Lemon Cupcakes With Lemon Cream

Photo: flickr user American Candy Stand Cupcakes (Aust.)

Ingredients

3/4 cup Cake flour (not self-rising)

1/2 teaspoon Baking powder

1/8 teaspoon Salt

2 1/2 teaspoons Freshly-grated lemon zest

1/2 stk Unsalted butter softened

1/2 cup Sugar plus

1 tablespoon Sugar

1 tablespoon Fresh lemon juice plus

2 teaspoons Fresh lemon juice

2 lrg Eggs

2 ounces Cream cheese softened

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line four 1/2-cup muffin tins with paper liners.

Into a bowl sift together flour, baking powder, and salt and whisk in 2 teaspoons zest. In another bowl with a fork, blend butter, 1/2 cup sugar, and 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon juice until smooth. With a wooden spoon beat in eggs, 1 at a time, until smooth. Stir butter mixture into flour mixture until batter is combined well.

In a small bowl with a fork stir together cream cheese and remaining 1/2 teaspoon zest, 1 tablespoon sugar, and 1 teaspoon juice until lemon cream is smooth.

Spoon 3 level tablespoons batter and about 1 tablespoon lemon cream into each paper liner. Spoon remaining batter over lemon cream, smoothing tops. Bake cupcakes in middle of oven 20 minutes, or until golden brown, and transfer to a rack to cool.

This recipe yields 4 cupcakes.