The Spiced Life

Musings & Recipes From My Kitchen

  • Home
  • About Me
  • FAQ
  • Dishes By Region
  • Archive and Index
  • Creative Cookie Exchange
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy
You are here: Home / berries / Wrapping Up Alex’s Birthday: Lemon Serviceberry Cupcakes With Lemon Cream Frosting

Wrapping Up Alex’s Birthday: Lemon Serviceberry Cupcakes With Lemon Cream Frosting

June 19, 2009 By Laura 7 Comments

Sharing is caring!

  • Facebook
  • Yummly
  • Twitter
  • Email


Alex’s birthday celebrations ended up taking 3 days. 3 because her party had to be on a Sunday, we hosted playgroup on Monday and celebrated her birthday, and her actual birthday was on Tuesday. I did not go crazy with the food all 3 days, of course, but I did make cupcakes for playgroup, which I wanted to share, and of course I promised to let you know what we did with the tropical fruit sauce for the seafood and pork on Sunday.


Do you remember that Lime Cilantro Chicken with Tropical Fruit Salsa that I made when my sister came to visit? The salsa recipe made copious quantities, and so Josie suggested I freeze what was left for Alex’s birthday. So I simmered that salsa, blitzed it with an immersion blender, simmered some more to thicken and reduce, added guava and pepper jellies, and then added lime juice and mango and kiwi chunks. It worked out perfectly and was a great way to use up the extra salsa.


So about those cupcakes… I told you all that I was so in love with that lemon cream that I wanted to use it in a dessert for Alex’s birthday playgroup, and so I used it as frosting for a lemon cupcake. I decided to put serviceberries into the cupcakes since I had picked them up at the farmers’ market the previous Saturday. Serviceberries are a berry that is in season, around here anyway, in June (hence, some people call them juneberries) and although they look a lot like blueberries, they are not as intense until cooked (at least not the ones sold at this farmers’ market–my sister tells me she bought some in Columbus that are quite intense). They also have a single seed, like a stone fruit, although it is edible.


The lemon cream topping was awesome on these cupcakes. It may be that it was a waste of berries as the sweet tart cream kind of overwhelmed their flavor, although they still made for a nice visual presentation. The topping perfectly complemented the sweet cake below it. I highly recommend this combination, although of course they must be eaten soon after frosting.


Lemon Berry Cupcakes
Adapted from Hello, Cupcake!

2 1/2 cups (315 g) AP flour
1 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
4 oz cream cheese, softened
8 T (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 T lemon zest
1 t vanilla
1 1/2 cups berries of choice

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line 2 muffin tins (for a total of 24 muffins) with paper liners. Spray lightly with oil.

Whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

Cream together the butter and cream cheese on medium until well blended. Add the sugar and cream until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each one. Add the lemon zest and vanilla and beat to combine–be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the flour in 3 additions and the milk in 2, alternating, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Mix on low. Fold by hand at the end to make sure it is all incorporated.

Fill the muffin cups 1/3 full. Drop a few berries (5-8 for blueberry sized berries, for example) into the batter and press gently. Fill the remaining batter into the cups to cover the berries, for a total of 2/3 full for each cup. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until a cake tester inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean, with only a few crumbs attached. When cool and ready to eat, frost with lemon cream.

Filed Under: berries, cakes, cupcakes, lemon baked goods

« Happy Belated Birthday Alex! Worms in Dirt Mousse Cups
Mint Chocolate Dalmatians »

Comments

  1. Amy says

    June 19, 2009 at 9:13 pm

    Sounds delicious!

    Reply
  2. HoneyB says

    June 20, 2009 at 5:36 am

    yum, yum, gimme some! 😉
    You know how to draw me in with a pic of a sweet treat!

    Reply
  3. Vicci says

    June 20, 2009 at 10:35 am

    Well heavens, let's try this again and check the spelling this time!!!

    Laura,
    you are a wealth of information! 🙂 We were planning on planting several serviceberry shrubs years ago because of their adaptability to our area (and the flowers, I love anything that flowers!) but I never knew that the berries were edible.

    Our "big rains" came on Wednesday, and although we were prepared again last night for the severe weather forecast, nothing materialized but a few thunderclaps and pretty nasty wind gusts. I know how your girls feel about not sleeping when the weather is unsettled– I lost a lot of sleep time last night due to the heat and humidity which the fans just were not taking care of.

    Ahhhh, summer! 😀 I'll take this over winter storms any day!

    Reply
  4. Grace says

    June 20, 2009 at 1:41 pm

    serviceberries, what? i'm unfamiliar with this berry, which is unacceptable! thanks for the intro and the link!
    meanwhile, pepper jelly rules. (insert flood of drool here.)

    Reply
  5. That Girl says

    June 20, 2009 at 6:15 pm

    I've never heard of serviceberries, but I'm totally intrigued.

    Reply
  6. Simran says

    June 21, 2009 at 2:28 am

    So cute!

    Do pass on my belated birthday wishes to Alex

    Reply
  7. Ingrid says

    June 22, 2009 at 10:28 am

    I love the healthy portion of frosting! Speaking of frosting it looks soooo creamy. The kind that makes you want to dip your finger into it and have a taste sans cake.

    Btw, thanks for the serviceberry info. I hadn't ever heard of them.
    ~ingrid

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Hi! I’m Laura and I am a recovering history major who has re-channeled all of my passion for learning about the history of different countries to learning about their food culture. That doesn’t mean every dish on here is strictly authentic, but it does mean that even my adaptations are not undertaken lightly. My goal is to show you–by doing–that these dishes are possible in your kitchen. Including desserts because I have quite the sweet tooth! Read More…

Twitter Facebook Pinterest Instagram
Enter your email here and never miss a post!

Popular Posts

  • Restaurant Style Beef Vindaloo
  • Taralli Dolci di Pasqua (Southern Italian Easter Cookies): #CreativeCookieExchange
  • Mexican Ramen Bowl
  • Grandma’s Beef and Noodles
  • New Orleans Style Pain Perdu (French Toast)
  • Moroccan Inspired Couscous Bowl with Ground Beef, Veggies and Caramelized Onions (redux)
  • Saag Gosht (Beef in Fragrant Spinach Sauce)
  • Middle Eastern Scrambled Eggs with Meat and Onion: Review of An Edible Mosaic
  • North Indian Baked Eggs: Review of Seven Spoons
  • Goan Influenced Goat Stew in the Slow Cooker

Copyright © 2008–2023 The Spiced Life