Lemon Tree Cupcakes

Having exhausted every idea associated with lemons, I asked for suggestions from my housemate. She promptly replied, “How about a lemon tree?”

Yes – how about it?

Lemon Cupcakes

(makes 9 cupcakes)

Ingredients

100g butter, room temperature
100g caster sugar
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
2 eggs
100g self raising flour

Method

1. Preheat oven to 160° Celcius (fan forced).
2. Cream butter and sugar together until light in colour and fluffy (about 5 minutes).
3. Add zest and eggs and mix until combined. Mixture may look slightly curdled but nothing to worry about.
4. Add flour and mix until well incorporated. Pour batter into a piping bag.
5. Pipe mixture into cupcake liners in a cupcake pan (fill 2/3rds of the way up).
6. Bake in oven for 18-20 minutes or until cupcake springs back when pressed gently.

Lemon Curd

Ingredients

160g caster sugar
2 eggs
Juice and rind of 2 lemons
80g butter, melted

Method

1. Whisk eggs and sugar together until smooth in a microwave safe container.
2. Stir in lemon juice, lemon rind and butter.
3. Pop into the microwave and cook for 60 seconds. Remove from microwave and stir thoroughly.
4. Repeat Step 3 until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon and when a line is drawn through it with your finger it stays nice and sharp.
5. Leave to cool before use.

Lemon Tree

Equipment and Ingredients

Milk chocolate, melted
White chocolate, melted
Green gel food colouring
Yellow gel food colouring
3 piping bags
Waxed paper
Lemon tree template (available here)

Method

1. Place lemon tree template underneath wax paper.
2. Pour melted milk chocolate into a piping bag and pipe the tree trunk.
3. Leave until fully set.
4. Mix some green gel food colouring into a portion of the melted white chocolate and place into piping bag. Pipe leaves of tree. This is done by piping a small dot and drawing the tip of the bag away, creating a tail that resembles the tips of the leaves. Leave until fully set.
5. Mix some yellow gel food colouring into remaining melted white chocolate and place into piping bag. Pipe lemons onto tree by piping small dots.
6. Leave to set fully.
7. Remove from waxed paper by carefully peeling the wax paper away. I like to do it at the edge of the table.
8. Your lemon tree is ready for use!

Assembly

1. Cut a slot into the lemon cupcake in desired area that is slightly longer than the width of the chocolate tree trunk.
2. Gently insert tree into slot.
3. Pipe or spoon lemon curd onto cupcake.

Photography

Unfortunately, I forgot to photograph my set up for this project! However, it is similar to that of my Flamingo Cupcakes. The only difference was the props. In this particular photograph, the gray background is a cashmere scarf and the cupcake is sitting on a burlap bag.

And that’s all for today’s post! I have an extremely busy week ahead but I will try my best to be on time for my next post. Blogging and full time work is not easy!