LEMON SUNFLOWER CUPCAKES
My friend Ilisa is a bridesmaid and she is planning a bridal shower. The theme is sunflowers, yellow and purple. And she knows that I love baking and started a "business" as my hobby. So she gave me this idea of trying to make sunflower cupcakes. Of course, I head straight for the internet! =o)
Voila! I found an AWESOME explanation of how to make them. There is a little bit of a learning curve, since it involves creating the flowers using icing, but it's not too bad. You can find good tutorials on youtube to teach you how to use a pastry bag/tip.I found that the royal icing for the sunflowers was a little too runny, if you follow the directions, so I tweaked it a little bit. You can play around with the sugar and water to get the desired consistency. You really want the icing to be able to set fast, but also not too thick where you can't make the design. The humidity, heat, and other factors in the air will really affect how you change the recipe.
Lemon Sunflower Cupcakes
Makes: 36 cupcakes
Ingredients:
for the lemon cupcakes:
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
3 tsp lemon zest
1 tsp vanilla extract
3-1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups sour cream
for the cream cheese frosting:
12 oz cream cheese, cold
6 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 tbsp vanilla extract
4 cups powdered sugar
for the sunflower toppers:
4.5 cups powdered sugar
5 tbsp meringue powder
1/3 cup water
Few drops vanilla extract
36 mini Oreos
Yellow and green gel food coloring
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
3 tsp lemon zest
1 tsp vanilla extract
3-1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups sour cream
for the cream cheese frosting:
12 oz cream cheese, cold
6 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 tbsp vanilla extract
4 cups powdered sugar
for the sunflower toppers:
4.5 cups powdered sugar
5 tbsp meringue powder
1/3 cup water
Few drops vanilla extract
36 mini Oreos
Yellow and green gel food coloring
Directions:
for the lemon cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 36 muffin tins with cupcake liners.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- Beat in eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
- Add the lemon zest and vanilla and mix well.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
- With the mixer on low speed, alternatively add the dry ingredients and the sour cream to the butter mixture, starting and ending with the dry ingredients. The batter will be thick, but don't panic!
- Fill cupcake liners 2/3 of the way full and bake for 22-25 minutes, or until cake tester comes out clean.
- Allow cupcakes to cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
for the cream cheese frosting:
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the vanilla extract and beat well.
- Slowly add the powdered sugar until well combined. Continue to beat until smooth for about 2 minutes.
- Load frosting into a piping bag fit with a large closed star tip and frost cupcakes as desired.
for the sunflower toppers:
- Whisk together the powdered sugar and meringue powder in the bowl of an electric mixer.
- Add the water and vanilla and beat until smooth, about 5 minutes. If icing is too thick, add more water in 1 tsp increments. If icing is not thick enough, add 1 tbsp of powdered sugar until desired consistency is achieved. For desired consistency, you'll want a peak of icing to droop back down into the bowl completely in about 45-60 seconds.
- Put aside 1/2 cup of the icing in a small bowl, mix in a few drops of green food coloring, cover with a wet cloth or paper towel and set aside.
- For the rest of the icing, add yellow food coloring (I also added some orange for a warmer yellow) and transfer to a piping bag fit with a leaf tip or a large ziploc bag with a small "V" cut into the corner to look like this. When you're not using the icing bag, place it tip down in a glass with a damp paper towel on the bottom so the icing in the tip doesn't dry out.
- Lay down a sheet of wax or parchment paper on the counter, and space out 36 mini Oreo halves. With the "V" shapes oriented to either side, pipe 1 row of yellow petals all around the Oreo, starting with your tip on the edge of the Oreo and pulling outward. (This tutorial gives some nice pictures for how to hold your icing bag to make petals/leaves) Finish the first layers for all 36 Oreos, then go back and add another layer of petals on top once the first layer has set after about 15-20 minutes.
- Transfer the green icing to another bag with a leaf tip and add 2 green leaves to each sunflower if you desire.
- Let the flowers dry at least overnight before attempting to separate them from the wax paper. When they're set, top them on the cupcakes and enjoy!
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 36 muffin tins with cupcake liners.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- Beat in eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
- Add the lemon zest and vanilla and mix well.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
- With the mixer on low speed, alternatively add the dry ingredients and the sour cream to the butter mixture, starting and ending with the dry ingredients. The batter will be thick, but don't panic!
- Fill cupcake liners 2/3 of the way full and bake for 22-25 minutes, or until cake tester comes out clean.
- Allow cupcakes to cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
for the cream cheese frosting:
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the vanilla extract and beat well.
- Slowly add the powdered sugar until well combined. Continue to beat until smooth for about 2 minutes.
- Load frosting into a piping bag fit with a large closed star tip and frost cupcakes as desired.
for the sunflower toppers:
- Whisk together the powdered sugar and meringue powder in the bowl of an electric mixer.
- Add the water and vanilla and beat until smooth, about 5 minutes. If icing is too thick, add more water in 1 tsp increments. If icing is not thick enough, add 1 tbsp of powdered sugar until desired consistency is achieved. For desired consistency, you'll want a peak of icing to droop back down into the bowl completely in about 45-60 seconds.
- Put aside 1/2 cup of the icing in a small bowl, mix in a few drops of green food coloring, cover with a wet cloth or paper towel and set aside.
- For the rest of the icing, add yellow food coloring (I also added some orange for a warmer yellow) and transfer to a piping bag fit with a leaf tip or a large ziploc bag with a small "V" cut into the corner to look like this. When you're not using the icing bag, place it tip down in a glass with a damp paper towel on the bottom so the icing in the tip doesn't dry out.
- Lay down a sheet of wax or parchment paper on the counter, and space out 36 mini Oreo halves. With the "V" shapes oriented to either side, pipe 1 row of yellow petals all around the Oreo, starting with your tip on the edge of the Oreo and pulling outward. (This tutorial gives some nice pictures for how to hold your icing bag to make petals/leaves) Finish the first layers for all 36 Oreos, then go back and add another layer of petals on top once the first layer has set after about 15-20 minutes.
- Transfer the green icing to another bag with a leaf tip and add 2 green leaves to each sunflower if you desire.
- Let the flowers dry at least overnight before attempting to separate them from the wax paper. When they're set, top them on the cupcakes and enjoy!
