I wanted to serve my cranberry-apple-fennel compote over some dessert item, and I decided on some kind of cake. I thought about making a box cake but I really hate to do that when I actually have time to bake, so I made lemon cupcakes from scratch instead.
These aren’t super lemony cupcakes as I only add the zest of one lemon; if you want a more intense lemon flavor, you can add the juice of the lemon as well (I used a meyer lemon since I had some left over from the compote recipe). You’ll also notice I use soy milk in this recipe–if you are not a lactard like myself, feel free to use the real stuff.
Lemon Cupcakes
1/2 cup (1 stick) margarine
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup soy milk
zest of 1 lemon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1-1/4 cups flour
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 12-muffin tin.
- Cream margarine with sugar until smooth and fluffy; add eggs one at a time and blend until combined. Stir in vanilla, soy milk and lemon zest.
- Sift together salt, BP, BS and flour. Add to wet mixture and stir until combined.
- Divide batter evenly among muffin tins. Bake in the oven 15-20 minutes or until edges are crispy, muffin tops are browned and toothpick comes out clean when poked into the center.
The cost:
margarine: 1.99
eggs: .33
soy milk: 1.99
other ingredients: .99
Grand total: $5.30; store in the fridge
