A Coworker Cupcake Composition

in #food7 years ago

Plus: How To Candy Lemon Slices!


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Our amazing children's program specialist/librarian, who I affectionately refer to as Miss Margaret when I try to showcase her awesomeness in occasional blog posts, is celebrating a birthday this week! The esteem in which I hold Miss M knows no limits, and as I am somewhat good at cake creation, I wanted to shower her with baked good appreciation in honor of her celebrating another year circling the globe.

As I was already aware of Miss M's affection for lemon cupcakes, I decided to attempt to craft the best lemon cupcakes that I had ever created. It being a @generikat project, there was of course a lot of random kitchen chemistry experimentation interspersed with sprinklings of almost chaos and in the end a total cupcake flavor and composition win.

So, with that heralding fanfare behind us, come along with me on a lemony-creation journey!


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The cake part of the the cupcake creation began with a box of lemon cake mix. I know, I know, it's much more respectable to make a cake from scratch, and I quite often do, but in all honesty, I am a little pressed for time these days. There are little tricks that I use to enhance convenience foods on occasions, like adding extra eggs to a cake mix, using buttermilk instead of water, and so on.

Of course, it being me, there are mistakes that are made that I have to correct too. Some random hooligan ran through the kitchen screeching all manner of insult and injury just after I had measured out the buttermilk for the cake. Once I had put out the petulant prepubescent emotional fire, I returned to make cake mix doctoring, and sure enough, in the distracted parent tradition, added the an extra half a cup of buttermilk to my lemon cake mix instead of the oil. Grrr...

Emergency fix it mode was activated, and along with the appropriate amount of oil, I also added an extra half a cup of flour, the zest of one lemon, and about half a lemon's worth of fresh squeezed juice. So many cakes have been whipped up in my trusty Kitchen Aid mixer that I was reasonably confident about the texture of my batter.

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You may notice that there are no cupcake wrappers in my trusty old pans. I would like to think that I am doing my part to limit waste by not using them, but honestly, I usually just don't have any, and no one misses the wrappers anyway. I just use my coconut oil cooking spray and liberally coat the tins. There have never been any problems removing the cakes from the pans, thank you extra egg in the mix!

Fifteen minutes later and a marginal bit of cooling, I removed the cupcakes from the pan and sliced one in half. As punishment for causing me cupcake composition grief, I made the children taste test the adulterated recipe. I am a terrible mom, I know. They tried to swarm the rest of the batch, so I knew that I had a winner on my hands taste and texture wise. Phew.

As it was Miss M's birthday celebration, I wanted the cakes to have a little pizazz in the looks department. So I decided to candy some lemon slices to use for garnish. Candying citrus is pretty easy, and really doesn't take a lot of time (My recipe for doing so is at the bottom of this post)

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First I sliced a whole lemon into thin slices. When I was done I totally wanted to shout, "Look Ma, my integumentary system is still in tact! WINNER!" (I have a habit of filleting myself).

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After I sliced up the lemons, I hurled some sugar and water into a small sauce pan. And yes, I quite literally hurled the sugar and H20, the caramelized remains of my clutziness need to be scraped off of my stove top.

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After turning up the heat on the sugar water, I took a spoon and drizzled the water over the sides of the pot to get the pesky little outlier sugar crystals to join their dissolving brethren. Once the sugar completely dissolved and the mixture was simmering, I plunked the lemon slices into the water and let them do their simmer-thing for fifteen minutes, or until translucent.

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Removing the slices is pieces of cake, and I laid them on a piece of parchment paper and sprinkled them with a bit of granulated sugar. They need to be cooled completely before utilization, and can be stored in the fridge for quite a while. I made my garnish the day before. Kind of like I always bake my cakes the day before I frost and serve them. Second day cake, properly stored, always tastes better!

Don't forget to save the syrup that results from candying your lemons, it is beyond scrumptious and can be utilized in multiple ways!


Speaking of which, the following morning I got up and began crafting the frosting for my cupcakes. I had decided I wanted lemon infused cream cheese frosting. So, into my bowl went softened cream cheese, a bit of butter, a bit of shortening, some heavy cream, the zest of a bit of lemon, some fresh squeezed lemon juice, and vanilla extract. While I was chucking all of my frosting ingredients into the bowl, my eyes lit upon the syrup left over from candying the lemons. It had the most delicious lemon essence, so I plunked a tablespoon of the syrup into my mixing bowl too. I whipped the concoction into a creamy, lemon scented cloud and had my daughter taste test it for me. The insolent creature tried to steal the mixing bowl and run away with my cake topping!

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Frosting reacquired, I paused to take out the filling that I had made the previous evening for my cupcakes. An easier filling I have yet to construct, for my lemon mousse filling is just a box of instant lemon pudding, whipping cream, milk, lemon zest, and fresh squeezed lemon juice.

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It must be said that I have proper pastry filling and frosting bags lying around my house. It must also be said that I am often pressed for time and tend to take shortcuts that don't require me to do things like utter curse words whilst scrubbing out frosting bags. I hate that job! So, I tend to use quart plastic zipper bags with the ends cut off for filling and frosting baked goods. Okay, I will put my frosting tips on them too, but that's cause occasionally I like things to look pretty, so it's worth the extra dish washing grief for yours truly.

I have a big circle frosting tip that I use to pipe filling into cupcakes, and that's exactly what I did Tuesday morning, all while shaking my flintlocks to some classic Daft Punk, because the song "One More Time" talks about celebrating, and that's what we were going to do at work! Celebrate Miss M!

Once my cupcakes where filled, I took another bag and filled it with the cream cheese frosting. Starting from the outside of each cupcake I swirled lemon fluff spirals of almost adolescent thieved frosting. Don't think my daughter wasn't lurking either, I had a total parenting nutrition win Tuesday morning, for the second I was done frosting the cupcakes, my girl took the bowl of remaining frosting and proceeded to devour every last scrap. Yay vitamin C!

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For the piece de resistance I placed halves of candied lemon atop each cupcake like a citrus crown of glory!


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Later, after we all ingested the cupcakes, I paused a minute and reflected upon my actions a bit. Miss Margaret absolutely adored her birthday cupcakes, and guys, I have to say, they were among the finest that I have ever constructed. Moist cake, creamy filling, and a not too sweet, fluffy frosting, all interspersed with a lemon notes my cupcakes were. Miss M is trying to convince me to open a drive through coffee and cupcakery, and if I had a clone to do all of my other work, I might just consider it, for there is nothing like seeing the joy one's created comestibles places upon the faces of others. All of the labor was totally worth it!

Candied Lemon Slices

6 ounces of granulated sugar
8 ounces water
1 lemon, thinly sliced into rounds

To begin this lemon garnish journey, thinly slice your yellow citrus fruit into rounds. Try to avoid butchering yourself.

Place sugar and water into a small sauce pot and bring to a simmer, make sure that all of the sugar dissolves and place the lemon slices into the syrup.

Simmer gently for fifteen minutes or until translucent.

Cool candied lemon slices on a silicon mat or parchment paper. They can be stored in the fridge until ready to use as you see fit. Even as projectiles hurled in the direction of frosting stealing young people. Please don't judge me.

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And as always, all of the images in this post were taken on the author's tart and sweet iPhone.


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Wow...lemon flaver cup cakes...
Such a wonderful and interesting work by @generikat mam...
Lemon contains acid that can corrode tooth enamel, so it is very important to rinse with water after sucking on or eating a lemon. A few notes of caution: If you suffer from heartburn, kidney or gall bladder problems or have a citrus allergy consult your doctor before using these remedies or drinking lemon juice....

Health Benefits of Lemon Water...

  1. It promotes hydration. According to the Food and Nutrition Board, the dietary reference intake for water is 91 to 125 ounces. ...
  2. It's a good source of vitamin C. ...
  3. It improves your skin quality. ...
  4. It supports weight loss. ...
  5. It aids digestion. ...
  6. It freshens breath. ...
  7. It helps prevent kidney stones...

Wel done mam...

Oooh! Thank you for the mini-nutritional lemon science lesson, most appreciated:o)

You would have to shoot me if you didn't want me to eat all those cupcakes. Don't wing me either, make it a head shot. I'd tear through them like Godzilla through Tokyo. I love anything lemon and I'm usually complaining things aren't lemony enough. I don't think that would be problem with those beauties. Thanks for sharing @generikat!

Ha ha! Well, I guess I am going to have to remember if I make anything lemon based, that I am going to have to make a whole protect the world sheet of goods just for Chops, lol!

Although, I get your rampaging desire when it comes to ingesting the yellow citrus, for it is one of my favorite flavors too. I hate faux or weak chemically tasting lemon flavor, so I usually layer quite a bit of lemon essence using multiple techniques, stuff should taste good, right?

Hope your snow has melted! It is supposed to be 60 here on Tuesday, so my farm is part mudpit, part lake, yay!

Melted? Nope we got six more inches on Wednesday. Heavier snow stayed farther east. One more Nor'easter coming up Sunday night but it looks like it will miss here. Supposed to be cold until late next week so it will hang around for a little while. Enjoy your mud.

I've always thought that the best way to show appretiation is throught baked goodies and I love how you use candied lemons in this recipe, using cake and frosting mix is an excelent way to save time, but doing something extra like the candied lemon slices, gave your cupcakes a special touch.. yay vitamin C...

I've always thought that the best way to show appretiation is throught baked goodies

You are so cool! I agree 100%!

Candied lemons are just a fun little bit of decorative interest, but I do so like them, and I'm glad you like the time saving stuff, sometimes you just need a little shortcut in order to keep your sanity:o)

@generikat you had me in bits with the daft punk track.Your cup cakes looks magnificient.I love reading your recipes your humour makes it.Oh and my absoloute must is my coconut spray.See below.lol.My saviour
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I am so trying your bake.I never have cup cake cases.No point its not like there edible.If you cant eat it.Leave it out!😂

A fellow coconut oil spray enthusiast! Awesome!

LOL! I totally agree about the cupcake wrappers! Just a barrier to the baked good that I don't need!

Thank you so much for the kind words and support, it really is appreciated, and I love that I make you giggle with my humour and random musical cooking soundtrack choices, you rock!

So, it's rare that I get a REAL buttermilk & egg-laden baked good due to my kid's allergies, so this recipe has got me drooling and thinking of trying to create one of those microwaved mug-cakes!

Mind you, that would mean going out to the garage to dig up the dirty old thing because I gave up the toxic device years ago, but keep it around for science experiments or when relatives come to visit and are accustomed to such conveniences.

Anyway, those look completely divine. I think I'll just settle for some lemon water before bed and an almond scone in the morning. Although, I may have to see if I can create a lemon-flavored coconut whipped cream!

Oooh!! INSPIRATION!! Yes!! Thank you @generikat! You're a Genius!

Ha ha ha! I want to say your welcome, but you did it all yourself! Go kitchen genius mama! I'm wondering if you could take some of that lemon flavored coconut whipped cream, add a little more fresh lemon juice and almond milk to it to give it the consistency of buttermilk, and craft a cake out of it. Throw in a flax or chia egg perhaps. You use cassava flour a lot too, right? Doesn't it have a lot of protein in it? I know it is massively high in nutritional value, but I haven't done a lot of cake-perimentation with that particular ingredient. Hmm. Curious-Kat time, now it is I that totally needs to thank you:o)

Wow, I just rambled along there, lol!

Thank you so much for your comments @crowbarmama, I absolutely adore and look forward to them!

Also, I love that you have a microwave archive! Nice!

Wow this ia so amazing, infact roght now im thinking of abandoning my specialty in techs and switch onto cooking recipes .this is a very wonderful post infact i mist confess that im pleased and also inspired, thanks for sharing this information, i just upvoted and resteemed this post.

Wow! Thank you so much for the high praise, it is really appreciated:o) Cooking posts from someone with a tech specialty would be marvelous, I've found that just being myself works really well on Steemit:o) Good luck to you!!!

Looks lemony delicious. I for one thing that lemony based deserts are very under-rated. I love the combination of sweet, sour and creamy.

Oh thank you! Lol! You know, I take it as a personal challenge to layer flavors without overpowering any one taste, and lemon is one of those ingredients that can really shine if done right. Guess what I am trying to say is that I adore all things lemon as well:o)

those look freaking awesome!

Ha ha! Why thank you my friend!

These look delish and doable! I never candied fruit before, but I sure want to now!

Well then, I totally await a future post regarding that subject, I am sure that you will do candied fruit wonders!!

I just hate it when a banshee causes such mayhem. Oil and buttermilk mixups just drive ya nuts. Kind of like putting the milk in the cupboard, and the box of cereal back in the refride. "What the.."?...is about all you can come up with. Not that that has ever happened to me!
Your cupcakes look divine, as usual, and I'm pretty sure I gained a pound or two just reading about them. (Thanks be THAT'S not a real thing in my world. I'd be in trouble.)
Hope all is well in the 'bKat world, and life has settled into some semblance of normal slow. Right! At least that you are happy and doing well back in 'the handle' (of Idiho). Have a nice day, my friend. Signed, da' Skillet