Oranges and Lemons and Limes, Oh My!

I'm a fan of citrus flavored cakes and have already made some successful lemon flavored cupcakes, but when I saw this Triple-Cirtus Cupcake recipe with a Citrus Glaze on Martha Stewart's website, I just knew I had to try these.

One thing that was nice about this recipe was that the citrus glaze could be added when the cupcakes were still warm. Since I was making these in a time crunch, this was a huge time-saver. Plus, I got to deliver a batch of cupcakes that were fresh from the oven. Yum.

It was also nice that the recipe makes 32 cupcakes. This was enough to bring one batch to dance, one batch to work, and still have a few left over for bartering* and for Sam.

*Cupcakes are great for bartering. :) I traded two of these cupcakes for two giant fresh cucumbers. Not too shabby!


Here are the pictures:

Like I said, this recipe makes a lot of cupcakes!

There is no baking powder or soda in the recipe so they don't rise much.

Some of these could have used a little more batter in the baking cup.

The recipe says to dip the cupcake in the glaze.

I did this for one and then decided that it would be easier to just spoon the glaze on.

Not the prettiest of presentations, but the glaze got all melty and delicious!

Mmmmm... melty glaze.

I was also supposed to put some lime zest on top.

I zested the lime to do so, and then forgot about it. Oops.

The cake was dense and delicious. Especially when warm.

Overall, these cupcakes rocked!

Here is the recipe:

Makes 32 cupcakes

INGREDIENTS

Cupcakes

3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons coarse salt
1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
3 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest (from 3 lemons)
3 tablespoons finely grated orange zest (from 2 oranges)
3 tablespoons finely grated lime zest, plus more for garnish (from 3 limes)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
9 large eggs, room temperature

Glaze

1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

1/4 teaspoon finely grated citrus zest, such as orange, lemon, or lime
3 tablespoons fresh citrus juice, such as orange, lemon, or lime

DIRECTIONS

Cupcakes

- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. 

- Whisk together flour and salt.

- With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, scraping down sides of bowl every few minutes. 

- Add citrus zests. 

- Reduce speed to medium, and add vanilla. 

- Add eggs, three at a time, beating until until incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Reduce speed to low. 

- Add flour mixture in four batches, beating until completely incorporated after each.

- Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full; tap pans on countertop once to distribute batter. 

- Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. 

- Transfer tins to wire racks to cool 10 minutes; turn out cupcakes onto racks and let cool completely. Cupcakes can be stored up to 2 days at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.

Glaze

- Whisk all ingredients until smooth and combined. Use immediately.

- To finish, dip tops of cupcakes in glaze, then turn over quickly and garnish with zest. Cupcakes are best eaten the day they are glazed; keep at room temperature until ready to serve.

*These cupcakes are 6 points.