Imagine crossing lemon cupcakes with cheesecake. What do you get? Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Cream. That’s right…dense lemon-flavored cupcakes with a surprise dollop of lemon cream cheese filling baked into the middle. It’s like 2 for the price of 1.

I chose these cupcakes for two reasons: the Birthday Teen loves lemony treats and the recipe made a small batch (I was able to get 6 cupcakes out of the recipe instead of 4). The Birthday Teen quickly inhaled two of them, which is always a good sign. The cupcakes took a few minutes longer to get golden brown around the edges (could be my old oven’s fault). To make the cupcakes look a bit more festive, I made a quick lemon juice and powdered sugar glaze and slathered a little on top of each cupcake. I then sprinkled the cupcake tops with yellow decorating sugar. Skipping the glaze and dusting with powdered sugar would also be a nice touch.

For other cupcake & muffin recipes, check out Cupcake Tuesday.

Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Cream
- recipe from epicurious.com

Yield: Makes 4

3/4 cup cake flour (not self-rising)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons freshly grated lemon zest
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
2 large eggs
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon cream cheese (about 2 ounces), softened 

Preheat oven to 350° F. and line four 1/2-cup muffin tins with paper liners.

Into a bowl sift together flour, baking powder, and salt and whisk in 2 teaspoons zest. In another bowl with a fork blend butter, 1/2 cup sugar, and 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon juice until smooth. With a wooden spoon beat in eggs, 1 at a time, until smooth. Stir butter mixture into flour mixture until batter is combined well.

In a small bowl with a fork stir together cream cheese and remaining 1/2 teaspoon zest, 1 tablespoon sugar, and 1 teaspoon juice until lemon cream is smooth.

Spoon 3 level tablespoons batter and about 1 tablespoon lemon cream into each paper liner. Spoon remaining batter over lemon cream, smoothing tops. Bake cupcakes in middle of oven 20 minutes, or until golden brown, and transfer to a rack to cool. Makes 4 cupcakes.

Tags: Baking, cream cheese, Dessert, lemon cream, lemon cupcakes