Sant Jordi Lemon Cupcakes

Here's one of those recipes that make me proud of myself! Not only because it's a 100% customized and homemade recipe by me, also because these cuppies are really good! Spending the whole Friday afternoon at the kitchen was worth it. :-)

They're lemon cupcakes frosted with a delicate and soft lemon cream, decorated with Wilton's red decorating gel and fondant pink roses...topping it all off with the Catalan flag (also painted by me...I felt creative, hee hee)!
So today we celebrate here in Catalonia Sant Jordi's Day (or Saint George), one of the most popular and loved holidays here. Sant Jordi is the Patron Saint of the region and on April 23rd the tradition says that the girls have to give a book to the guys and the guys have to give roses to the girls.

The rose motif stems from the myth, since after Saint George killed the dragon, a rose came up where the dragon's blood was spilled. The book comes from the International Book Day: both Shakespeare and Cervantes died on April 23rd, both in 1616.

Barcelona looks really beautiful today, lots of roses and books parades hand in hand  throughout the streets and tempting sweets and special cakes to celebrate this day.

Now that I've introduced you to the festivity of Sant Jordi, let's start with the recipe. You'll see pics of the 'step-by-step' and the final result.

Click aquí para la receta en español!

Feliç Dia de Sant Jordi a tothom!

Lemon Cupcakes

Ingredients

(12 cupcakes, all ingredients at room temperature)

For the cake

150g butter.

150g sugar.

2 eggs.

150g wheat flour.

1 tsp baking powder.

grated lemon rind.

lemon juice.

For the cream

juice of 2 lemons.

grated rind of 1 lemon.

250g sugar.

100g butter.

2 eggs.

Directions

Preheat oven to 190ºC ( 374 ºF).

In a large electric mixer bowl beat butter and sugar until soft and light.

Add in eggs, lemon juice and its grated rind.

Combine flour and baking powder, gradually add this mixture to the batter beating well.

Pour the mixture into cupcake liners and bake for about 15 minutes (it'll always depend on your oven, I needed around 23 minutes to bake them well).

Take the cupcake pan out and let it set 5 minutes, finally remove them from pan and let cool completely on a wire rack.

  

Lemon Cream

Whip butter, lemon juice and grated rind and sugar over a water bath, using a hand whisk. Mix until the sugar is completely diluted.

Add in eggs, slightly whisked, slowly without stopping whisking (you must whisk constantly to keep the eggs from scrambling).

Mix a few more minutes until the cream it's thickened a bit. Remove from heat and let it cool completely. The cream will become more firm and thicker once it is cold. I recommend to prepare it the day before and chill in the fridge all night long.

You can store this cream in the refrigerator, inside a hermetic jar, around 2 or 3 weeks.

The contrast of this lemon cream with the cupcake is amazing! Intense and sweet at the same time.

Fondant Roses

I used Wilton's Meringue Powder to make the fondant for the roses. You can add any food coloring (I highly recommend to use the ones in gel) but I added a couple of drops of Wilton's Red Christmas color so I got a pink paste.

Note: special thanks to my sister for helping me out with the fondant roses! ;-)

...and here you have the final result! Hope you like it!