Sunday, June 16, 2013

A Tea Party & Raspberry Filled Vanilla Cupcakes with a Lemon Buttercream


Last weekend the boyfriend and I bought a set of teacups that came with saucers and plates at the flea market behind Frederiksberg Rådhus. So of course I had to have a tea party! Yesterday, the daughters of one of my Danish classmates came over for some tea, painting and cupcake decorating. The boyfriend and I have babysat the girls before and they are two very sweet and funny kids.



We had some tea (of course), sandwiches, chips, and fruit salad before diving into the really sweet stuff. I prepared vanilla cupcakes the day before and made a quick raspberry jam type filling to go with it. I cut a cone out of the tops of the cupcakes yesterday morning so that the girls could fill them later on. I also prepared the lemon buttercream in the morning so that it would be ready to go in the afternoon. After the girls filled the cupcakes, I piped them, and they carefully decorated each one. All of the cupcakes were decorated differently and they looked amazing!




The combination of the sweet vanilla cake with the raspberry filling and the sweet and sour lemon frosting was great. You could taste each of the flavors but they all went together as well. Most of the recipes I post for chocolate or vanilla cupcakes and the different buttercreams are interchangeable. Feel free to use this vanilla cupcake recipe with the mocha frosting or make a chocolate cupcake and fill it with a raspberry filling for example. There are so many possibilities with (cup)cakes! 


Vanilla Cupcakes (barely adapted from Pastry Affair)
Makes 18 cupcakes

1/4 cup or 57g unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/3 cup sour cream or plain yogurt (I used skyr because that is what we had in the fridge)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
1 3/4 cup cake flour
11/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup milk

Raspberry Filling 
Enough for 1 tsp of filling for about 15 cupcakes

175g frozen raspberries 
juice from half a lemon
2 tbsp sugar, or to taste

Lemon Buttercream (slightly adapted from Sweetapolita
Enough to frost 18 cupcakes

1 cup or 227g unsalted butter, softened
2 tsp lemon zest 
5 cups icing sugar, sifted
2.5 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup whipping/heavy cream
a pinch of salt

Vanilla Cupcakes:
Preheat oven to 350F/175C and fill a cupcake pan with cupcake liners.

Start by sifting together the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt so that it is ready once the wet mixture is prepared.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until it is light and fluffy with your mixer. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the sour cream/yogurt/skyr, vegetable oil, vanilla extract and the seeds from the vanilla bean. 

Gradually add in the dry ingredients and mix until combined. Stir in the milk, mixing until the batter is uniform and smooth. This batter is quite runny compared to other vanilla cakes, so don't worry!

Place 3 tbsps of batter in each cupcake liner or fill until about 2/3 full, and bake for 12 to 14 minutes, or  until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from the oven, and carefully remove the cupcakes from the pan and let them cool on a rack or on the counter. Allow them to completely cool before filling or frosting.

Raspberry Filling:
Pour the frozen raspberries into a small saucepan/pot. Cook on a low heat for a few minutes before adding the sugar and lemon juice. Let it boil slightly and continue to stir  until you reach a jam like consistency. Remove from the heat and let it cool completely before using it to fill the cupcakes (or you can use this as a warm ice cream topping!). Store in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 to 4 days.

Lemon Buttercream:
Cream butter and lemon zest for 3 minutes. The butter should become very light in color and have a whipped like consistency. Slowly add the icing sugar and mix on low speed for about 2 minutes. Add the lemon juice, cream, and salt and beat on medium-high for 3 to 4 minutes until very fluffy.



I think these raspberry filled vanilla cupcakes with lemon buttercream are a great summery treat. I hope you'll like them! God fornøjelse! 

2 comments:

  1. Tak for sidst! Begge to syntes at det var en rigtig hyggelig eftermiddag! :-)

    ReplyDelete