


Also pictured: Butterbeer Cupcakes
Lemon Curd Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons plus 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 4 1/2 teaspoons butter
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
(I doubled this recipe to make sure I would have enough filling.)
Cupcake Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups cake flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 stick/4 oz. unsalted butter, softened
- 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup whole milk ricotta cheese (homemade ricotta cheese recipe coming soon)
- 1/4 cup whole milk
- 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Lavender Frosting Ingredients
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 3 1/2 cups to 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon dried culinary lavender, crushed with a mortar and pestle
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon milk or cream, if needed
- 1 drop purple food coloring (I used the Violet gel color from Hobby Lobby)
- Fresh lavender, sugared lemon slices and edible pearls for garnish, optional
Directions
- In a saucepan, cook and stir the sugar, lemon juice and butter until smooth. Stir a small amount of the hot mixture into the lightly beaten egg. Stir well and return all to the pan. Bring to a low boil, stirring constantly. Cook 2 minutes longer or until thickened. Stir in lemon zest. Cool for 10 minutes. Cover and completely chill in the fridge.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12 cupcake baking tin.
- Mix all of the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Add the softened butter and vanilla. Beat with a hand mixer or stand mixer until well combined. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each one. Add ricotta, milk and lemon juice and mix until combined.
- Spoon the batter into cupcake tins, filling each one about 3/4 full. Bake for 16-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cupcakes comes out clean. Rotate the cupcake tin half-way through baking if necessary. Cool completely.
- Using a cupcake corer remove the middle of the cupcake. Using a small spoon, fill the holes in each cupcake with a generous amount of lemon curd.
- For the frosting you can use a hand mixer or a stand mixer. Add butter to a large bowl and beat until creamy. On low speed, gradually add the powdered sugar and lavender to the bowl. Increase the speed and beat until fluffy and combined. Beat in the vanilla extract. If the frosting is too thick, add the cream or milk. If it is too runny add more powdered sugar a little bit at a time. Use one drop of purple food coloring. The Violet color was a little lighter so I used two drops.
- Put desired frosting tip into a piping bag. Add frosting to the bag and frost the cupcakes. Top with edible pearls and small lavender sprigs. Thinly slice lemons into halves and coat both sides with sugar. Place lemons on top of frosted cupcakes.
These were a lot of fun to make and they tasted great! The flavor combination was delightful! I took them to work and they were gone in an instant. I knew the Butterbeer cupcakes were going to go fast because they had been asking me to make them again, but I wasn’t sure how they would respond to the lemon ricotta and lavender. I was pleasantly surprised when those disappeared, too. š