Baking again

Sunday I baked these delicious lemon cupcakes with lemon glaze. A friend, who is an expert baker, recommended the recipe from About.com. I am thinking about substituting a small orange for the lemon and making a variation.



The recipe can be found here. http://southernfood.about.com/od/lemoncakes/r/bl1102f.htm

I substituted plain yogurt for the sour cream, added lemon juice and 1tsp of vanilla extract. Added 1/2 tsp vanilla to the glaze as well and made about half. Obviously I baked the recipe as cupcakes instead of a cake. Twenty-five minutes were a perfect time and I had 18 cupcakes, although I think that if I had filled the tins more evenly I could have made 24. (And would have needed more glaze.) I am a life long choc-a-holic ; these were so good, I am not sure I did not prefer them to chocolate.

Two of my favorite new tools are depicted below.


The bowl is a soft plastic one with a "grabber" ring on the bottom. No skid. The black tool is from Pampered Chef. I think they call it an avocado masher. It does a great job of creaming sugar and butter and of beating and mixing. I love it. I could not handle an electric mixer, so do not miss having one. This tool makes baking possible again. Serious plug.

I am looking at two recipes for blueberry frosting and also looking at a cocoa lavender cupcake recipe. Too many ideas, too little time. (Too many calories, not enough people to share them with!)

I am grateful for the interlude of cool weather--it actually rained for about six minutes last night--and the time I spent baking.