Lemon and Coconut Cupcakes!

Helllllo, everybody! Just a quick post tonight. I made some cupcakes for an event that my grandmother was going to, and figured that I would make a quick post about them, as they were a big hit. The cupcakes were lemon and coconut flavored and the post tonight is actually mainly going to be about the garnish that I used on the cupcakes, but I included a little bit after about how to make the cupcakes in case you were interested.

First, you want to boil about 2 cups of water, and put the lemon peel in the boiling water for about 5 minutes, or until the peel is tender. I shredded mine up in order to use it as a garnish but later found out it was much easier to keep the rind intact and cut it up after it had been candied. The simple syrup we'll be making to candy the lemons in becomes very thick, and its hard to separate the lemon from the syrup; but hey, you live and you learn. I'd just recommend keeping the rind in larger pieces if you decide to try this recipe out. The great thing about this, is that after you candy your peel, you can keep the mixture you candied them in as a lemon infused simple syrup!

After the peel becomes tender from being boiled down, you want to remove it from the water, and then add about 2 cups of sugar to the water mixture. Stir the water and sugar together, and then add the lemon  peel back into the saucepan. Now, the waiting. You want to let this lightly boil for about an hour. The lemon peel will start to curl up, almost, as you can see in the picture above. However, don't try to shorten the time when you think it's done if it hasn't been almost an hour. By letting it cook in this simple syrup, you are allowing all of the sugars from the syrup to break down and enter the peel, which, in turn, makes the lemon rind keep its flavor, but become unbelievably sweet. Once your peel as been boiling in the simple syrup for about an hour, remove it and let it dry. this will let all of the sugars harden and it will become like a hard candy. Be careful, because for sugar to melt down, it needs to reach quite a high temperature, and the lemon will reach an equilibrium with that temperature and become equally as hot. Feel free to leave the candies peel at this point and eat it just like this. I, however, chose to garnish some cupcakes with it.

CUPCAKES:

I make a boxed white cake, and added in about a cup of shredded coconut, as well as about 2 teaspoons of coconut extract. Then, I just followed the directions on the back of the box for baking instructions.

Then, the frosting, I added a couple teaspoons of lemon extract and some food coloring. Pretty simple, but just taste it and add a little bit at a time until it gets to your liking.

Then, I just put the frosting in one of my piping bags and frosted them up. 

These are the toppings I decided to use. Theres shredded coconut, mint leaves, the candied lemon peel, and some lemon candies.

I matched the lemon candies with the mint leaves, and then decided to top the other half of the batch in coconut and the candied lemon peel. If you try this out, definitely let me know how you liked it in the comments!

Until next time,

K