When life hands you a lemon...make cupcakes!!

When I stumbled into my friend Katie's memorial day bbq a few weeks back, I had no idea what I was getting myself into...her 2 roomate's cook like God's and what's better than eating with Lindsay Lohan's boyfriend in the movie Mean Girls you ask?? Eating heavenly lemon cupcakes with him my friends..Seriously..there are no words. Best cupcakes you have ever eaten in your life. You'd slap your mother for them. Perfect to pair with any damn thing you please. They are summery, they are light and fluffy, they are well...perfect. Thank me later.

Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Zest and Buttercream Frosting

3 sticks butter, softened
2 c. sugar
5 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
3 c. cake flour- no substitutions
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. buttermilk
zest of 2 lemons

4 tbsp fresh lemon juice
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1. Preheat oven to 325. Line two 12 cup muffin tins with cute liners.

2. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, 4-5 minutes. Dont go skimping here-you want mixture to be almost white and super fluffy. This is absolutely essential to the outcome of the cake.

3. While butter and sugar are mixing, sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl. Set aside. After butter and sugar have mixed sufficiently, with the mixer running add eggs one at a time, beating to incorporate after each addition. Beat in vanilla, lemon juice and lemon zest.

4. With mixer on low speed, alternate adding flour mix and buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture and beating until fully incorporated.

5. Using a standard cookie scoop, place about 2 scoops of batter into each muffin cup. Fill these almost to the top-due to the final texture ( think super moist and light pound cake) , these cupcakes wont have a nice curvy crown but thats okay noone will ever know or care.

6. Bake about 20-25 minutes or just until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. You dont want to overbake. Remove from oven and cool completely. Frost with lemon buttercream and garnish with strawberries, raspberries or mint leaves.

Lemon Buttercream Frosting

1 1/4 c. butter ( 2 1/2 sticks)
3 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp. grated lemon zest
3 c. powdered sugar

Beat butter, zest and juice in mixer until creamy. Gradually add powdered sugar beating till spreading consistency.