Lemon Supreme Cupcakes

Mr. Juggling Act's family is full of great cooks, and get togethers are always a treat.  One of his aunts makes an amazingly moist and delicious lemon supreme pound bundt cake that will charm even those who aren't big lemon lovers.

Olivia showing off her bottom two teeth and windblown hair!

During our family vacation in Maine, I had a few more hands to help with the kids and decided I'd do a little baking.  My sisters LOVE lemon, so I settled on making a slight variation on the recipe Auntie shared with me.  Since we didn't have a bundt pan at the camp, I thought I'd try making cupcakes instead.  Now, these are really lemony, so if you're just a liker, not a lover, I'd omit the lemon juice and zest from the frosting to tone it down a tad!

I'll apologize now for the lack of 'process' photos, but I was on vacation, and I am giving you some lovely 'finish' shots here, courtesy of my sister Katie and her boyfriend Kelby... I'm also adding this super cute photos of my kids, so there's really no reason to complain - heehee!

 Lemon Supreme Cupcakes

Ingredients:
1 box (18.25oz) lemon supreme cake mix (I used Duncan Hines brand)
1 box (2.9oz) lemon pudding and pie filling (I used Jell-o brand)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup orange juice
1 tablespoon lemon zest
4 eggs

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350-degrees and grease your muffin tins... personally I prefer paper liners, so that's what I used.

Whisk the eggs, then add the orange juice and oil.  Zest the lemon over the bowl and stir to mix.

Stir in the cake mix and pudding mix and beat.  Auntie says, the longer you beat the mix, the lighter the cake will be, so as MJ would say, "just beat it!"

Bake for 13-14 minutes until the tops spring back when you touch them lightly.

Ethan decided to only eat the frosting - typical!

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

6 oz cream cheese

2 to 3 cups powdered sugar

1/2 stick softened butter

1 tablespoon lemon zest

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

juice from 1 lemon

Directions:

This recipe is adapted from The Tom Kat Studio - the amount of the powdered sugar depends on how thick you want the frosting to be, so you can adjust it to suit your tastes.  Now, let me preface these instructions by simply saying that I strongly suggest making this frosting with an electric mixer, because otherwise your arm will be ready to fall off and you won't be able to lift a cupcake to enjoy it!  At the camp, we took turns beating it!

In a mixing bowl, beat the butter, then add and beat the cream cheese.  Add the vanilla.  Zest about 1 tablespoon of lemon, then squeeze all of the juice from the lemon into the bowl.  Add the powdered sugar slowly until the frosting is smooth and the consistency is as thick as you like.

Once the cupcakes are completely cooled, you can frost them.  I don't have fancy cake decorating tools, so I just spooned the frosting into a plastic bag, pushed it all to one corner, cut the tip and piped the frosting on that way.  It's pretty simple and looks pretty, too.

I hope you'll enjoy these as much as we all did.  Store them in the fridge and wash 'em down with a little milk - delicious!

Today I''m linking up with some great friends, so come check them out!