Orange Poppyseed and Lemon Poppyseed Cupcakes

I use any excuse to bake. Shakespeare in the Park for The Boston Couples Meetup was a great reason. Cupcakes are my favorite… the perfect portion of cake. Well, I have had Cupcake Heaven by Susannah Blake for awhile and figured now is the time to crack it open and give it a go. I picked her recipe for Orange Poppyseed Cupcakes but made some modifications to it and made a version with lemon (thanks to a suggestion from Ben at work).

Orange/Lemon Poppyseed Cupcakes

Makes 12 cupcakes

1 stick of unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

1/2 cup of sugar

2 eggs, at room temperature

4 tablespoons of orange juice or 3 tablespoons of lemon juice +1 tablespoon vanilla extract

zest of whole orange/lemon

1 cup of self rising flour

1 tablespoon of poppyseeds

Marscapone Frosting

8 oz of marscapone cheese

1 cup of powdered sugar, sifted

juice of orange/lemon

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Line a 12 cup cupcake pan with wrappers.

Beat the butter and sugar until creamy and pale. Gently beat in the eggs one at a time. Add in the zest, juice of the citrus, and poppyseeds, then sift in the flour and fold all to combine. Divide the batter evenly between the cupcakes. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until toothpick is inserted and comes out clean. Let cool on a wire rack. Once the cupcakes have cooled completely ice them with the frosting. decorate with sections of citrus, sprinkles, or candied citrus.

The frosting is made by combining the mascapone in a bowl with sifted powdered sugar and juice until desired consistency and taste is reached. Mix until smooth.

*There will be a little batter in each wrapper, but it rises substantially to fill the cupcake wrappers