Baking: I Love You Lemon Curd Cupcakes

I Love You Lemon Curd Cupcakes

These were inspired by a trip to Marthas Pantry, which I posted about a few months ago, however never got around to giving you the recipe. They are like little Madeira cakes with a dollop of lemon curd in the centre, and smothered in lemocello cream cheese buttercream frosting.

What I like about this recipe is the ricotta makes the cake quite moist and dense. Delicious!

 

Ingredients
400g Butter
2 Lemon Zested
2 Cups Sugar
6 Eggs
2 Dessertspoons Lemoncello
150g Ricotta (light)
3 1/2 Cup Flour
3 Teaspoons Baking Powder
2 Tablespoons Milk

Lemon Curd - I make my own, but you can use good quality store bought Butter Cream Frosting with 1 Tablespoon Lemoncello folded in


1. Preheat the oven to 180C.

2. Cream butter, sugar and zest together with an electric beater. 

3. Add eggs, one at a time and beat after until thick. Fold in lemoncello, milk and ricotta, then flour and baking power. 

4. Spoon into pattycake cases and cook for approximately 15 - 20minutes, until golden brown.

5. Allow to cool and cut down into the top of the cake creating a downward facing circular pyramid shape, which can be pull out of the cake in one piece.

6. Place a dollop of lemon curd into the hole created and place the pyramid shape piece of cake back into place.

7. Ice with butter cream frosting and serve.

For the frosting, I am not very good with measurements (am lazy with them when it comes to icing)... I beat 200g softened butter with approximately 1 1/2 Cups icing sugar. Sometimes a teaspoon of boiling water is required or more icing sugar. In this case I add a good tablespoon of Lemoncello for flavour (you could perhaps add some finely grated lemon rind as well).

Note: that you want enough icing sugar in the frosting that it will set, therefore you don't want it to be extremely soft, but hold some shape when piping it onto the cakes.

Martha's Pantry, Wellington; Lemon Curd Cupcakes

I had heard of the beautiful cupcakes and the divine high teas, so my mother and I decide it was necessary to indulge on a particularly cold and windy overcast Wellington day. 

We managed to score a table in the packed wee cafe, sitting down while the evacuees, a mother and three or four year old little girl, were only metres away.  The staff were very friendly and told us while clearing the table, that a cupcake had been in order for the previous little girl due to a particularly nasty doctors visit. I thought how delightful this place would be as a child, however looking around the majority of the clientele were alot older.  

After ordering a cup of tea, chocolate milkshake, mini cupcake, lemon curd cupcake and lemon meringue pie between us, we sat down to our grown-up tea party (or feast) to taste, nibble and sip, before a verdict could be reached.

I will admit that while the cupcakes were in pretty little cases they were particularly dry. A disappointment similar to that found at the "Cupcake Parlor" in Christchurch. Perhaps they were stale. Despite this they did look the part and were decadently decorated with layers of icing. I thought the lemon curd cupcake's stale interior was disguised, a little, by the large dollop of delicious lemon curd in the middle. This, I thought, was a very nice idea indeed. 

The real winners of the day was the chocolate milkshake and lemon meringue pie. The pie looked homemade with a rustic feel. The pastry was thin, crisp and sweet, which was pair perfectly with a tangy lemon curd and a velvety meringue which floated on top. The shake sprinkled with real chocolate and full of creamy ice-creamy goodness. Even two men in orange vests, who I assume were contractors, were sitting at the corner table (possibly on lunch break) slurping one each. The shake was definitely an afternoon tea by itself. It was huge!

In conclusion I would recommend this cute wee little place, however perhaps not for the cupcakes.

I was inspired by the lemon curd cupcakes, therefore went home and made myself some nice moist ones (one is shown below). I will share the recipe in my next post.

For your reference:

http://www.wellingtonnz.com/bars_restaurants/marthas_pantry