So I know it’s late October, and I’m supposed to be baking pumpkin cupcakes with fondant spiders on top, but I was having a lemon craving that couldn’t be beat. So I got to work on Lemon Curd-Filled Lemon Cupcakes with Zippy Lemon Frosting!

for the cupcakes:

• 1 cup butter
• 4 eggs
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 cup lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In another large bowl, beat butter for about 30 seconds. Add sugar and lemon juice and beat until combined. Beat in eggs one at a time. Pur 1/4 cup lemon juice into measuring cup. Add enough milk to equal 1 cup. Let sit for 5 minutes. Alternately add flour mixture and soured milk to your butter mixture, beating on low speed until combined. Bake for 22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Makes about 30 cupcakes.

for the filling:

• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 3 teaspoons finely shredded lemon peel
• 6 tablespoons lemon juice
• 6 tablespoons water
• 6 beaten egg yolks
• 1/2 cup butter

In a saucepan, stir together sugar, cornstarch, lemon peel, lemon juice, and water. Cook and stir over medium heat until it gets thick and bubbly. Stir half of your lemon mixture into your egg yolks. Then add egg yolk mixture to saucepan. Cook and stir over medium heat until you get a boil. Then cook and stir for another 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Add butter, stirring until butter is melted. Cover curd with plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour.

I used a Bismarck tip to insert the lemon curd into the cupcakes, once the cupcakes were cooked. If you use this method, make sure your lemon peel is really finely chopped. My Bismarck tip kept getting clogged up with lemon peels, and I had several curd explosions on my countertop.

for the frosting:

• 3/4 cup butter
• 2 lbs. powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• pink frosting coloring

Beat butter until smooth. Beat in a few cups of powdered sugar. Beat in the lemon juice. Then gradually beat in the rest of the powdered sugar until you reach desired consistency. Beat in a small amount of pink frosting coloring.

I thought these might come out too “lemony” for a normal person, but I shared them with many, and got rave reviews!