This week’s SMS was chosen by Katie of Katiecakes: sweet almond cake with lemon curd and lemon mascarpone frosting – whew, that’s a mouthful! It sounded great to me though so I was definitely game. Only problem? No need for a huge cake that only I would eat sitting here tempting me all weekend. Instead, I went with cupcakes with a lemon curd filling. You’ll notice I skipped the frosting – more on that later.
I made 1/4 of the cake recipe, which yielded just 7 cupcakes. The cake batter is full of goodness – almonds ground with sugar to make almond flour, browned butter and lots of egg whites whipped with sugar to make a meringue. As a result, the cupcakes were incredibly delicious, definitely among my favorites! They were moist, light and had wonderful almond flavor. As for the lemon curd, it can do no wrong in my book. I cut little cones from the tops of my cupcakes, filled them with the lemon curd and then proceeded to eat several spoonfuls of the leftover curd with a spoon 
I had to cook the curd quite a few minutes longer than Melissa instructed and it was a bit thinner than I’d have liked, but every bit as delicious as other recipes I’ve made.
It all went wrong with the frosting, unfortunately. The frosting consists of confectioners’ sugar, mascarpone cheese, lemon juice and zest and butter and Melissa warns not only to have the butter and mascarpone at room temp, but not to overbeat the ingredients or the frosting will wind up grainy. As soon as I added the butter and mascarpone my frosting looked curdled and grainy. I couldn’t figure out how to salvage it so I skipped it entirely. If I’d been feeling more motivated I would have whipped up cream cheese frosting (my fave!) but instead I just threw a few fresh raspberries on top of the cupcakes and called it a day. I’ll definitely make this cake again along with the lemon curd and just go with a different frosting. It’s one that’s sure to please almond and lemon lovers!
Thanks to Kate for hosting this week! You can find the recipe on her site here or on pages 104-106 of The Sweet Melissa Baking Book.
Lemon Bars
Glazed Grapefruit Cake
Orange Sherbet
Meyer Lemon Pound Cake
I love the wrappers that you used. I’m sorry to hear that the frosting didn’t work out, but you can’t go wrong with lemon and raspberries. =)
You are so smart quartering the recipe! I did half and have more then I know what to do with. Your cupcakes are adorable and the raspberries on top are perfect. Who needs mascarpone frosting anyway?
I agree that the cake itself was excellent. Definitely a keeper!
Tracey these look delicious. You aren’t missing anything with the frosting. They look perfect without it.
Your cupcakes look beautiful. Adding raspberries could only make the combination of lemon and almond better – I love all three flavors so much.
What is wrong with that frosting recipe? I couldn’t figure out how to salvage it either, but I used it anyway. My cake is not attractive, but it’s yummy.
Your cupcakes look awesome. I went with cupcakes as well and halved the recipe, dumping the rest on my coworkers because they were so good!
I love your cupcakes, they look so super tasty!
Thanks for baking along!
Katie xox
I like the raspberries! The frosting gave me a bit of trouble too- thought afterward it would have been better to cream butter and cheese first and then add sugar and finally juice but oh well
These beauties don’t need frosting. They look perfect as is.
Beautiful cupcakes. Love the wrappers. Sounds like several people had issues with the frosting. The raspberries make a beautiful topping.
I almost went this route as well. I’m not a big fan of frosting on my cuppies, I prefer them topped with whipped cream or fresh fruit or just plain and simple!
But I decided that this was more work than I could handle so I did a rewind instead.
Your cuppies look great and I’ll have to at least try out the cake and curd.
Your cupcakes are beautiful! I love adding a dollop of lemon curd to blueberry muffins – yum.
Your cupcakes look so delicious, I can’t wait to give them a try. Yum!
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Lovely flavor combinations! I love a good lemon curd.