These are a variation on the old Golden Vanilla (33). Add some lemon extract and some lemon zest to the regular vanilla batter, and you’ve got lemon cake. Terry & Isa even included a recipe for Lemon Buttercream (96), the perfect topping for these cuppers. Although VCTOTW calls for freshly-grated lemon zest, and freshly-squeezed juice for the frosting, I don’t own a grater or a juicer. Plus, I’m lazy. So I purchased my zest pre-grated and my juice pre-squeezed. Did it matter? Not from the reactions of my taste-testers. They loved the tart lemony flavor perfectly balanced by the sugary sweetness, and it didn’t even matter that the cupcakes were a touch underdone – hey, I was in a rush, there was a DnD session to get to!
Fun fact: Charlotte didn’t know “lemon zest” is just a fancy term for “lemon rind” before reading VCTOTW . “Zest ” sounds so much more lively and appetizing, doesn’t it?
2 Comments
June 1, 2008 at 9:46 pm
Zest sounds like a soap, and therefore must be delicious.
June 9, 2008 at 4:27 pm
zest actually IS a soap, but not half as delicious as these cuppers sound!!!!