First, thanks to Nicole for the recipe and making the cupcakes with me! This cupcake is one of my favorites (to date, the chai and espresso is my absolute favorite). I would definitely add more batter to each cupcakes (fill about 3/4 of the way full, as opposed to 2/3 of the way full). But other than that, I can’t complain!

Cake
The recipe used was from Saifou.com. We kept to the recipe for the most part, but used all purpose flour. We also somehow made 24 cupcakes instead of 18. As a result of not using the cake flour and making more cupcakes than the recipe said it would make, the cake didn’t rise as much as they should have. They were fun-sized, if you will. Regardless, we just added more frosting, and the cake itself was delicious. The cake was had just the right hint of lemon and was not too sweet.

Filling
Using an apple corer (my favorite), we made holes in the cupcakes and piped in my uncle’s homegrown and homemade raspberry jam.

Frosting
I still haven’t figured out the perfect vanilla buttercream. Every single time I am unable to record what exactly I used because I keep on adding more of a certain ingredient until it tastes “good.” The frosting started out with 12 ounces of unsalted butter, 4 tablespoons of milk, 2 teaspoons of vanilla, and a lot of confectioner’s sugar. We added some of the lemon juice from the recipe to make it not taste so much like powdered sugar and began to lose track from there. I really wish I measured exactly how milk, lemon juice, and sugar we used because it was delicious. Any suggestions on vanilla butter cream would be greatly appreciated!