Name: Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Butter Cream
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 24
Ingredients: Egg Whites: 5; Butter Milk: 3/4 cup; Lemons zested: 2; unsalted Butter: 3/4 cup; Sugar: 1 3/4 cup; Flour: 2 1/2 cups; Baking Powder: 1 tablespoon; Kosher Salt: 1/2 teaspoon; unsalted Butter: 1 cup; Powdered Sugar: 4 cups; Lemons zested: 1; Lemon juice: 1 one lemon; Heavy Cream: 2 tablespoons

This is exactly what a lemon cake is supposed to taste like. It's bright, citrusy and light. It's almost like a glass of fresh lemonade on the rocks, on a hot summer day.

Trust Me, you'll love it.

1 hour
Serves 24
Medium

Ingredients

Cake Mix
5 Egg Whites
Room Temperature
3/4 cup Butter Milk
If you don't have buttermilk in the fridge and don't want to go to the store, just pour 3/4 cup of milk and add a tablespoon of lemon juice.
2 Lemons zested
3/4 cup unsalted Butter
softened
1 3/4 cup Sugar
2 1/2 cups Flour
All Purpose / Sifted
1 tablespoon Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Kosher Salt
Frosting
1 cup unsalted Butter
softened to room temp
4 cups Powdered Sugar
1 Lemons zested
1 one lemon Lemon juice
2 tablespoons Heavy Cream

Directions

I Love, Love, Love lemons! I use them frequently with both sweet and savory cooking.

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Steps

1 Done 15 Minutes	The Prep Get the butter out of the fridge. To bring it up to room temperature quick (without a microwave) cut the butter into little cubes and set to the side for about 15 minutes. I suggest using the measurements from the butter wrapping. Cut by tablespoons and then cut each of the tablespoons into 4 equal parts (i.e. 1/4 tablespoon cubes). Measure out the buttermilk. Remember at the hint in the ingredients about buttermilk? If you don't have any just pour 3/4 cup of milk and add a tablespoon of lemon juice. Sift the flour and set aside. Separate the egg whites from the yolks (make an omelet or hollandaise sauce with the egg yolks) and set aside. Make sure you have all the ingredients you need and that you've added cupcake liners to the tin. Now thats all done, let turn your oven on to 350F so it can heat up.
2 Done 5 - 7 minutes	Lets Make Cupcakes! In a small bowl mix the egg whites, 1/4 cup of the buttermilk and the lemon zest. In a separate mixing bowl beat butter and sugar until creamy. Add the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt) until just combined. If you're using a mixer be sure to have it on low so you're not having to clean the counter tops and change clothing when the cup cakes go into the oven. Slowly add in the egg white mixture and add in the rest of the buttermilk
3 Done 5 - 10 minutes	Don't you want to lick the beaters? Fill the cup cake liners half way (no more than 2/3 of the liner should be full). After all the cup cake liners are filled then you can lick the beaters and bowl!
4 Done 15 - 25 minutes	Baking Place cup cake tins in the pre-heated oven and set the timer for 15 minutes. There are 2 ways to check for doneness; 1: Insert a toothpick into the center of the cake. If it comes out clean the cake is cooked. If it comes out with gobs of cake batter on it - it's not done. Add 2-5 minutes if this happens 2: The touch test. Touch the top of the cake while it's in the oven. If there a finger print that that doesn't bounce back? If so, it's not done. If the finger print disappears because the cake had 'spring in it's step' then the cake is done. This is a light cake. The cake will be done but the tops of the cupcakes will be pale in color. This is OK! Trust me. Remove cupcakes from the oven and let them rest for 10 minutes, then remove from the cupcake tins and set on a baking rack to let them cool down 100%.
5 Done 5	What to do while the cupcakes are cooking? First of all one should always straighten their cooking stations while things are in the oven - so this is something I would highly recommend at this moment. After the kitchen is back in order and all that's left on the counter is a cup of softened butter, powdered sugar, lemon juice and zest and a bit of heavy cream it's time to make the Lemon Butter Cream. To do this add the butter into a mixing bowl. Blend this up until there are no lumps and the butter is fairly smooth - then slowly add the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time. Make sure the mixers speed is on low/medium low so that the 'poof' of the powdered sugar is measured and somewhat in control. After half of the powdered sugar has been added, incorporate the lemon zest and juice. Add the rest of of the powdered sugar. If the frosting gets to thick add a bit of heavy cream. This should loosen the frosting up enough to make it easy to work with when the time comes. Put frosting into a piping back and sit in the fridge until about 10 minutes before you're ready to frost the cupcakes. If you're not piping the frosting place the bowl in the fridge until 10 minutes before you're going to frost the cupcakes.
6 Done 30-45 minutes	It's almost time to dig in! After the cupcakes are completely cooled frost them with the Lemon Butter Cream and serve!
7 Done	And now I'm hungry and have a hankering for a cupcake! Enjoy!