Lemon Mini Cupcakes: A Day Without Chocolate

The interesting thing about today’s post is not what it is about. It is what it is not about. There is no chocolate in this recipe. Have I lost my mind? Perhaps, but that’s not why today’s post features a lemon-based recipe without any chocolate. It’s because Friday’s post will work in the chocolate. Intrigued? Be sure to come back then. For today, check out the creamy lemon-scented mini cupcakes I whipped up based on inspiration from allrecipes.

Ingredients

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

1 ½ tablespoons grated lemon peel

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon baking power

½ teaspoon salt

2 cups sour cream

The cupcake ingredient list is pretty standard, but I loved the little extras: the sour cream to make the cakes softer and lighter, and the lemon peel to incorporate a hint of lemon without acidifying the cupcakes.

I preheated the oven to 350° F, filled my mini-cupcake pan with liners, and got ready to make some delicious lemon-scented batter. I started out by mixing together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a bowl, and then set that aside to get to my favorite part: creaming the butter, adding the sugar, then adding the eggs one at a time and finally stirring the vanilla and lemon peel into this fluffy batter starter.

I resisted pulling up a chair and a spoon, and proceeded to alternate mixing the dry ingredients and sour cream, starting and ending with the dry ingredients. I filled the mini cupcake liners thre quarters of the way to the top, put the pan in the oven for 16 minutes, and was greeted with a pleasing lemon scent and some beautiful cupcakes.

Lemon and chocolate go together so well. On Friday, you’ll see how they go together in this case.