Lemon Tea Cakes with Blackberry Buttercream

William Wordsworth (April 7, 1770-April 23, 1850) was was a British writer and poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, authored Lyrical Ballads (1798), considered by many to have launched the English Romantic movement.
Wordsworth was appointed poet laureate of England in 1843 at the age of 73.

He was always a fan of long hikes, and in 1790 he took a break from college at Cambridge to embark on a walking tour of Europe. While hiking through the Alps, he found inspiration in nature, and later said, "Perhaps scarce a day of my life will pass by in which I shall not derive some happiness from those images." 

I Wandered As Lonely As A Cloud is considered his most famous poem.

  Happy Birthday

Cook's notes: Lemon Tea Cakes with  Blackberry Buttercream Frosting is a spring treat worthy of a birthday celebration.

Recipe makes 14  cupcakes and was adapted from Lunds and Byerlys Magazine 

Lemon Tea Cakes

Cupcake Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 cups cake flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 stick of softened butter
• 1 cup  sugar
•  2-3 tsp. lemon zest
• 2 large eggs
• 1-2 TB. fresh lemon juice
•  1 tsp.  vanilla
• 1/2 cup buttermilk

Cupcake Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees 
• Sift flour, baking powder and salt
• In a large bowl beat butter, sugar and lemon zest about 2 minutes. Add in eggs one at a time beating 1 minute after each addition
• Add lemon juice and vanilla, beat 1 minute
• With mixer on low speed, mix in half of the flour, milk and then remaining flour mixture, mixing just to incorporate each addition
• Fill each cupcake liner  3/4 full
• Bake 18 minutes 

Blackberry Buttercream Ingredients:

recipe from allrecipes.com

• 2-1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 5 TB. softened butter
• dash of salt
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/4 cup seedless pure blackberry preserves
• milk as needed

Blackberry Buttercream Directions:

• Mix all ingredients until smooth, adding milk by the tablespoons to get the correct consistency 
• Garnish each cupcake with a fresh blackberry

Secret: Lemon-Juicing
"To juice a lemon, microwave it for 10 seconds, as this will break down the cells and allow the juice to flow a lot faster. This is a nice trick when trying to make the most out of a lemon when making vinaigrette."