A Hen Weekend – part 2: Zesty Lemon Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Buttercream

It’s hard to believe that this time last week I was extremely excited/nervous about one of my best friend’s hen do. After months and months of planning with another best friend to make sure everything went smoothly, the weekend seemed to come around so quickly. We booked a cottage in the Lake District for the weekend and as everyone had travelled 3 hours to get to the house, we decided to spend the Friday night in the house and have grown up (meaning lots of wine!) tea party. We asked everyone who came to bring along a little something, so of course, my mind went straight putting my trusty Kenwood to work. 

I took the day off work on the Thursday beforehand to spend the day baking – that’s a valid reason for a day off, right? – and I set about making Vanilla Cupcakes with Oreo Icing, Fudge Brownies, Scones and Lemon Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Buttercream.

When thinking of what to bake, I wanted a bit of variety – I know chocolate’s a crowd pleaser and also a favourite of the Bride to Be, but she’s also a huge fan of lemony things as it’s much lighter, so I settled on cupcakes.

These little cakes are just delicious – they’re light, fluffy and zesty, I ramped up the amount of lemon zest I put into them as I just love a zing that the lemon adds to the cake. I chose to do cream cheese buttercream as I just love the balance of flavours that it adds to cakes – carrot cakes, red velvet cupcakes, there’s just something that the cream cheese that makes sure things don’t become too sweet.

Of course, these could be made with just lemon buttercream or even vanilla, so let me know if you use the cupcake recipe and what icing you chose to go for.

Lemon Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Buttercream

(Makes 12)

For the Cupcakes you’ll need:

• 125g unsalted butter, softened
• 200g caster sugar
• finely grated zest of 1 large lemon
• 2 large eggs, room temperature, beaten
• 200g self raising flour, sifted
• 100ml buttermilk (I used 80ml plain yoghurt and 20ml milk)
• 2 tsp lemon juice (I added a another tsp for good luck!)

For the Cream Cheese Buttercream, you’ll need:

• 300g icing sugar, sifted
• 50g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 125g cream cheese, cold

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 180c/gas mark 4 and line a standard cupcake/muffin tin with paper cases.

2. Put the butter into a mixing bowl and beat with a wooden spoon or electric mixer until very creamy. Beat in the sugar and lemon zest, then beat thoroughly for about 4 minutes, or until the mixture is very light and fluffy.

3. Gradually add the eggs a tablespoon at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl from time to time. Using a large metal spoon, fold in the flour in three batches alternately with the buttermilk/yoghurt mixture. When the mixture is almost completely mixed in, mix in the lemon juice.

4. Spoon the mixture into paper cases, filling them evenly. Bake for about 25 mins or until a light golden brown and firm to the touch.

5. Remove from the oven and cool for 2 mins, then transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool completely before icing.

6. While you’re waiting for the cupcakes to cool, beat the icing sugar and butter together in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or your trust Kenwood) on medium-slow speed until the mixture comes together and is well mixed.

7. Add the cream cheese in one go and beat until it is completely incorporated. Turn the mixer up to medium-high speed. Continue beating until the frosting is light and fluffy, at least 5 mins. At this stage, my icing still had little flecks of butter in – if yours is smooth, then it’s ready, if it’s got flecks in, just keeping beating until they’re all gone. If the mixture is too runny after all the mixing, just put it back in the fridge until it’s firm enough to work with.

8. Decorate your cakes however you like!

xx