Lemon Burst Cupcakes

First of all, thanks to Betty Crocker's facebook fan page, I got a lot of traffic due to my Chocolate Penuche Cupcakes post! How exciting! 

The penuche cupcakes turned out so well, that even before they re-posted my post I had gone to the store to buy what I needed to try my hand at a few more of their recipes! This is their recipe for Lemon Burst Cupcakes.

This is soooooooo, SO easy to make! First, get a box of white cake mix and bake cupcakes according to the box. I actually happened to use a Betty Crocker cake mix. Oh and for those of you who don't know, Betty Crocker now makes gluten free boxed mixes! That has been a lifesaver for me! Another great brand of gluten-free mixes (and everything else!) is Pamela's Products. But since I'm sending these cupcakes to work with my husband, and not eating them myself, I used the general BC white cake mix. 

Least favorite part... separating the egg whites... I'm not good at keeping the yoke in the shells, so usually resort to using my hand.

What makes these ordinary cupcakes so unique and tasty is the lemon curd center! Not going to lie, I had to search at the store for a bit before I found it. This was the only kind they had, and was easy to miss. 

After the cupcakes have baked, cooled in the pan for 10 minutes and then cooled an extra 20 to 30 minutes on cooling racks, you can start to make the holes for the filling. Use the bottom of a spoon handle and spin it back and forth to get a hole. Go almost to the bottom, but not all the way. 

Next I placed the lemon curd in a piping bag and filled the holes I had previously made in the cupcakes. 

Whip up some fluffy white icing to pipe on top... and dust with sprinkles and you're done! See, sooo easy! 

The recipe I followed did their icing and sprinkles a little differently so I also gave that a try. They frosted the whole top and then rolled the cupcake edges around in sprinkles. I just prefer the look of icing piped on. 

I am also trying my hand at Betty Crocker's Toasted Almond Cupcakes with Caramel Frosting recipe. I decided to do a cake instead of cupcakes. The cake is cooling right now, but blog post to follow soon!

Toasted Almond Cake with Caramel Frosting coming soon!

Chocolate Penuche Cupcakes

I found a recipe from Betty Crocker for cupcakes with a penuche filling (in case you are curious penuche is pronounced "panucci" and is a fudge-like candy made from caramelizing brown sugar). I basically followed the Betty Crocker directions, but I used a different cupcake mix. You can use whatever chocolate cupcake mix you want, just make sure to add a teaspoon of vanilla. 

Place cupcake liners in the pan before you start mixing the batter. It is important to place the batter in the pan and bake it as quickly as possible after beating and this removes an extra step. I always spray the cupcake liners with cooking spray so the cupcakes remain intact when you remove the liners. 

Getting the batter from the mixing bowl to the liners is the worst part, I think. I hate the mess. Using a 1/4 measuring cup helps. I need to invest in a cupcake batter dispenser. Bake cupcakes as directed.

While the cupcakes are baking, start on the penuche frosting. First, melt a cup of butter (two sticks) over medium heat. Measure out two cups of packed brown sugar. 

Add the 2 cups of brown sugar to the melted butter and stir. Continue stirring constantly until the butter/brown sugar mixture starts to boil.

Reduce heat to low and let the butter/brown sugar mixture boil for two minutes while you stir. The process looks like this:

Stir in 1/2 cup of milk and heat it till it boils.

Remove butter/brown sugar/milk mixture from heat and pour into a mixing bowl. Place the bowl in the refrigerator for about an hour or till the temperature is under 90°.

By now your batch of cupcakes should be done. Remove them from the muffin pan to cool. 

After the cupcakes cool, remove them from the liners. Next, use a serrated knife to horizontally cut the cupcakes in half.

While I was still waiting for the penuche to cool in the fridge, I attempted to grate 1 oz of baking chocolate to garnish the cupcakes with. This didn't seem to work very well, or look very pretty, so I ended up slicing the chocolate into small pieces with a knife.

Once the penuche has cooled for about an hour, remove it from the fridge. Mix in 4 cups of powdered sugar.

Now you are ready to frost. I placed a generous amount of frosting between the two layers and spread it around using a small icing knife. 

Then I put the remainder of the icing in a bag and piped it on the top and garnished the cupcake with the chocolate pieces I cut up earlier. 

They turned out very tasty! Wish everyone was here to try one... yum!

Sarah Came to Visit Me!!!!

Miss Sarah F came to visit me for a few days! So much fun! I needed girl time and miss hanging out with my buddy =) 

Sarah got here Thursday afternoon. We spent some time chatting then headed out so Miguel could study for his test without the noise of giggling girls. Sarah and I went to dinner at Cha Bella, one of my favorite restaurants in Savannah. Sarah and I both got the Vegetarian Fettuccini with roasted sweet potato, parsnips, leeks, and carrots with a caramelized onion marsala cream. It was really good... besides the parsnips. I will definitely get that again. Which is saying something, because their filet is really good, and I almost always order a filet. 

After dinner we went to Jen's & Friends. We both tried the Savannah Bee Vanilla martini. SOO good! I don't think I will try another variety again. I'm sticking to this drink!

The Savannah Bee and vanilla martini

After drinks we went to River Street and then up to Rocks on the Roof to see the views. Afterwards we met up with some friends and hung out for a bit before we went home and crashed into bed. It was a little cold once the sun went down and we were happy to get into warm beds. 

It is March... Brrrr

Friday morning Sarah and I woke up intent on heading to the beach. We put on our suits and cover ups before going outside. Ummm... yeah it was freezing! It was only like 67°. We took the dog to the park and ate some lunch downtown, then decided it was too cold to A) go to the beach and B) stay in our bathing suits any longer! So we headed home and took naps! Ha.

Emma had to sit on Sarah's lap on the way to the park.

We did eventually peel ourselves out of bed to go check out Bonaventure Cemetery. You may know of it as it was featured in the movie Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Sarah has family buried there. It was pretty neat to have a connection in such a historic place. 

Bonaventure is so large! And Sarah is soo small!

Sarah's family's plot

Friday night we went to the Crystal Beer Parlor for dinner with some friends and then to Savannah Smiles.

Crystal Beer Parlor

Tim and Miguel at dinner

Savannah Smiles... dueling piano bar.

So apparently Sarah's first memory of me is from high school where I told her I had a special talent of tying my hair around my nose and it would stay. Yes, I don't know why she is friends with me. 

Sarah trying to be as cool as me... 

I don't feel as special now... Sarah could finally do it 

Saturday we slept in a bit, force fed Sarah some espresso (because she had never had it before!), and then headed to the beach!

Cuddles in the morning!

Sarah trying her espresso

The girls sun bathed and read trashy magazines

The boys played football

I had a big hat =)

This kid worked on his sand hole the whole time we were at the beach. That thing was deep! He was around the age of ten, so he wasn't that short.

Pretty day, it was warm, but not in the 80's like last week.

After hanging at the beach for a while, we packed up and headed home to shower and then head back out. We spent the afternoon/evening cooking out at Jason's place. We took the corn hole and played some, in between rain showers. Poor Miguel got stuck standing in the rain grilling. We had loads of yummy food. After Jason's we stopped by a friends to try their moonshine they were distilling. I had a glass of wine... Miguel told me horror stories about people going blind when they drank moonshine.

"Miguel, STOP eating!" 

Sunday we slept and chilled while Miguel went to his flag football games. He got stuck out in Pooler while he waited out some pretty nasty storms. We got a lot of lightning and hail. 

So sad Sarah's visit came to an end! Love her and loved having her to visit!