Brunching With Babies

In a previous post Haley wrote that when chocolate is unavailable, heaven forbid, lemon is the next best choice in the dessert world. Her observation must have fluttered through my brain last week as I dug through cupboards and recipe books. I was holding a Victoria day brunch for my siblings and their children. The bagels and eggs had been bought and the ingredients for a hollandaise sauce stood ready. I need a dessert-yes, even breakfast warrants treats-but my cocoa jar was empty. Fortunately, I found three large lemons rolling around my crisper. As the brunch promised to be filling, I wanted dessert to be a few mouthfuls of sweetness. A cake or pie seemed too heavy handed and unbrunch like. I opted for mini cupcakes. A few weeks ago Caleb found miniature muffin tins at the thriftstore in Sidney. Almost every bowl, spoon, and pan in my kitchen is secondhand. I find the older cookware to be durable. Plus it comes in funky retro colours. For these mini lemon cupcakes, I used a recipe for lemon loaf from the Moosewood Desserts Cookbooks. Then, in salute to the cupcake my mom used to make when I was little, I mixed up a batch of lemon curd, cut out the centres, and filled each cake.
1/2 cup butter (I reduced it to 1/3)
3/4 cup packed brown sugar (I used half white, half brown for a lighter texture)
2 eggs
1 Tbsp of lemon zest
1 and 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk (I used 3/4 cup butter milk to accommodate for the reduced amount of butter)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (I omitted the nuts)

Cream butter and brown sugar
Beat in eggs one at a time.
Add the lemon peel.
Separate bowl: Sift flour, b. powder, and salt.
Alternately add the flour mixture and the milk to the creamed mixture, beating until JUST combined after each addition. Stir in nuts (if using).

Pour into a loaf pan. Bake at 350 for 45 to 60 mins.
Or
Pour into mini muffin tin. Bake at 350 for 15 to 20 min.

Cool and then cover with lemon glaze.

Lemon Glaze:
In a saucepan over medium heat, combine 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice with 1/4 cup sugar. Poke holes in cake with a toothpick. Pour glaze over.

Then, cut a circle out of the top of each cupcake, fill it with lemon curd (not glaze). Take the piece you cut out of the cupcake and cut it in half. Arrange pieces on top of the cupcake.

Lemon Curd:
Mix in a saucepan: Juice of two lemons, 1 Tbsp lemon zest, 1/4 cup sugar. Heat, stirring constantly until sauce thickens. Take off heat. Run through a mesh strainer. Optional: mix in 2 Tbsp butter in pieces (Most recipes call for 1/2 cup butter but this seems unnecessary).

Pop (into your mouth) and enjoy!