lemon cupcakes, raspberry filling, lemon buttercream

vampire bakery was in full swing on friday night with many sweet confections coming from my oven in the wee hours of saturday. i was frosting these luscious delights at 2am. warning: they are sweet, sweet, sweet, but the raspberry filling is the perfect compliment. happy tasting!

courtesy of: missi
adapted from: baking bites and sprinkles cupcakes
makes 24 cupcakes

lemon cupcakes:
- 2 2/3 cup flour, sifted
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3/4 c butter, room temp
- 1 2/3 cup sugar
- 1 tbsp lemon zest or 1 tsp lemon extract (i used 1 1/2 tsp lemon extract)
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp clear vanilla extract
- 1 cup milk

1. preheat oven to 350. line muffin pan with cupcake cups.

2. in a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.

3. in a very large bowl, beat together butter, sugar, and lemon until just combined. add eggs one at a time, followed by vanilla. alternate 1/3 flour mixture and 1/2 milk, starting and ending with flour mixture, and beat until just combined.

4. divide batter among muffin cups, filling 2/3 full. bake for 16 - 19 min, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. cool completely on a wire rack.

while cupcakes are baking, start the raspberry filling.

raspberry filling:
- 24 oz frozen raspberries (not thawed and not packed in syrup)
- 1 1/3 cup and 1/2 cup water
- 1 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 5 tbsp cornstarch

1. in a large saucepan, combine raspberries, 1 1/3 cup water, sugar, and lemon juice. bring to a boil and then simmer for 15- 20 min.

2. remove the mixture from heat and strain. return strained mixture to heat.

3. dissolve cornstarch in 1/2 cup water and add to saucepan, whisk to combine. bring back to a boil and simmer for 5 min, stirring occasionally.

4. remove from heat and cool completely, stirring occasionally. it may take a while to set up, but it will thicken like jelly. (the leftovers are excellent on toast!)

5. using a flavor injector, icing bag and tip, medicine syringe, or whathaveyou, fill the cooled cupcakes with approx 1tbsp raspberry filling.

while everything cools, make the icing.

lemon buttercream icing:
- 1 cup butter, room temp
- 3 3/4 cup powdered sugar, sifted
- 1 lemon, juice and zest of (i used 2 tsp lemon extract)
- 1 tsp clear vanilla extract
- 1/8 tsp salt

1. combine butter, sugar, and salt. beat until well combined.

2. add lemon and vanilla and continue to beat for another 3-5 min or until creamy.

*buttercream will crust and is thick. i added yellow food coloring as seen above.

3. frost cooled, filled cupcakes and enjoy!