Strawberry-Lemon Cupcakes!

These are a delicious strawberry-lemon cupcake - really perfect for any time of year.  Add in the fact that they're also filled with a light strawberry frosting, then topped with strawberry frosting and you have a show-stopper!  These were beautiful and a perfect addition to the gluten-free wedding reception I put together for my awesome brother Mike and his lovely wife Amanda.   I even pre-filled and froze the cupcakes, then removed them the day before the wedding to add the frosting, and they were perfectly tasty, moist, and fabulous. Enjoy!

Strawberry-Lemon cupcakes, ready for the wedding!  The tops were dipped in coarse sugar to add a finished look.

Strawberry-filled Lemon Cupcakes with Strawberry Frosting

Makes 18 cupcakes

Set oven at 350F.  Line 18 muffin cups with paper liners.

Mix the following in a bowl:
1/2 cup coconut flour

1/2 cup white rice flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 cup sugar

Add and whisk until smooth:

1 cup milk (lactose-free works great)

1/2 cup oil

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 Tbsp orange zest (make sure to only use the outer edge of the orange, so you don’t get the white rind, which is bitter)

2 tsp lemon zest

9-18 drops lemon essential oil (depending on how strong you like the lemon) (I love DoTerra Essential Oils* b/c many of their oils are good for ingesting. The lemon and peppermint are wonderful for cooking!)

Add and whisk in:
6 eggs

This batter will seem very runny, but that’s okay!  Coconut flour absorbs a lot of liquid during cooking.

Pour into 18 muffin cups. Fill ~ ¾  full.   Bake at 350F for 15-20 minutes, until lightly golden browned. 

These rise SO well. The coconut flour absorbs a remarkable amount of liquid, leaving you with a moist, delicious cake!

Remove from pan and let cool on wire rack.  

Cut out cone-shaped piece from the center of each cupcake.  Then slice off excess middle, saving the top of the cupcake.  Pipe strawberry frosting into the center of each cupcake, replacing the top of the cupcake. Don't worry if they don't look perfect, because you'll pipe frosting on to cover any imperfections.  

A dollop of strawberry frosting in the center of a lemon cupcake. We enjoyed taste-testing by eating the insides (saved in the bowl at the back).

Strawberry-filled Lemon Cupcakes! Yum!

Now, you can either:
1. Frost as desired with additional strawberry frosting
OR
2. Freeze cupcakes in single layer in freezer ziploc bags.  Then you can frost at a later time (best within a few weeks, though I've never tried much beyond that). Remove cupcakes from freezer, let sit in bag 5 minutes before removing from the bag.  Then remove from bags and let sit on counter 10-15 minutes.  Then frost as normal.

Enjoy!

Strawberry-Lemon cupcakes alternated with Chocolate-Caramel Cupcakes on tiers looked (and tasted) great!