Pink Lemonade Cupcakes

• Vegetarian

• Produce

  • 1/2 cup Raspberries, fresh
  • 1 Size lemon, zest of average

• Refrigerated

  • 4 Eggs, large

• Baking & Spices

  • 1 1/4 cup All-purpose flour
  • 2 1/2 tsp Baking powder
  • 1 3/4 cup Cake flour
  • 1 tsp Salt
  • 1 3/4 cup Sugar
  • 2 tsp Vanilla extract

• Dairy

  • 1 cup Butter
  • 1 cup Whole milk

Found on thecafesucrefarine.com

Description

Ingredients

• ½ cup fresh raspberries
• 1 cup whole milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 ¾ cup cake flour
• 1 ¼ cup all purpose flour
• 1 ¾ cup sugar
• 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter, not softened, but remove from refrigerator and allow to warm for about 15 minutes
• 4 large eggs
• finely grated zest of one average size lemon
• 8 ounces (220g) softened butter
• 5 cups (600g) powdered sugar
• finely grated zest of 1 average size lemon
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1-2 tablespoons half & half, start out with 1 and add more as needed

Directions

• Place raspberries in a single layer on a dinner size plate. Freeze for one hour before starting recipe.
• Preheat oven to 350° Line cupcake pans with 36 cupcake liners. Combine milk and vanilla in a measuring cup and set aside. Break eggs into a small bowl and set aside.
• Place the cake flour, all-purpose flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in the bowl of stand mixer and stir together for 30 seconds using paddle attachment.
• With mixer on low, drop in butter, a few cubes at a time continuing until all butter is in and mixture resembles coarse sand.
• Add eggs one at a time on low speed. Add lemon zest. With mixer still on low, slowly pour in milk and vanilla. Turn mixer to medium and beat for 2 minutes until batter is smooth, scraping sides of bowl occasionally.
• Remove raspberries from freezer. Squeeze each one with your fingers, breaking them into tiny pieces. They should break apart easily when frozen. If they are too hard to break, let them sit and room temp for a few minutes and then proceed. Add raspberry pieces to batter and mix gently by hand to incorporate.
• Scoop batter into cupcake liners filling cups with a scant ¼ cup each. Cups will be just slightly over half full - dont be tempted to over-fill. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until centers are set and toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before frosting.
• In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, beat the butter until soft and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. I use the regular flat beater.
• Add powdered sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest and 1 tablespoon half and half. Turn mixer on and off on lowest speed until the powdered sugar has been incorporated (this will prevent a messy cloud of powdered sugar all over your mixer and counter). Increase speed to high and beat for 3 minutes, stopping half way through to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.
• Add more half and half (just a teaspoon at a time), if needed to create a thick, but creamy consistency.
• For the ruffled piping technique, fit a 16-inch, disposable decorating bag with a Wilton 190 tip. Holding on to the tip end of the bag, turn the bag over your hand so that its half inside out. Using gel food color and a small paint brush, paint 4 5-inch stripes from the tip end up. Add icing and twist top of bag shut. Starting near the outside edge (or right at the edge if you want all of the cake covered) of the cupcake, hold tip at a 45˚ angle and move it back and forth as you rotate around the outer edge of the cupcake. When you get all the way around, begin moving in and make concentric circles of ruffles till you reach the center. When you reach the center, you can repeat the ruffling, only start a little ways inside your first layer and work your way to the center. I recommend practicing the technique on a small plate until you get the hang of it.