You Tart! Cupcakes

'You Tart!' cupcakes from a bakery called 'Hello Cupcake!' (stationed in Washington DC) were my inspiration for these lemon beauties. Two weeks ago, I was in Washington DC and I was craving for a sugar-fix so I googled "Cupcakes Washington DC" and 'Hello Cupcake!' popped up. It's a lovely bakery and my cousin tells me it's quite new. It was a hot summer day (typical humid DC weather) so the refreshing look and cool name of the 'You Tart!' cupcakes drew me instantly. It's a lemon cake with lemon cream cheese frosting, and I must say, one of my new favorite frostings! Rating: 5 out of 5.

Lemon Cupcakes recipe: adapted from Martha Stewart's Snickerdoodle Cupcakes

Ingredients: Makes about 16
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup cake flour
- ½ tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- ¾ cup sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ cup milk
- Zest from 1 ½ lemons
- Juice from 1 lemon (¼ cup)
- 4 drops yellow food coloring (optional)

Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Sift together both flours, baking powder and salt. Add the lemon zest.
- With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in vanilla and lemon juice. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in two batches, alternating with the addition of milk, and beating until combined after each. Add the yellow food coloring, beat until incorporated.
- Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tin to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes.

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting recipe: adapted from AllRecipes.com

Ingredients:
- 1 package cream cheese (8 ounces), room temperature
- ¾ cup heavy cream
- ½ cup confectioners' sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Juice of ½ lemon

Instructions:
- Whip the heavy cream until fairly hard peaks form. Stash in the fridge for at least 10 minutes.
- Beat the cream cheese for a minute or so and add the confectioners' sugar, vanilla and lemon juice.
- Fold in the whipped cream with a rubber spatula.


Picture of 'Hello Cupcake!' cupcakes. Vanilla cupcake with buttercream frosting (top) and 'You Tart!' cupcake (lower).

The weather might be getting colder, but the sight of these fresh lemons lifts my spirit into summer-mode!

I used yellow cupcake-liners and I added yellow food coloring to the batter.

They are a little small, but they have a heavy texture.

Yummy lemon cream cheese frosting!

I took the back of a spoon to create the swirl-pattern. The frosting is too light to pipe.

One of the few The only frosting I can eat without cake!

Is it bad that I ate dessert before dinner???