Happy Bramble’versary, Leah. You’re a customer service ninja!
Thank you, Kate, from Our Best Bites for the DELICIOUS recipe. Leah in customer service loved her zesty bramble’versary cupcakes (and the rest of the staff gobbled the last of the cupcakes in no time). See Kate’s recipe below!
Lemon Cake Ingredients
1 1/2 c. (3 sticks) of REAL butter
3 c. cake flour (no substitutions here–you really need the lightness of cake flour)
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 c. sugar
5 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
4 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
Zest of 2 lemons (just zest the other lemons before you squeeze them)
1 c. buttermilk
ONE: Preheat oven to 325. Line 31 cupcake tins (yes, 31 – I’m all about precision peeps).
TWO: Though the original recipe calls for a Ielectric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, I just used hand held egg beaters and they worked great! Beat butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, 4-5 minutes. If you spend the time here, your cake will be light and fluffy (and trust me, this cake turns out light ‘n’ fluffy).
THREE: While butter and sugar are mixing, sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl. Set aside and after the butter and sugar are mixed, add the eggs, one at a time, beating to incorporate after each addition. I used a hand blender for this as well. Beat in vanilla, lemon juice, and lemon zest.
FOUR: With mixer on low speed, alternate adding flour mixture and buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture and beating until fully incorporated. Watch out if you’re not careful, all the flour will POOF out on you so be gentle with your beating.
FIVE: Using a standard ice cream scoop, place about 1 full scoop of batter into each muffin cup. Fill these almost to the top–due to the final texture (again, think super-moist and light pound cake), these cupcakes won’t have a nice, curvy crown, but that’s okay–no one will ever know or care.
My bramble bump was covered in sugar, batter and frosting by the end of the night.
SIX: The original recipe calls for a 20-25 minute bake; I ended up at a full 28 minute bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the cupcakes came out clean. You don’t want to overbake these even a bit, or these lemon morsels will start to lose their delicious moisture. Remove from oven and cool completely.
Lemon Buttercream Frosting Ingredients
1 1/4 c. butter (2 1/2 sticks)
2 tsp. grated lemon rind
3 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
3 c. powdered sugar
Beat butter, lemon rind, and lemon juice in a food processor until creamy. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating to spreading consistency. Makes 2 3/4 c.
My addition to the recipe is to add some colored sugar to the top of the cupcakes. Mix the sugar with yellow food coloring and sprinkle on top (notice I put the frosted cupcakes in a baking pan so there wouldn’t be yellow sprinkles all over the kitchen floor; my long-suffering husband was thankful).
Leah says
These look so lovely, just wondering when i will receive them hahaha 😉
Anne-Marie says
Comin’ right up! I just need to get them over to you on an airplane and celebrate their safe arrival by sharing a couple of them with you. =)
Maureen says
Oh this is bad. I have been craving lemon cake or something and these look divine! Sigh, I really need to not make these. I wonder if Starbucks lemon pound cake would suffice? Probably not.
Anne-Marie says
I know it’s a day later but I’m thinking not so much. Lemon poundcake is nothing compared to these. These are shockingly light and fluffy …. (mouth watering).
Christian says
I’ve had the pleasure of communicating with Leah about product questions and she’s definitely a customer service extraordinaire!
I definitely see some lemon cupcakes in my future. 🙂
Anne-Marie says
Thank you for letting me know. We all adore Leah and in person, she is sweet as cupcakes every single day. Consistently. She is that nice all the time. =)
jeannette says
I wish my work environment was like that! Congrats, Leah!
Anne-Marie says
We have a good time, aided heavily by all that sugar (ha ha) and our in-house commercial espresso machine.
Michelle says
Oh these look divine. It gives me an idea to make a gluten free version. The icing looks yummy too.
Anne-Marie says
I’m sure you could make a lovely gluten free version – and the tart lemon is soooooo yummy in all of its forms.
Ann Stoermer says
Oh yum. I think I see some cupcakes in my immediate future! 🙂
Anne-Marie says
Lucky you! =) I only ate one and am wishing I ate more!
Donna Maria Coles Johnson says
So yummy! And look at the “yummy mummy” too!
Anne-Marie says
Yeah! Just 3 more weeks and the little guy will be here =)
Carol says
Oh Yummy! My husband will be so happy, he loves anything with lemon.
I love how you take care of your employees!
Anne-Marie says
Our team is awesome – we are so lucky that they want to work for us and ‘get’ the mission of helping small businesses and hobbyists all over the US. Leah is especially ninja-like with her customer service skills. =)