Sasha's Kitchen: Lemony Limoncello Cupcakes

I have always loved to eat tangy and tart foods.  As a kid (and perhaps a bit more recently) my favorite candy was always sweet tarts.  I love anything with a bit of lemon flavor and a bit of tang.  Therefore, it was only a matter of time before I decided to experiment with some lemon flavored cupcake variations.  You may recall, that I made my own Italian Limoncello liqueur about a month ago.  I decided to use the limoncello today in my baking, to make lemon cupcakes with a twist, and jazz them up with a bit of limoncello.

I started by including lemon juice and limoncello (in lieu of vanilla extract) in a basic recipe for vanilla cupcakes, adjusting the proportions of the flour and eggs, to accommodate the addition of limoncello as a key ingredient in the cupcake batter.  Then, I made a lemoncello infused cream cheese frosting.  In between layers of the cupcake and the frosting, I prepared a basic lemon with limoncello to add a burst of that lemony-limoncello flavor.

These cupcakes are a cheerful, lemony treat.  They are different from your standard lemon cupcakes in that they have a bit more of a burst of flavor and impart the sweet tangyness of the limoncello.  Here is the recipe below that I settled on in the end:

Sasha's Lemony Limoncello Cupcakes (Batter) (Made 11 cupcakes)
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1/2 stick of butter
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
3 T homemade limoncello (or store bought)
3 egg whites
zest of one lemon
1/2 cup of milk
1 cup sugar

Lemony Limoncello Curd
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp cornstarch
1/2 cup lemon juice
2 T limoncello
3 egg yolks
zest of one lemon

Lemony Limoncello Frosting
1 stick of butter
1 8 oz package of cream cheese
2 cups of powdered confectioner's sugar
3 T limoncello
drop of yellow food coloring

To prepare the cupcakes, beat the butter and sugar in the mixer.  Continue beating on medium high, adding the egg whites (save the yolks for the curd) one by one.  Beat in the lemon zest.  Combine the flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl.  Alternate (while beating on medium) the addition of the dry ingredients and the milk.  Beat in the lemon juice at the end until combined.  Fill your silicon cupcake trays (lined with cupcake liners) about 3/4 of the way full and bake until it comes clean with a toothpick, which took me 35 minutes in my oven.  Allow the cupcakes to cook completely.

To make the curd, combine all of the ingredients over medium heat. Heat, stirring constantly, until a curd forms that is slightly translucent in color.  Top each of the cupcakes with a dollop of curd.  You can also put the curd inside, if you prefer to do it that way.

To make the frosting, beat the butter and cream cheese in the basin of your mixer, on high speed.  Beat in the powdered sugar until combined into a frosting.  Add the limoncello for the flavor, and add a drop of yellow food coloring to add a subtle boost of color.  Beat until combined into a frosting and frost the cupcakes using a fluted tip fit onto a pastry bag.

Sasha's Kitchen: Lemony Limoncello Cupcakes

Sasha's Kitchen: When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Limoncello (Valentine's Day Special)

One of my parents' friends in Danville, Pennsylvania was reading our site, and suggested that I experiment with some homemade Italian liquors and cordials.  He was kind enough to provide some instructions on how he had prepared homeade limoncello.  When I heard this, I knew that I had to make my own limoncello right away.

I spent a couple weeks travelling around Italy after graduating from Haverford College.  One of the things I remember about Italy (other than its friendly people, natural beauty and that I want to go back with my husband) is the incredible Italian food.  While in Italy, I remember coming across two after-dinner drinks with some frequency - Limoncello (a sweet lemon-flavored liqueur) and Grappa (which I am told tastes like gasoline, but with that description, coupled by a smell to match, I never tried Grappa).  I brought home several small bottles of wonderful Italian limoncello, unaware that it would be a fairly simple process for me to make my own.  Because Italy is such a romantic destination, and limoncello is the perfect sweet ending to a romantic dinner, such as a Valentine's Day meal, I decided to include this in our Valentine's Day Special.  A further note: they have wonderful Italian after-dinner cordials (after a great Italian meal) at my favorite New York Italian, Acappella.

By way of background, limoncello is an Italian lemon liqueur, produced mainly in Southern Italy, such as in the Naples area and the Amalfi Coast.  Traditionally, in Italy it is made from Sorrento lemons, but ordinary lemons (like I used) will also produce an excellent quality limoncello.

Here's what you will need:

1 liter Everclear or Grain Alcohol (don't use regular vodka, or the proofage will be way off)
1 old two liter soda bottle
The peels of 20 lemons - Remove the peels using a conventional peeler, not a zester
2 lb of sugar (About 4 cups)
1 liter water (About 4 1/4 cups)

The process of making limoncello is quite simple, but takes about a week.  First, peel the 20 lemons.  Put the peels in a large jar, or a 2 liter soda bottle.  Make sure when peeling the lemons to use a regular peeler and not a zester, and remove only the peels.  Then, add 1 liter of everclear, or another type of grain alcohol to the lemon peels.  Put in a dark closet for a week, turning the bottle or jar upside down once a day.

After a week has passed, remove the yellow liquid from the lemon peels.  The peels should have whitened considerably in color, and have a brittle feel to them.  Filter the liquid through a coffee filter and put aside. 

To prepare the simply syrup, put the water in a pot and add the sugar.  Heat and stir until the sugar is fully dissolved, around a temperature of 115 degrees.  At this temperature, add the syrup to the yellow everclear lemon infusion.  If you add the syrup when it is warm, the limoncello will be a clearish yellow color, and not cloudy, which would be the likely result if the syrup were allowed to cool first.

At this point, you have successfully extracted and made your own Italian limoncello, the perfect after dinner cordial for with a sweet dessert for Valentine's Day.  You can order some 16-17 oz bottles from Specialty Bottle in whatever shape and size suits you, bottle the limoncello and decorate with a pretty ribbon.  This makes a great gift.  My bottles haven't arrived yet, as I ordered them a bit late in the process, so the picture is shown in a large bottle.  I will update the photos early next week when they are bottled for gifts!

The drink should be served chilled, after dinner, as a digestivo.  In Italy, it is often served in chilled ceramic glasses.  The quality of the limoncello I made was excellent, second only to the limoncello I tasted while travelling around Italy.  A funny note from Wikipedia - apparently limoncello garnered some media attention after Danny DiVito gave the following quote in a 20066 episode of the View:  " knew it was the last seven limoncellos that was going to get me."  (sic)

So here they are finally - the bottles that I ordered with the Limoncello.  This makes the perfect gift - my mother in law loved hers. 

If life gives you a lot more lemons, check out the following post from Margie's Kitchen on Boston for many wonderful and inspired ideas on how to cook with lemons.  If life gives you limes instead, try my recipe for Key Lime Bars.


Limoncello

Sasha's Kitchen: When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Limoncello (Valentine's Day Special)