Miss Kitty Bakes: Sour cream and lemon cupcakes with cream cheese frosting

Recently a very good friend of mine, The Floury Baker, had a birthday. She is an absolutely awesome chick who has her hands full with two gorgeous yet spunky kids under the age of two. Now, I complain about having no time to myself but she really has no time, yet she juggles mummyhood, baking and a blog with aplomb.

I made these cupcakes for her - she had a bit of a crap week and I wanted to give her a bit of a pick me up for her birthday. They were delicious and I hope they did the trick in lifting collective spirits. The sunny happy zesty lemon yellow certainly made my day and I will make these babies again and again. The sour cream gives the cake a delightful delectable softness yet the crumb remains moist and delicious.They are super easy to make and will have your friends oohing and aahing about your baking prowess.

Lemon sour cream cupcakes with cream cheese frosting
(Original recipe from SBS Food)

Cake:
125 g soft butter
220 g (1 cup) caster sugar
Zest of one lemon
3 medium eggs
2 tbsp lemon juice
150 g (1 cup) plain flour
60 g (1/3 cup) self-raising flour
100 g sour cream

Preheat oven to 180C. Line a 12 hole muffin tin with patty cases. Fancy ones, if you have them.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Scrape bowl down to make sure all the butter has been incorporated. Add lemon zest, then add eggs one by one, fully incorporating each one before adding the next. Stir through lemon juice. The mixture may look a bit curdled at this point, but press on.

Sift flours together and fold in carefully, alternating with sour cream. Mix to incorporate well.

Spoon into patty cases. Try not to eat too much of the batter - it really is delicious. Bake the cakes for 20 minutes. Test the cakes are done by inserting a skewer. If it comes out clean the cakes are ready; if it doesn’t, cook for a further few minutes and test again.

Allow to cool for 5 minutes, then remove cakes from tin and place on a rack, ready for icing. 

Frosting:
40g soft butter
125g cream cheese
Zest of one lemon
1 tbslp lemon juice
3 cups sifted icing sugar

Combine all ingredients until smooth and spread or pipe on cooled cupcakes. Makes enough for 24 cupcakes, but you know you'll make these again. Keeps covered in the fridge for up to 5 days.