Happy Birthday to Brent and Joanna!

My Sister-in-law Lisa invited all the family over on Sunday to celebrate Brent and Joanna's birthdays. I have been thinking for a long time what kind of cake to make Brent for his birthday and I decided to do a lemon cake. I have no idea what his favorite dessert is because he likes everything! He likes lemon, so I thought this would be a good option. I used the same recipe that Ashley used to make our cupcakes for our wedding. (It works out because today was our 6 mo anniversary too :)

Anyhow, back on topic...Ashley made cupcakes, but I wanted to try my hand at a double layer lemon cake with lemon custard deliciousness in the middle. I am always skeptical, because I can mess up anything really well...I would almost go so far as to say it is my gift haha. It was pretty fun to work on Saturday night because Brent had a bachelor party he went to so I got to have the night to baking by myself! I learned that when you put a cake on top of the custard it manages to ooze out the sides. It was really quite an adventure, but I really enjoyed taking lots and lots of time to make the cake, filling, frosting, and candied lemons. It was definitely worth the time too because it was nothing like an ordinary cake. I am not a fan of cake, but this is a whole new ball game. I am so so glad that Ashley shared her masterpiece with me...and I will share it with you. If you like lemons...do yourself a flavor and try this :)

Triple Lemon Cupcakes

24 cupcakes

*I used Duncan Hines Lemon Supreme cake mix… but any lemon cake mix should be fine.

Filling:

3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 T lemon zest
2 eggs
2/3 cup fresh lemon juice (about 5 large lemons)
2 T butter

Combine sugar, zest, and eggs in saucepan over medium heat, stirring with a whisk. Cook until sugar dissolves and mixture is light in color (about 3-5 minutes). Add lemon juice and butter; cook for 5 minutes (whisking constantly) or until mixture thinly coats the back of the spoon. Remove from heat, pour into container. Cool to room temperature. Cover and chill. The mixture will thicken as it cools.

Frosting:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
4 T lemon juice
4 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp lemon zest

Beat together butter, cream cheese and lemon juice on medium-high speed until smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes. Add powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating on low speed until incorporated. Add lemon zest and increase speed to medium-high and beat until smooth.

To assemble:
I used a Wilton #230 round tip to fill the cupcakes (I bought mine at Walmart in the wedding supply isle). Fill a piping bag fitted with tip 230 with lemon curd, and pipe into the center of each cupcake. It can be tricky to know HOW MUCH to pipe- but just squeeze a little bit in until you notice the cupcake puff up a little bit. You will know you’re using too much filling if a lot of it leaks out, or the cupcake explodes. If some filling leaks out the top- don’t panic, just wipe it softly with a dry paper towel.

Fill a second piping bag fitted with a large star tip with frosting and pipe a swirl onto the top of each cupcake.