Lemon Curd Filled Blueberry Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

I have a lemon tree.

This is important for only two reasons.  The first and most important: Free lemons!  Big, yellow, juicy free lemons are the best.  The second is that I used them for cupcakes.

Blueberry cupcakes with Lemon cream cheese frosting and filled with lemon curd.  I made the lemon curd from scratch! I'm so proud of myself.  Chance for disaster was high.

I first had lemon curd last fall when I went to Crown and Crumpet in San Francisco, which is a English tea room that is so cute you can just puke out cotton candy. Want proof?  Go here to look at my friend's pictures from our December visit there.  LOOK AT ALL THE PINK CUTENESS.   (Actually,  I might just have to write up my own review on it one of these days.  They had cupcakes last time I was there, so it kind of fits with my blog's theme?)   Anyways, they bake fresh crumpets and serve them with Jam and Lemon curd.  If only i knew where to find warm crumpets locally i'd be set for life.

The lemon curd came out right the first time I made it, so that made me extra "Youre-So-Awesome-Self!".  It's the cupcake and frosting part that I had to make twice.  You won't be seeing the first batch, which I actually took to a party.  They were edible and everything... just not up to my ever increasing neurotic standards.  So I was being all emo and "You-are-NOT-awesome-self!" and  had some extra time on my hands... so I reworked it and they came out visually much more amazing.  :)   And about 25% more palette pleasing as well.  "Youre-So-Awesome-Self!" is back on.

The reason that the first batch came wasn't awesome was  1) I did not like the cake part, i forgot baking soda and i used too much sauce and they were purple not blue and fell in the middle 2) the frosting needed more powdered sugar and i didnt have time to run to the grocery store so it was soft and i also tried too hard at making double flavors and you couldnt even taste the difference anyways and 3) the colors were off!  i was doing it for a party and i was trying to keep in line with the colors which were teal and purple and so they just looked fake and not natural.  They sound like a mess huh?

Don't worry batch number two made up for it.   They looked divine, inside and out.

Lemon Curd
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1 cup lemon juice
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed


Directions:
1. Put a heat proof glass bowl over saucepan filled with 2 inches of water.
2. Whisk together zest, juice, sugar and eggs over low-medium heat.
3. Stir constantly with spoon for approximately 10 minutes.  It took mine almost 15 because I had the heat pretty low. Stop stirring when the mixture can coat the back of your spoon.
4. Remove from heat and mix in cubed butter until smooth.
5. Use a seive to remove pieces of zest and any cooked egg.
6. Cover with plastic wrap (directly over the mixture) and refrigerate.

The mixture will thicken up within a few hours.  You can make this ahead of time and keep in the fridge for up to a week.

A week is a good enough time to find your self some warm scones nearby right? Cuz this sweet and tangy curd can be eaten by the spoonful, but i'd recommend some scones too.

Blueberry Sauce

1/2 a container of blue berries
2 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons water

Directions:
1. Take washed blueberries and place them in a saucepan with sugar and water over medium heat.
2.  Stir blueberries occasionally to prevent from sticking to bottom, but let the berries burst and become a sauce.   Should take about ten minutes or so.
3. Puree blueberries.
4. Strain to remove large pieces.
5. Try not to eat the rest of the container.  You still need them!

I'm so excited about how the cake part of these cupcakes came out!  Much better than any of the other berry cupcakes i have made.  (Can i go back and redo them all?).  I think it's because i used half cake flour in this recipe.

Blueberry Cupcakes
makes 12, bake at 375* for 18 minutes

3/4 c flour
3/4 c sifted cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1 stick butter
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup blueberry sauce
1.5/4 c buttermilk
2/3 c fresh blueberries


Directions:
1. Beat together butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla in a stand mixer.
2. In a separate bowl combine both flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. In a third bowl or cup combine sauce and buttermilk.
4. Add flour mixture and sauce mixture to the butter/eggs mixture in five additions, alternating between the two, starting and ending with flour.
5. Fold in blueberries and scoop into your muffin pan.

The batter on these is such a lovely shade of blue.  The first batch i made was purple, like the sauce.  But since I  used a lot less sauce the second go around, the yellow in the eggs brought it down a bit which worked perfect.

They baked up nice and fluffy, with the berries bursting out.

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
1/2 stick butter
1/2 cream cheese brick
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2.5 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest

Directions:
1. Beat butter and cream cheese until fluffy and smooth.
2. Add lemon zest.
3. Add 1/2 a tablespoon lemon juice.  Add 1/2 a cup powdered sugar.  Alternate the two until you get the desired consistency and flavor.

Now that all the parts are made it's time to put them together.

Core your cupcakes and pipe lemon curd into them. I made an assembly line out of them.  But i mean if it is just one girl is it really an assembly line?

Sexy, huh? Hopefully you didn't eat the centers.  Put them back on top! They taste better when you get all parts of the cupcake in your mouth at one time.

Pipe frosting ontop cupcakes.  Add blueberries for garnish.

Ta da!  Gorgeous Cupcakes.

You can even be a little crazy and add a ribbon like I did.  They wanted to be extra fancy to meet you.  ;) 

My favorite part about almost all cupcakes is below.  The money shot; sliced down the middle.

You see that?  The inside is blue AND purple.  And yellow.  And did i mention delicious?  Cuz the inside is delicious and my boss said some crumbs fell on her keyboard and she ate them anyways.  Yay/Ew? haha.

xoxo,
Anna