Sunday, August 22, 2010

SMS: Sweet Almond Cupcakes with Lemon Curd and Mascarpone Frosting



I haven't baked with the Sweet Melissa Sundays Group for several weeks now to a host of varying (read sometimes boring and occasionally preventable) reasons. But when I saw this weeks recipe, selected and hosted by Katie of Katiecakes I had to face facts.

This was a recipe to make time for. Yes, okay, so I have a bit of a lemon fetish when it comes to baked goods. That was a helpful motivator right there. And mascarpone cheese wasn't something I had baked with before, but considering how delightfully it goes with my beloved Tiramisu it really didn't take a lot of persuading to set aside part of my Sunday to pull this together.

Excuse me for just a moment as I wipe the drool off my chin.

So good. Really. I knew it was going to be good when I kept tasting the batter. It had a taste similar to a french macaroon batter. Because I was a little worried about having an entire cake like this in my house, I ended up halving the recipe and going with cupcakes instead. There was a brief moment of panic when I saw how thin the batter seemed but I relaxed a bit when I figured that hey, for once I was actually making the recipe far enough in advance to redo it if the cupcakes turned out to be a dud.

I went with the 350 degree temperature called for with the cake but cut the baking time to 20 minutes. And they looked perfect when I pulled them out. Also, because I am so proud of having done this despite the fact that you cannot tell it from the photo, I have to tell you that I  even scooped out some of the cupcake center and filled it with lemon curd before covering it with the frosting and a tiny dollop of curd. The only bit I cheated on was going with a store bought curd instead of making my own. But it still tasted as good as the homemade lemon curd I've made in the past and it saved me a lot of time.

Go check out Katie's blog as she gets to post the recipe there and definitely try this yourself if you haven't already. Yum. Thanks Katie for picking an awesome recipe!

11 comments:

  1. Your cupcakes look delicous! I'm waiting for the cake to cool and can't wait to finish it off.

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  2. OMGoodness! I absolutely love your cupcake and filling the center with lemon curd; Genius! I wish I had thought of this idea. Looks delicious and I can totally see why you would have drool on your chin (laughing).

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  3. Lemon curd from the store is the way to go!! They look so good! I just watched the cupcake wars last night on TV..this looks like something they would have made:)

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  4. Love this spin on the recipe. These looks amazing. I passed on this recipe. May try it some day as a rewind.

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  5. i love the cupcake idea, looks great!

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  6. So glad you enjoyed this recipe. Your cupcakes look great!

    Thanks for baking along!

    Katie xox

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  7. I went with store bought curd too- sooo much easier. Your cupcakes are so cute!

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  8. The cupcake is adorable! I was tempted to buy lemon curd, but figured since I had the ingredients, I might as well make it.

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  9. So cute! =) A lot of people had trouble with the frosting curdling, yours looks smooth and creamy!

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  10. I like your spin on this. Adding the filling into the middle is a fantastic idea.

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