Poppyseed Lemon Cupcakes with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting by Guilty Kitchen

By
Prerna Singh
-
A warm hello to all of you from India. We reached here a couple days back and it all still feels unreal to me!  I am more than surprised to see how much change can come in just a few years. A lot of good changes and some not so good but one thing remains constant, the essence of home! The smell of morning breeze and the beauty of  sunset is just different here. We are trying to soak it all in a few days that we are here. But still missing talking to you all so I’m here again, with another favorite blogger friend of mine –  Elizabeth from Guilty Kitchen. A person who never fails to amaze me and whose work has always inspired me from long before I could call myself a food blogger. Lets just say that a person who can balance life with two active kids, a new and promising business and a very popular blog with amazing photography and features in endless publications is a superwoman in my eyes! She does it all and comes out with flying colors. Please welcome Elizabeth from Guilty Kitchen.
Don’t forget to hop on over to her website after this.

Guest Post1

Although I may have said a few times over the last year that cupcakes are totally an unsustainable fad in our industry, I still love them. I do, on the other hand, find it a big extreme to open a store that sells nothing but cupcakes, but that’s just me. Cupcakes are fun, come in every flavour, colour and design and please kids and adults alike. The fact that they fit in the palm of your hand is merely an afterthought to most.

Guest Post 4

Some of you may have experienced people’s less than thrilled attitude at the thought of eating a whole slice of cake. As if eating one slice of cake may throw off their entire diet/workout routine/lifestyle change/etc. So having tiny, cute, paper wrapped cupcakes on hand can appease even the most picky of dessert eaters. This is not a problem in my house, to say the least. If anything, there is a collective sigh when cupcakes are made, and a settling on the fact that you should only eat one and not the whole batch.
More than my love of tiny confectionary is my love of this time of year. There’s just something special about the time just before spring. The birds begin to chirp each morning, the sun is out earlier and stays out just a bit later. But my favourite is the peak of citrus. There are so many to choose from coming out of California. Many that I have never even tried, such as Buddha’s Hand, Pommelos, mandarinquats, etc. A plethora of fantastic flavours to add to salads or desserts, or simply to peel and eat. Being seasonal is important to me and even desserts should fall in that category most of the time.

Guest Post 2

When I thought of what I absolutely needed to have dessert-wise, citrus was my first thought. That bright, bursting in your mouth, juicy flavour of meyer lemon was the top of my list and good thing, because there is a case of them in my fridge.
These cupcakes are sweet, citrusy and with just the right amount of vanilla. I love a good pronounced nuttiness from the poppyseeds, so there is more of them in there than you may be used to , but just trust me. The cream cheese frosting marries perfectly with the citrus and you’ll be wishing you doubled the recipe after you take that first lemony bite.

Poppyseed Lemon Cupcakes with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting
Yield: 12 cupcakes
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1/2 tsp Baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
zest and juice of one meyer lemon
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup poppy seeds

Guest Post 3



Method:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 12 cupcake tins with paper or silicone liners.
2. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a small bowl.
3. In bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter and sugar until fluffy, about five minutes.
4. Beat in eggs one at a time, ensuring they are completely incorporated before continuing to the next one.
5. Mix in the zest, lemon juice and vanilla.
6. Add flour and buttermilk to batter in two separate additions, beating completely between additions.
7. Fold in poppyseeds.
8. Fill cupcake liners 7/8 of the way to the top. Bake for 25-30 minutes, rotating half way through baking time.
9. Remove from oven and cool completely before frosting.

Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting

1/2  cup butter, room temperature
4 oz cream cheese, room temperature
1 tbsp vanilla extract (or one vanilla bean + 1 tsp vanilla extract)
1  1/2-3 cups icing sugar
1. Beat butter and cream cheese together until fluffy.
2. Slowly add in vanilla.
3. Slowly stir in icing sugar on low speed one cup at a time.
4. Pipe onto cupcakes and serve immediately.

Prerna Singh
http://www.indiansimmer.com

36 Comments

  2. Hello,
    We love your recipes, especially when its on Cupcakes.
    These are so delicious.
    I have always looked at your blog for the various pictures and the way you write.Just Love it!
    You have shared some nice information about Poppyseed Lemon Cupcakes in this post.
    The points you mentioned are genuine and perfect.
    The content completely describes about the topic you wanted to portray with us.
    Thanks for sharing such valuable post.

    Regards
    VentairIndia Team

  3. This recipe absolutely does not make 12 cupcakes. More like 24. DO NOT fill the cupcakes 7/8 of the way full either. Mine are actually completely ruined and over flowed because of this. Very disappointed with the directions. Would have been a really great recipe.

  4. I made your cupcakes yesterday and they were a big hit! everyone loved it! only thing is 1/4 cup of poppyseeds is kind of too much. but aside from that they were great! Thank you for this, will definitely be going to my recipe collection!

  5. The only ingredient you should ever use cold, is milk. All other ingredients should be at least room temperature. That includes butter and shortening. This makes mixing much easier and helps avoid the need to over-mix.

  10. Hello, I was wondering if this recipe could work in cake form… Please let me know your thoughts on this! Thanks.

    And your pictures are lovely.

  11. Wow, the first picture is such a beauty- the cupcakes with the gorgeous frosting, the brilliant colors, not to mention, the lemon flavor! Thanks for introducing Guilty Kitchen, we are delighted!

    Hey Prerna, this is my first visit here and I’m totally in love with your gorgeous photographs and lovely recipes! I hope you have wonderful vacation and see you around soon. Cheers!

  12. Gorgeous, romantic cupcakes and lemon is indeed a perfect flavor for anything and everything this time of year. Prerna I hope you are having a wonderful time!

  15. As if eating one slice of cake may throw off their entire diet/workout routine/lifestyle change/etc – I HEAR YOU!!! It annoys me no end when people make a fuss to eat even once slice of cake or dessert. That said, love the cupcakes..cant wait to try them out!

  20. O, these look amazing! They sound pretty amazing too, I like the use of lemon in sweets as the tartness balances the typical sweetness so nicely. Yum!

  22. Although I resisted the cupcake “fad” for many years, I eventually came to love them and think it makes a lot of sense to have bakeries that specialize in them. I think people are especially drawn to them because of their small size (cuteness, portion control, seemingly lower cost), portability, and a greater variety of flavors (stores usually have special daily or at least seasonal flavors). From the side of the seller, I feel like there’s less concern about making the decorations fancy/perfect, and the earnings are comparable to if not greater than larger cakes, and I would imagine sales/turnover of the product is greater because people are more willing to buy a few cupcakes than commit to a whole cake? Anyway, that’s just my long-winded 2 cents haha. These cakes look lovely. Great piping and adorable flower cases :). Happy birthday to Elizabeth, too!

  25. I’m not normally a fan of cupcakes but these look much more interesting than the usual fairly boring sponge. Lemon and poppyseeds – yes they are very tempting. I must learn how to ice in that sumptuous swirly rose style too. Very beautiful.

  27. I hope you have a wonderful holiday Prenra. 😀 I look forward to all of the photos on your return.

    Thanks for introducing me to Elizabeth’s blog too, such beautiful cupcakes and a winning flavour combination.

  28. Such a beautiful recipe for a cupcake. I love it!

    I hope you are having a wonderful trip. Can’t wait to hear all about it when you return. {And see your fabulous photographs!}

  30. Marvelous post! i have to admit that I am not much of cup cake lover, but something like this steals my heart. So pretty that I would not dare to eat, just admire them just as I am doing now.what a work of art Elizabeth and with some truly classic flavors.

  32. Poppy seeds makes really pretty dessert. It makes everything look really pretty! And the frosting is simply too pretty to eat. I will use them to decorate my kitchen. 🙂

  33. That frosting looks like rose petals – so pretty! And lemon poppyseed is one of my all-time favourite combos – can’t think why I’ve never thought of pairing it with creamcheese icing.

  34. I am not usually a fan of the cupcakes. i too think they are overhyped. But I couldn’t help but smile at your version. It looks lovely.

    I love the shape of your frosting. It looks rose-like. How did you frost that shape?

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