IT’S FRIDAY!!! The week is coming to an end and the weekend is so close I can taste it. It’s been a LONG, HOT week (105 degrees!), I got my workouts in, my house cleaned, my budgets planned for next week and a happy baby napping in the next room. What better way to end the day than a nice glass of wine and a sweet treat to compliment?
My pairing of the week this week is a glass of Anselmi 2015 San Vinenzo wine, paired with a lemon infused cupcake
I chose this pairing this week for a couple reasons…. one of which is because today is our 4 year anniversary!
I can’t believe it. We couldn’t get a grandma to babysit till Sunday, so for tonight we will be out on our deck using our new smoker (Jordan’s Father’s Day gift) to make some smoked chicken wings with a rib apple glaze…. SO GOOD.
Our deck is my favorite place to spend summer nights, especially days like today when it was literally 100 degrees outside, and in Colorado, the dry air makes it feel so much hotter! On hot days like this my go to drink is a nice cold glass of Chardonnay, But because it’s our anniversary, we get to be fancy…
Now I’m not sure if you’ll be able to find this specific wine very easily. Jordan took me to a wine tasting event (can you tell I like wine?) for my 25th birthday last year. It was a wine vintner from France and we bought a special bottle that she had made, we got it signed and everything! The wine was on the top 100 list for 2016, so I am so excited to open it. Soon after that birthday I was pregnant with Harper, so we finally get to enjoy it!
Since you most likely won’t find this bottle, I recommend a glass of Sauvingon Blanc or Prosecco to balance out the tartness of the lemon cake. This specific wine is a blend of 80% Garganega, 10% Chardonnay, 10% Sauvignon Blanc.
As for the cupcake, I hate baking 24 cupcakes, when I just want 1! (or 2 if Jordan wants one, which is rare!) So this recipe is for 2 cupcakes. If you want more than that, double/triple/etc! I try to make my recipes as easy as possible with ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen, the only thing I didn’t have today was a lemon, so I just had Jordan stop on his way home from work to pick one up, or you can always use lemon juice if that’s in your fridge, I just like fresh better!
I hate baking 24 cupcakes, when I just want 1! (or 2 if Jordan wants one, which is rare!) So this recipe is for 2 cupcakes. If you want more than that, double/triple/etc! I try to make my recipes as easy as possible with ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen!
Ingredients
- 1 egg white
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 2 tablespoons melted butter
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1/4 heaping teaspoon baking powder
- pinch of salt
- 1 1/2 tablespoons milk
- *Lemon Frosting and Filling:
- 4 tablespoons butter (room temperature)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon zest
- 3 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons milk
- *If you don’t feel like filling the cupcake with the lemon frosting, you can substitute 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla for 1-2 tsp lemon juice (depending on how lemony you want it) to make just a lemon cupcake.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ยบ, line a muffin pan with 2 cupcake liners.
- In a bowl, whisk egg white and sugar until combined
- Add in the vanilla and melted butter. Stir until well mixed
- Add in flour, baking powder, salt. Use a spatula to stir until smooth.
- Stir in the milk
- Pour the batter equally into the 2 cupcake liners
- Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until cake is set and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (mine took about 12 minutes!) **Side note- try to not take the cupcakes out of the oven to check doneness, especially before 10 minutes it up. The center of the cupcake will sink.
- Let the cupcakes cool completely
- **As the cupcakes cool, start the frosting: In a stand mixer, combine the butter, lemon zest and lemon juice until smooth.
- Add 1 cup of powdered sugar and 1 tbsp milk, stir until combined.
- Add the last 1/2 cup and 1 tbsp milk, stir until smooth. You can add more milk (tiny bit at a time!) if frosting is too thick, and more sugar if it’s too runny (tiny bit at a time!)
- Taste the frosting! If you prefer it to have a more lemon taste, add 1/2 tsp more at a time.
- Once the cupcakes have cooled, use a teaspoon to scoop out the center of the cupcake.
- For this step, you can just use a knife/spoon to fill and frost. If you want to be fancy place the frosting in a ziplock bag and push all the frosting to one corner. Cut a small hole in the corner to squeeze out the frosting into the cupcake and to frost the top.
- Top with lemon zest and a lemon wedge
- Pour a glass of our wine of the week, put your feet up and enjoy!
Notes
If you can’t find this bottle of Anselmi 2010 San Vincenzo, I recommend a glass of Sauvingon Blanc or Prosecco to balance out the tartness of the lemon cake. This specific wine is a blend of 80% Garganega, 10% Chardonnay, 10% Sauvignon Blanc.