoats/bad drivers/frizzy hair. For me, this weather is a bit refreshing & nostalgic. But, I do miss the sun.

So, here's a recipe to brighten the dull, cloudy Los Angeles sky: Lemon Bar Cupcakes. I made these for my law school friend's (Rob) birthday in October, along with Red Velvet and Chocolate-Raspberry Cupcakes (I'll save those recipes for a later post).  They were a huge hit. And, surprise!, they start with a cake mix and a jar of prepared lemon curd.  I'm all for taking shortcuts when it comes to cooking and baking, especially when the results are as good as homemade.  Enjoy!

Lemon Bar Cupcakes



Shortbread base:
3/4 cup unsalted butter
2 cups flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt

Cupcakes:
1 box lemon cake mix
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup water
1/3 cup buttermilk
3 eggs

1 jar lemon curd (I bought mine at Trader Joe's)

Lemon cream cheese frosting:
4 ounces butter, softened
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
3-1/2  cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon lemon rind, grated
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Instructions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Shortbread: Cut butter into 1/2-inch pieces. In food processor, process all shortbread ingredients until mixture forms small lumps. (If you don't own a food processor, you can also use your hands to mix everything together). Place a heaping spoon-full of shortbread into cupcake paper liners, then pat down firmly with your fingers.

Cupcakes: Mix cake according to box instructions, using the ingredients listed above (but not the lemon curd!). Spoon into cupcake liners, filling almost to the top. Place 1 tablespoon lemon curd on top of each. Bake according to the box instructions.

Frosting: Beat all frosting ingredients until smooth. (I added some yellow food coloring, too).

Frost cooled cupcakes with frosting & finish them with a dusting of powdered sugar, if desired.

5 comments:

  1. Devon, I love this! I just shared it with my roommie (Dione Section 3) who's also baking her way through law school. I think you gals should get together and have a baking party. If you need taste testers, I'm sure we could round some up. :)

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  2. Devon,
    I made these and they were AWESOME! Thanks for the great recipe!!! :)

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  3. Hi Devon;
    It's Lauren Bernadett's mom again! Today I'm making your banana bread again and can't wait to try the new candie bar cookie recipe. I've been waiting for that one! Have a great summer and I hope you get to go to lots of Farmers Markets and are inspired to create more fabulous recipes for us!

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  4. @Kennedy -- I've had success freezing leftover cake before, so I bet it would probably work just fine. I might wait to do the dusting of powdered sugar until you're ready to serve them (after freezing and thawing). Enjoy :)

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