Citrus Cupcakes

These cupcakes are very lemony and fresh, not too sweet. A lemon batter, baked with a lemon-orange curd, glazed with a lemon-vodka syrup and topped with citrus buttercream, using the lemon-orange curd to flavor it. They are then decorated with candied lemon and edible gold dust.

Candied lemon:

Bring a medium pot filled with water to a boil.
Take one lemon and slice it using a fine slicer.
Have a bowl ready with ice water.
Put the slices in to the boiling water. Boil for 2 minutes.
Pour the water in to a strainer over the sink. Put the slices in to the ice water.
In the same pot put 1C sugar and 1C water, boil. When the sugar has dissolved put the slices in to the syrup and reduce the heat to low. Keep on low for 40 minutes. When translucent (after 40 mins), take out the slices, separate them and place them on to parchment paper. Keep them there until ready to use. Save the lemon syrup, add 1T of vodka if you like. When the cupcakes come out of the oven, brush them with the syrup.

Lemon-orange curd:

Zest 2 lemons and 1 orange.
Juice the citrus above, and combine them.
In a medium saucepan put:
The juice of the citrus, should be around 1/2-3/4C.
Add 1/4 stick unsalted butter and
1/8C heavy cream. Bring almost to a boil.

In a separate bowl whisk:
3 large eggs
1/2C sugar
1/4t salt
1t vanilla extract.

Temper in the lemon mixture in to the egg mixture, whisking constantly, Then pour everything back in to the saucepan. Thicken over medium heat, stirring constantly.
Have a clean bowl ready, with a strainer over it.
When the curd has thickened, when it coats the spatula nicely and is almost bubbling, pour it in to the strainer.
Cover the curd with plastic wrap, to prevent a skin from forming, and cool fully. This will be used when baking the cupcakes and in the buttercream.

Citrus cake:

In a large mixing bowl cream:
1 stick soft butter and
1/2C sugar and
1t vanilla extract,
1/2t lemon extract
half of the zest that was zested of the 2 lemons and 1 orange.
Cream well.
Add 3 egg whites, mix.
Then add 3/4C whole milk and
1/8C oil. Mix.
Finish it off with:
1 1/2C all purpose flour, 1/2t salt and 2 1/2t baking powder.
Mix till combined.

In a muffin pan lined with cupcake liners, fill the liners half way with batter. Over that pour 1T citrus curd.

Divide the leftover cake batter on top of that. Bake for about 15 minutes at 350F.

Another option is to bake the cake batter, cut the cupcakes when cool, and spread citrus curd inside.

Citrus buttercream:

In a saucepan add:
1C heavy cream
3/4C sugar
1/4C all purpose flour.
Bring to a boil, whisking constantly. Pour in to a large mixing bowl, add 1t vanilla extract, 1/2t lemon extract and the rest of the citrus zest. Mix. Then slowly add 2 sticks of cold butter, cut in to small pieces. This will cool the mixture faster. Mix constantly, don't stop until it has thickened, and it will about after 7 minutes of mixing. The bigger the bowl, the faster it will cool. Make sure it is nice and smooth.

Fill the buttercream in to a piping bag filled with a large round tip.

Brush the cakes with the lemon syrup. Pipe buttercream on top, if you want different types of piping on the cupcake, then you can color a little of the buttercream if you like. In the photo we used a little orange food coloring.

Decorate with candied lemon, and with a brush, flick a little gold dust on top, available at cake stores. It is edible.
Enjoy.