Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream Frosting

Happy (Belated) Birthday to Sarah and Molly! These birthdays obviously deserved very special treats.  For Sarah, I made these lemon cupcakes because she loves lemon (obviously).  The cake bites, adapted from Bakerella, that I made for Molly will be featured in a later post.

I also found these cute pink cupcakes liners in a set at Urban Outfitters. I didn't see the kit on the website but Elinor Klivan's Cupcake Kit can be found on Amazon.com.  Aside from the cupcake liners (which are too cute), the book features 14 recipes that I'm dying to make!

Lemon Cupcakes
Source: Elinor Klivan's Cupcake Kit
Yields:  12 medium cupcakes

1 1/4 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup whole milk

Directions:
Position the rack in the middle of the oven.  Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Line 12 muffin tin cups with paper cupcake liners.

Sift the cake flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.

In a large bowl and using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter and sugar until smooth and lightened in color, about 2 minutes.  Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed during mixing.  Add the eggs one at a time, mixing until each is blended in the batter and looks creamy, about 1 minute.  Add the lemon juice, zest, and vanilla and beat for 2 minutes.  On low speed and in 3 additions (3 flour, 2 milk), add the flour mixture and milk alternately, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.  Mix just until the flour is incorporated and the batter looks smooth.

Fill each paper liner with 1/4 cup batter (to a 1/2 inch below top of the liner.  Bake just until the tops feel firm and a toothpick comes out clean, about 20 minutes.  Cool the cupcakes for 10 minutes in the pan on a wire rack.  Remove the cupcakes from the pan onto a wire rack and let cool completely.

Lemon Buttercream Frosting
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon peel
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups powdered sugar
3 teaspoons whipping cream

Directions:
In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on low speed, beat the butter, grated lemon peel, lemon juice, vanilla until smooth and thoroughly blended, about 2 minutes.  Add the powdered sugar, mixing until smooth.  Add the whipping cream until the proper consistency (more or less if necessary), then beat on medium speed for 2 minute to lighten the frosting further.