Lemon Rosemary Cupcakes

I went to my grandparents' home for Thanksgiving last year. While there I found the "Let them eat cake!" issue of Taste of Home and it was sent home with me. It has been sitting next to my cookbooks begging to have something made from it. Usually my baking urges take the form "mmmm...cookies!" but yesterday I got an inexplicable urge to make cake (and huzzah for spring break making it reasonable to actually do so!) - and not just any cake, something fruity and springy. Flipping through the cakes in the magazine, I came across a Lemon-Rosemary Layer Cake. It sounded fantastic, but for the fact that I don't have 9in round cake pans. After thinking about it a bit, I realized that it is easier to take cake around to share in cupcake form anyway. This recipe produced 19 regular sized cupcakes and 24 mini cupcakes.


Recipe

Ingredients for cake:
1 cup plus 2 Tbsp butter, softened
2.5 cups sugar
4 eggs plus a yolk
4 cups all purpose flour
3 tsp baking powder
1.5 tsp salt
3/8 tsp baking soda
1.5 cups sour cream
6 Tbsp lemon juice
3 tsp grated lemon zest
3 tsp minced rosemary

Ingredients for Frosting:
8 oz cream cheese, softened
4 + cups powdered sugar
1 Tbsp grated lemon zest
1 tsp lemon juice

Instructions:
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and yolk and beat well. Combine flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda in a separate bowl. Alternately add flour mixture and sour cream to butter mixture, beating well after each addition (don't worry if it seems a little dry, you are getting ready to add lemon juice.) Beat in the lemon juice, peel and rosemary.

Scoop into paper lined cupcake pans and bake at 350. The mini cupcakes were done in about 15 minutes. The normal sized cupcakes baked for 20-25 minutes. Let them cool completely before frosting.




For the frosting, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Beat in the lemon juice and zest. Add powdered sugar about a cup at at time, beating well after each addition, until you like the consistancy.

The friend I was baking with dislikes cream cheese, so she concocted a glaze from butter, milk, and brown sugar. It was tasty and looks quite pretty, but I think these guys really want the cream cheese frosting.