let's start at the very beginning...

Oh hello!!!

Welcome to afters & such! I am so very excited to have a place to share my recipes and all of the other little fun ideas that swirl around in my head all day long. So for my first post, I thought I would share a Springy cupcake recipe that may just have the very best frosting I have ever tasted in my life!

I came up with this combo for our Easter brunch and then baked them again this week for a friend who needed some treats for work. I had made all of the elements before separately and thought putting them together might be a delicious idea. And it was. I started with one of my fave recipes, a lemon-limcello cupcake that is super moist and flavorful. I wanted to incorporate raspberries, so I whipped up a raspberry filling and topped it off with a white chocolate buttercream recipe that I found on Pinterest. These cupcake are perfect for a Spring party. Or just because. Sometimes that is the best reason to bake!

Lemon-Limoncello Cupcakes

Makes 1 dozen cupcakes

1½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 ounces (½ stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
3 tablespoons limoncello
½ cup buttermilk
¼ cup lemon juice, minus a tablespoon*
Zest of one lemon

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and position a rack in the center. Line a cupcake pan with liners.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. 

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter, cream cheese and sugar on medium speed until light and creamy, 2-3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the limoncello and beat an additional minute. 

On low speed, add flour mixture and buttermilk alternatively, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Add the lemon juice and zest (I used organic lemons from Trader Joes for the zest) and mix on low speed just until incorporated. 

Divide the batter between 12 muffin tins. I fill the cupcake liners a little more than usual as these cupcakes do not rise all that much.

Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the middle comes out clean. I baked mine for 18 minutes and they were perfect. Cool in pan for about 5 minutes then cool completely on a wire rack. 

*I added an extra tablespoon of limoncello, so I offset this addition by adding less lemon juice.

{source: slightly adapted from Brown Eyed Baker}

Raspberry Filling

Makes enough to fill a dozen cupcakes (there will be extra)

2 cups of frozen unsweetened raspberries, thawed with 1/4 cup of sugar

1 and 1/4 cups of water

1/3 cup of sugar

3 tablespoons of corn starch

1 teaspoon of lemon juice

In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, combine water, sugar, corn starch, and lemon juice. Mix well (I used a fork to kind of break up the corn starch and help it blend better). Heat and stir until the mixture becomes thick and starts to boil. Let this mixture cool completely and then stir in the thawed raspberries.

Once the cupcakes are cooled, use an apple corer to remove the centers of the cupcakes. Put the filling in a pastry bag to fill (I used a Wilton round 1A tip). The raspberries are big, but they will slide right through the tip.

White Chocolate Buttercream

Makes about 3 1/2 cups

1 cup (2 sticks) of butter, softened

6 ounces of white chocolate, chopped very fine

1/3 cup plus a tablespoon of whipping cream

1 1/2 to 2 cups of powered sugar, sifted

Place white baking chocolate in a large mixing bowl; set aside.

In a small saucepan heat whipping cream just until simmering. Pour over white baking chocolate; let stand, without stirring, for 5 minutes. Stir until smooth; let stand for 15 minutes. 

Gradually beat butter into melted white chocolate mixture with an electric mixer on medium to high speed, beating until combined. Beat in powdered sugar (I add 1/2 cup at a time) until frosting reaches piping or spreading consistency. Frost as desired!

*Tip: the smaller the pieces of white chocolate, the easier they are to melt and then piping will be easier.

{source: slightly adapted from BHG}

Here is what my finished product looked like:

I apologize for not having more pictures! I promise next post will be more visual!

I have to thank the lovely ladies at Hello Monday Design for creating my new logo as well as this elegant blog. They are amazing!!!!

I hope everyone has a wonderful week!