Monday 1 October 2012

Lemon and Mascarpone Cupcakes.





 
These little lemon cupcakes are lovely. They are nice and refreshing and look very cute and simple. The sponge is lovely, soft and moist and has a delicate lemonny flavour. The cupcakes are then filled with a delicious, strong, zesty lemon curd and topped with some sweet, rich mascarpone cream. The lemon rind just added a nice bit of vibrant colour on top but, by all means decorate with whatever you like as the texture of the lemon rind isn't the best, I just thought it looked pretty on top. Maybe zesting would be better in terms of texture.
 
I use Delia Smith's recipe for Lemon Roulade to make these cupcakes and I love it. They are lovely light and summery and her recipe is delicious, especially her lemon curd which is gorgeous and I'm not normally a big lemon curd fan.
 
Delia won't be very happy at the moment as Liverpool just beat her beloved Norwhich on Saturday whereas, I being a Liverpool fan am over the moon that we finally got the win we deserved. If it helps though Delia your Lemon Roulade recipe is delicious!



Recipe
Makes 12 Lemon Cupcakes  

For the cupcakes:
Grated zest of 2 lemons (reserve the juice for the lemon curd.)
4 oz (110 g) butter, softened
8 oz (225 g) golden caster sugar
4 large eggs
8 oz (225 g) self-raising flour, sifted

For the lemon curd:
grated zest of 2 lemons
juice of 4 lemons
4 large eggs
6 oz (175 g) golden caster sugar
4 oz (110 g) butter, softened
 
For the mascarpone cream:
2 x 250 g tubs mascarpone, well chilled
2 x 200 g tubs fromage frais, well chilled
1½ level tablespoons golden caster sugar
 

 
Pre-heat the oven to 180°C.


Method

Begin by making the lemon curd ahead of time, as this needs to be well chilled. Sit a heatproof bowl over a pan of barely simmering water, but don't let the bowl touch the water.

Then place the eggs, sugar, lemon zest and juice in the bowl and whisk together. Now add the butter piece by piece and cook for about 15 minutes, giving it a good whisk from time to time, until the curd has become smooth and thickened. While you're keeping an eye on it, it's a good time to put the cake cases in the cupcake tray.

When the curd is ready, remove the bowl and allow it to cool, then cover it with clingfilm pressed over the surface and chill it in the fridge.

When you're ready to make the cupcakes, place all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and whisk, preferably with an electric hand whisk, for about 1 minute.

Next divide the mixture between the 12 cupcakes cases and bake in the oven for 13-15 minutes. Be careful as last time I made them they were moist and nowhere near done at 12 minutes and then suddennly they were firm and slightly over done at 15 minutes so I think somewhere in between will be perfect.

When the cupcakes are ready they should feel springy in the centre when lightly touched with your little finger. Then remove the cupcakes from the oven and allow them to cool.

Meanwhile, start to make the mascarpone cream by whisking the mascarpone, fromage frais and sugar together.


Once the cupcakes are cool dig a small well/dip out of the cupcakes using an apple corer and fill with about 2 tsps. of chilled lemon curd.

Next top with the mascarpone cream in however way you want. I used a piping bag and large round piping nozzle. Finally, scatter over the grated lemon rind or zest or whatever decoration you choose.

Enjoy!

Thankyou for reading!

Love Courts x




 

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