Recipe- Lemon Curd Cupcakes Is What Everyone Will Love

If you notice, I did use very little chocolate ganache to top these cupcakes. The reason was I really wanted the lemon curd to shine through these cupcakes and so I only added little chocolate. You can definitely double or triple the recipe for ganache to make those really nice swirls on these cupcakes.

These are basically vanilla cupcakes filled with lemon curd so there’s 3 parts to this recipe – the vanilla cupcakes, lemon curd and chocolate ganache.

Vanilla Cupcakes: these vanilla cupcakes are really super easy to make with the basic ingredients that you probably already have in your pantry. If I was not filling these cupcakes with anything, I would have made them more sweeter. So if you are simply making vanilla cupcakes increase the sugar to 3/4 or even 1 cup. But since I was filling these with lemon curd and then topping with chocolate ganache I made the cupcakes less sweet. I thought the overall sweetness of the cupcakes was just perfect.

Lemon Curd: I have used the easiest way to make lemon curd here where you just have to whisk everything together and then cook the mixture till it becomes thick and coats the back of your spoon. Lemon curd thickens around 165 F degrees so if you have a kitchen thermometer you can use that here. I also added some cornstarch to make the lemon curd extra thick since I was going to fill it inside the cupcakes, the thicker the better.

Chocolate Ganache: Since little chocolate never hurts, I topped these cupcakes with some chocolate ganache. There’s a reason why chocolate ganache is my favorite frosting and it is because 1) it is chocolate of course! 2) it is so simple to make! The only thing which you have to be careful about is the ratio of cream to chocolate. Different ratios are suitable for different purposes. For example here, I wanted a thicker ganache to frost on the cupcakes and so I used a chocolate to cream ratio of 2:1. For a spreading consistency ganache, I would have used a 1:1 ratio. Also I would highly suggest using baking chocolate here in place of chocolate chips, it does make a difference.

Ingredients

Vanilla Cupcakes

1.5 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ cup buttermilk
½ cup unsalted butter melted [1 stick]
? cup granulated white sugar
2 eggs at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract [use pure vanilla extract]

Lemon Curd

1.5 teaspoons lemon zest
? cup granulated white sugar
½ cup lemon juice
3 eggs
1 teaspoon cornstarch
4 tablespoons unsalted butter

Chocolate Ganache

4 oz semi-sweet chocolate chopped
2 oz heavy cream
¼ teaspoon unsalted butter

Method

Cupcake

* Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Line a 12 count muffin pan with cupcake liners or spray with nonstick spray and set aside.

* In a bowl sift together all purpose flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Set aside.

* In the steel bowl of your stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment or using your hand mixer, beat together melted butter and granulated sugar till well combined.

* Add in the eggs and vanilla extract and beat for 3-4 minutes till mixture if smooth and well combined.

* Start adding flour mix to the wet ingredients alternating with buttermilk starting and ending with flour.

* Mix till everything is well combined but do not overmix.

* Fill the cupcake liners with the batter till 2/3rd full.

* Bake at 350 F degrees for 17-20 minutes or till a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Lemon Curd

* While the cupcakes are baking, start making the lemon curd.

* In a bowl whisk together lemon zest, lemon juice, cornstarch and granulated sugar.

* Add the eggs and whisk till combined.

* Transfer the pan to a gas on medium heat and add unsalted butter to the pan.

* Keep whisking till butter melts and mixture becomes totally smooth.

* After around 10 minutes, the mixture will become really thick and coat the back of your spoon. This happens around 165 F degrees so you can check if you have a kitchen thermometer.

* Remove from heat, strain the lemon curd into a bowl and cover with a cling sheet with the sheet touching the surface of the lemon curd so that it doesn't form a film on top.

* Refrigerate for few hours.

Fill the Cupackes

* Once the cupcakes have baked, take them out of the oven and let them cool down completely.

* Once cooled, use a cupcake corer if you have one or like me use a sharp knife to core the cupcake from the center.

* Fill the cupcakes with lemon curd. Repeat with all the cupcakes.

Frost The Chocolate Ganache

* Once all the cupcakes are filled, set them aside and make the chocolate ganache.

* Add heavy cream in pan on medium heat. Let the cream heat up a bit but do not boil it. Remove it from heat when you see little bubble popping up.

* Pour the hot cream over the chopped chocolate. Also add 1/4 teaspoon butter [optional]

* Set aside the mixture for 2-3 minutes and then take a spoon and whisk the mixture till chocolate and cream are mixed together completely.

* Let the ganache cool down, it will become thick as it cools down.

* Frost the cupcakes with cooled ganache and enjoy.