38 Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes

These would be perfect cupcakes for summertime!

I thought that a whole tablespoon of lemon zest sounded like a lot. I ended up just using 1 1/2 lemon's worth of zest and just one lemon for the lemon juice. Some of the cupcakes were perfectly done at 20 minutes, others I had to keep in for about 3-4 minutes extra. As for the icing... All you have to do is follow the recipe to the letter and I promise that it will blow you away. It's the perfect amount of strawberry to go with the amount of lemony-ness of the cupcakes. The hint of lemon from the zest ties the flavors together. Cupcake Perfection!

Cake Ingredients
2 stick unsalted butter
2 c sugar
4 eggs
3 c flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 c lemonade powder
1 c milk
3 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp lemon zest
1 tsp vanilla

How to
1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Mix flour, baking powder, salt, lemonade powder, and lemon zest. Set aside.
3. Cream butter and sugar in mixer.
4. Add eggs one at a time. Mix well between adding each eggs.
5. Add lemon juice and vanilla.
6. Alternate adding the dry ingredients and milk, ending with the dry ingredients.
7. Fill cupcake papers 2/3 full. Bake 20 minutes.

Frosting Ingredients
2 sticks unsalted butter
3 Tbsp strawberry puree (about 4 strawberries)
4 c powdered sugar
1 tsp lemon zest

How to
1. Cream butter in mixer for 3 minutes
2. Gradually add powdered sugar
3. Mix in strawberry puree and zest
4. Ice cupcakes