Limoncello Cupcakes – delicious light lemon cupcakes topped with fluffy cloud frosting made with Italian cream cheese. Delicioso!
Best Friend is MARRIED, y’all! Fantastiche! And she did it RIGHT, let me tell you. Love and marriage is nice and all but destination weddings are where it’s at. (pardon the poor grammar)
Their wedding was held in Italy which gave me the phenomenal excuse to take a vacation, eat too much pasta, and drink too much wine. We were in Sorrento which is apparently the lemon capital of the world. I kept seeing these overgrown grapefruit in stands on the sides of the road – turns out they weren’t grapefruit but some kind of freakishly large lemon. Like basketball-sized. No joke.
I would say these were lemons on steroids but they weren’t – all natural and organic and stuff. Anyway, they use these fantastic lemons to make all sorts of delicious things. Like booze. I’m pretty sure it’s just everclear with a little lemonade in it. It’s like if the show “moonshiners” had a baby with a summertime lemonade stand. A baby that made you fall off your barstool. Okay, weird analogy – sorry.
The moral of the story is, we went to Italy and I came back all inspired by limoncello and mascarpone. (Which is that stuff they make tiramisu out of. Don’t even get me started on the tiramisu. Tiramisus. Plural. Tiramisi? Tirameese? Tiramiseuses?)
Limoncello Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 1/2 C whole milk room temperature
- 1 Tbsp white vinegar
- 1/2 C butter room temperature
- 1 C pure cane white sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste can substitute vanilla extract
- 1 Tbsp lemon zest
- 2 Tbsp limoncello
- 1 1/2 C flour sifted
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 egg + 1 egg yolk
- 1/2 C pure cane white sugar
- 2 lemons zest and juice
- 3 Tbsp limoncello
- 5 Tbsp butter
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350F.
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Whisk the milk and vinegar together and set aside for about 5 minutes to sour.
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Beat butter and sugar together until fluffy.
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Add in eggs and vanilla bean paste one a time until incorporated. Stir in lemon zest and limoncello.
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Sift in flour, baking powder, and salt, alternating with the sour milk. Stir gently just until combined.
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Fill 18 cupcake liners with batter and bake at 350 for 14-17 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
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Allow to cool on a wire rack while you make the limoncello curd.
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In a double boiler, heat eggs and sugar, stirring constantly, until smooth.
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Add lemon juice, zest, and limoncello and whisk until thick and creamy.
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Remove from heat and add butter, one tablespoon at a time, until completely incorporated.
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Strain through mesh strainer and allow to cool.
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Spread on top of limoncello cupcakes or use as cupcake filling. Or spread for your morning biscuit. Whatever.
Mascarpone Cloud Frosting
Ingredients
- 4 Tbsp butter room temperature
- 5 oz mascarpone cheese room temperature
- 1 C powdered sugar sifted
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 C heavy cream chilled
Instructions
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Whip butter and mascarpone together until light and well-mixed.
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Add powdered sugar and salt and beat well.
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Add cream and beat on high until fluffy (about 3 minutes).
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Use immediately. Or just eat immediately. Either way.
