Shasta Daisy Lemon Cupcakes

This week marks the end of March, the second week of spring and my birthday. To celebrate, I am making shasta daisy lemon cupcakes.

The Story

It doesn’t feel like spring with the snow we received earlier this week. I also don’t feel a year older or wiser, even though it was my birthday. There is still so much I don’t know, like how to grow a great garden, but that doesn’t stop me from trying. Last spring I planted a shasta daisy and rhubarb along the side of the house. I also tried container gardening and planted tomatoes, jalapenos and green onions in huge pots.

Things were going well until we were invaded by an army of these evil yellow beetles. I first tried spraying my plants with soapy water, and the beetles didn’t even flinch. Then I tossed aside my dreams of an organic garden and showered my plants in insecticide. The beetles just laughed at my efforts and kept on eating as if I had just added their favorite salad dressing to their mixed salad.

The only things those beetles didn’t eat were my green onions and my shasta daisy. While the daisy survived the beetle invasion, I’m not sure it will survive Old Man Winter. Right now it looks very dead. I hope the daisy comes back to life, but not the beetles.

In the meantime, let’s make some daisy cupcakes.

About the Recipe

For the cupcakes, I am making Lemon Cream Cupcakes from Allrecipes. The only change I am making to the original recipe is to substitute lemon extract for the vanilla to give the cupcakes more lemon flavor.

For the frosting, I am making my favorite cream cheese frosting recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook, with a couple of twists. Again, I am using lemon extract instead of vanilla and I will top it with coconut so it has the same shaggy look as my shasta daisy.

The Cast of Characters

Lemon extract and lemon zest are the secret ingredients that give these cupcakes their lemon flavor.

The Play-by-Play

In a stand mixer, cream together the sugar and butter.

Add the eggs, one at a time.

In another bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add part of the dry ingredients to the butter, sugar and egg mixture.

Add part of the sour cream. Continue to add the flour mixture and sour cream alternately.

Fill paper-lined muffin cups with 1/4 cup of batter in each cup.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let the cupcakes cool in the muffin tins for 10 minutes.

Remove the muffins from the pan and let them cool completely on wire racks.

While the muffins cool, combine cream cheese, butter, lemon extract and powdered sugar to make the frosting.

Pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes with a piping bag and star tip. Sprinkle with yellow nonpareils and coconut.

Recipe: Lemon Cream Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

The Footnotes

• About decorating: To make the cupcakes look like daisies, once the cupcakes are cool apply the cream cheese frosting using a piping bag with star tip to make the frosting look like flower petals. Keep the cream cheese cool as you decorate so it holds its shape. Mine started to get warm and runny toward the end of decorating. Also add yellow nonpareils to the center to look like flower seeds. Then sprinkle the “petals” with shredded coconut.
• About storing: Store frosted cupcakes in the refrigerator if you are not going to eat them immediately.

What are you looking forward to most about spring?