Cupcake 18 - Raspberry Lemon

Peer pressure is tough.

I work in an ad agency and by default we get lots of comp subscriptions to magazines, Bon Appetite is one of them. May's issue has 3 gorgeous cupcakes on the cover. All week coworkers have been showing up in my office or stopping me in the hall to give me the magazine and point out the beautifully styled cupcakes. I nodded in agreement repeatedly, inspecting the perfectly tanned cupcakes with even more perfect iced circles floating like an island crowned with a single raspberry. Very simple, very classic. Everyone asked if I was going to make "them?" The voice in my head told me to stay away. I knew the perfectness would drive me crazy, after all, I don't have a food stylist at my beckon call. Oh, I knew I could go head to head with the folks at Bon Appetite on taste, but not looks. And deep down I knew that frou-foru was not my thing, really. I'm more high quantity ingredients and taste-play kinda gal. Not a the one who relies on sculpted fondant and sugar roses. Do you see where this is going? I shelved this weeks' planned cupcake and ran headlong into the Bon Appetite gig all the while tormented by the perfect circle of icing.

It was a easy recipe after I overcame the "high math" well fractions, to make the original 12 cupcake recipe into something that would net 36 cupcakes. (BTW how does tripling a recipe net 48 cakes not 36?) Overall nice lemon cupcake. Good for spring. Milk based cakes tend to be heavy, this was not, dense enough, however to hold the jam filling in the center. I opted for a strawberry raspberry mixed jam after scoping out the options at my local Amish market. Surprisingly the lemon and raspberry icings were just enough to lend a sweetness without overpowering. As I predicted, my circle of icing was far from symmetrical. Damn food stylist.

Hopefully no one sees the new Food and Wine, cupcakes are everywhere inside.