Summer Cupcakes

For a BBQ with friends this weekend, I thought it would fun to make a summery-flavored cupcake for dessert! I had in our pantry a Lemon Sprinkles Cupcakes mix and decided that would be perfect.

Note – have you tried these mixes? They are the BEST cake mixes – creating a from-scratch quality cupcake that is perfectly moist and light. You can buy them at Williams-Sonoma, but they’re pretty pricey, so next time you’re at the outlets, stop in the W-S Outlet and they almost always have Sprinkles mixes for about 1/2 the price.

Anyway – I made the cake mix as directed, but for the frosting I went with a simple vanilla butter cream made yellow with a little food coloring.

To showcase the lemon flavor of the cake part, I added a little garnish of candied lemon peel – SO easy to make and such a lovely cupcake accessory. Here’s how to candy lemon peel (or any citrus peel for that matter):

Candied Lemon Peel
from allrecipes.com

3 lemons
2C water
2C white granulated sugar

Cut lemons into slices, and remove the fruit pulp. Scrape off as much of the white inner layer as you can, this part is bitter. I use a paring knife to cut the rind off the white inner layer.

Bring water to a boil in a small pan, and add lemon peels. Boil for about 5 minutes, until tender. Remove peels from water, and stir in sugar. Return to a boil, add peels, and boil until transparent. Drain, and allow to dry before storing. Liquid may be reserved and used as lemon simple syrup.

I also sprinkle with additional sugar while they’re still hot!