MSCC: Triple Citrus Cupcakes

So I joined this Martha Stewart Cupcake Club and I am so excited!!  This "club" is a group of bakers who are baking their way through the Martha Stewart's Cupcakes cookbook.  Each month a different cupcake is selected, and everyone bakes and blogs all about it.  The August cupcake is this summery Triple Citrus.

Let me start off by saying that while I was thrilled to have the opportunity to do this, I was not thrilled with the flavor of the month.  I'm really not a huge citrus person.  Well ok, the yellow and green Mike 'n Ikes are my favorite, but they don't count.  But I'm willing to give it a whirl and see what I wind up with.  After all, this may be another recipe to earn a coveted plastic page protector in my 3-ring recipe binder.

So I started gathering my ingredients together, flour, sugar, 1lb of butter and 9 eggs....   Seriously?!  I was floored by the amount of butter, until I read 9 eggs!  Mentally I kept repeating "divided over 36 cupcakes".  It's a protein packed snack!

It's the recipe of large quantities.  I began zesting my lemons, limes and oranges.  9 TBS of zest is quite zesty!

I began mixing the ingredients just as I was told, then I went through the recipe again just to make sure I didn't miss anything.  That's when I noticed that this recipe doesn't call for any leavening agent, no baking powder, no baking soda...nothing.  Just 9 eggs.  This would be when my stomach sank.  Did my Martha leave out a key ingredient?  No, not her meticulous self.  This must be the reason for the eggs right?


Surprisingly the batter came out really thick.  It smelled amazingly good.  I was a little concerned that with all the zest that it would a bit too over-the-top citrus tasting for me.  I wasn't about to sample.  You can't have good odds with 9 raw eggs.

I began filling the liners and was really stumped as to how high to fill them.  For a normal batter I fill them 3/4 of the way full.  Which is what I wound up doing this time.  However, I was concerned that these would not rise and I'd wind up with little squatty cakes that didn't reach the top of the paper.  The recipe said to tap the tins after they were filled to level out the batter.  I tried slamming those suckers, and that batter was so thick it wasn't budging.

So off in the over they went.  My fingers crossed that this would not be a huge disaster.  I honestly didn't have high hopes for these cupcakes.  20 minutes later and I was surprised by the result.

They rose!  Although as you can see they still didn't come to the top of the paper.  These are supposed to be dipped in the glaze and it would be a little more difficult with them so short.  I let them cool then attempted the citrus glaze and lime zest garnish.

Now for the big test.  Unleash them on the masses.  These cupcakes went flying!  People came back for seconds!  Even the nutty marathon runner who eats healthy all the time (yes I'm talking about you).  The cake wasn't super heavy like I feared, although it definitely was a denser cake.  It wasn't greasy at all, which I was worried about from the butter.  And it had just enough citrus taste to make it refreshing without being overbearing.  This is an awesome cupcake!  The only thing I would change is that I would reduce the quantity from 36 cupcakes and make fewer larger ones.  I'd definitely fill the liners higher.  Overall, it is worthy of one of my plastic page protectors.

In case you want to venture into making this citrus indulgence, here is the link to the recipe:

Triple-Citrus Cupcakes

Enjoy!

3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons coarse salt

1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

2 cups sugar

3 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest (from 3 lemons)

3 tablespoons finely grated orange zest (from 2 oranges)

3 tablespoons finely grated lime zest, plus more for garnish (from 3 limes)

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

9 large eggs, room temperature

Read more at Marthastewart.com: Triple-Citrus Cupcakes and more delicious recipes, smart cooking tips, and video demonstrations on marthastewart.com

3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons coarse salt

1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

2 cups sugar

3 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest (from 3 lemons)

3 tablespoons finely grated orange zest (from 2 oranges)

3 tablespoons finely grated lime zest, plus more for garnish (from 3 limes)

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

9 large eggs, room temperature

Read more at Marthastewart.com: Triple-Citrus Cupcakes and more delicious recipes, smart cooking tips, and video demonstrations on marthastewart.com