Candy Hearts

I am still stuck on lemons. I suppose it's because life keeps handing them to me and I still have a few left in my fridge. I'm also feeling very lovey. Again, it's probably because my husband has been away for so long and his return date is quickly approaching. I already sent him some Valentine's Day treats.....but what about me????? Don't I deserve some fresh baked goodies that tell me how much I love myself????

I do love myself, so I shall make me something heartwarming.....

My parents sent me a gift that came in the mail today. I sweet cupcake pan with heart shaped tops. The set is from Williams Sonoma and came with colored fondant and letter cookie cutters so you can make sweet little hearts with personal messages. So perfect time to bake "I love you" cupcakes that I will keep for myself. Stop it, you love it. Sometimes you bake things just because you want them and no one else likes it. Yes, I will admit, I will probably eventually eat every single delicious cake I make.

If you haven't done the same, you're lying. Stop lying to yourself, you should love yourself :) Eat a cupcake.

I don't reccomend this cake recipe for heart top shaped cupcakes. The batter is too fluffy and you'll end up with wonky inflated hearts like I did. The batter is delicious, though. So please make this in a normal cupcake pan. Even by itself it's superb. I'm proud of this recipe because it taste's great *she says after having eaten 2 cupcakes*.

Lemon Cupcakes

2 sticks unsalted butter
2 1/2 cups sugar
5 eggs (will be seperated later)
2 tsp. baking powder
12 tsp. salt
1 1/3 cup sifted cake flour
1 3/4 cups +2 tbl. +1 tsp. all purpose flour
1 cup sour cream
2 tbsp. lemon zest
2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line your cupcake pans with liners and set aside.

Start by seperating the fix eggs. Set aside the 5 egg yolks and in a mixer beat 5 egg whites until you get nice stiff peaks. Set aside egg white's because you won't need them again until the very end.

Sift cake flour, all purpose flour, salt, baking soda and set aside.

Using a mixer beat room temperature butter and sugar until light and fluffy. To this add egg yolks, lemon zest, and lemon juice and sour cream and beat until combined. Once combined, add the dry mixture a little at a time while scraping sides until all dry mixture is combined. Using a spoon, slowly incorporate the egg whites until they are all combined. Make sure you have scraped to the bottom of the bowl and that the batter has reached a consistent color. You don't want to have a mass of egg white's sitting in the bottom of the bowl.

Fill your cupcake liners only half way full. This is a very fluffy batter and will rise during baking. Bake for 15-2o minutes or until a wooden tooth pick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool and then frost.

Raspberry Cream Cheese Frosting

2 sticks unsalted butter
4 oz. of cream cheese
6-8 cups powdered sugar
1/2-1 cup seedless raspberry jam (depending on how you like it to taste)

Add butter and cream cheese to an electric mixer and beat until fluffy. Add desired amount of powder sugar. Once combined add raspberry jam and mix until combined.