Monday, August 21, 2006

Sour Cream Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Glaze and Blueberry Mousse


These cupcakes are truly divine. I had received a bounty of fresh blueberries from a friends farm. After a couple of days of blueberry smoothies I decided these delicious blueberries needed to be used in a more creative way. I'm a huge fan of pie, however, I usually start in with pie making near the end of august (see blackberry crumble, peach lattice pie to follow). Since I've been on a cupcake kick lately I decided to whip together some cupcakes. I've been dying to try my hand at lemon cupcakes and I was really pleased with this recipe. The cake istself is moist and "thick", the sour cream (as opposed to the usual milk) makes a very thick batter and a very nice cake. Originally I was only going to frost these cupcakes with the blueberry mousse, however, the cupcakes (although pretty lemon-y) were not lemon-y enough for my taste. So I decided to use a lemon frosting (glaze) in addition to the blueberry mousse. I thought lemon on lemon would be too much lemon, and the blueberry mousse really gives this recipe more depth (and color). After I'd finished baking I invited my boyfriends sister (and good friend) over for cupcakes and iced tea. She raved about these cupcakes and ended up eating four of them in less than an hour (and as you can see below the dogs were dying for a taste as well). I hope you enjoy them as much as we did!

Sour Cream Lemon Cupcakes


Ingriedients:

1 cup butter softened
2 cups of sugar
3 Eggs
2 Tablespoons of lemon rind (you can adjust to your taste)
2 Teaspoons of lemon juice (ditto)
1 teaspoon vanilla 
 3 1/2 cups flour 
 2 teaspoons baking powder 
 1 teaspoon baking soda 
 2 cups sour cream 


In a mixing bowl, cream softened butter and sugar.
Beat in eggs, one at a time, waiting about 30 seconds between each.
Add lemon peel, lemon juice and vanilla; mix well.
Combine dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda).
Add dry mixture to creamed mixture alternately with sour cream, allow batter to mix well between each (batter will be thick). Fill cupcake cups with 1/4 cup of batter.
Bake at 350ºF for 25-30 minutes.
Cool for 10 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.


Lemon Glaze (Frosting): 

3 tablespoons butter, softened 
 2 1/4 cups powdered sugar 
 2 Tablespoons lemon juice 
 3/4 teaspoon vanilla 
 1/4 teaspoon grated lemon rind 
 1 Tablespoon milk (1 to 2)

Cream butter and sugar in small mixing bowl.
Add lemon juice, vanilla, lemon peel and milk; beat until smooth.
Frost cooled cupcakes with a very light smooth layer (I used a Wilton cake frosting tool/knife)



Blueberry Mousse:
(adapted from Chockylit's Cupcake Bakeshop Raspberry Mousse recipe check her out at
www.cupcakeblog.com)


1 cups fresh blueberries, rinsed
3 Tablespoons sugar
1/2 Tablespoon unflavored gelatin
1 cup heavy cream
1 - 1/2 Tablespoons sugar

Combine blueberries and sugar in a saucepan and cook over medium heat (I went as far as to mash them, they don't break down easily, so mash really well, or you might have problems piping it later on, even with a large tip).

Stir mixture until it is basically a liquid.

Stir in gelatin, continue to cook until dissolved.

Remove from heat and transfer to a medium sized bowl. Refrigerate for a couple hours (until firm) or just pop it in the freezer (I know this is probably cheating but, eh, if it gets too stiff warm it up slight over hot water)

Beat heavy cream on high until stiff peaks form. Add the one and a half tablespoons of sugar and beat until combined.

Mix about a third of the whipped cream into blueberry mixture until well combined.

Fold in remaining whipped cream.

Pipe blueberry mousse as a dollop (or however you prefer) on top of already glazed cupcake.

I then topped the (nearly) completed cupcake with a fresh blueberry.

Enjoy!

1 comments:

Sally said...

YUM! I'll definitely be trying this recipe.