Lemon Cupcakes with Blackberry Buttercream

For Mother's Day this year, I made these yummy cupcakes. My mom and I are big lemon fans (make that superfans), and the rest of the family just had to suffer along. These are pretty tasty; my only beef is that the cupcakes were a tad TOO lemony (did I just write that?). The recipe calls for an entire lemon's worth of zest and juice, and my lemon was pretty epic. When I make these again, I think I will use either a smaller lemon or just half a large lemon's worth.

Lemon Cupcakes with Blackberry Buttercream

Ingredients:
Cupcakes:
1 c. white sugar
1/2 c. butter (1 stick), softened
2 eggs
1 1/2 t. vanilla
1 1/2 c. flour
1 3/4 t. baking powder
1/2 c. milk
1 lemon, zest and juice

Buttercream:
1 c. butter, softened
1 t. vanilla
1/4 t. sea salt
4 c. powdered sugar
1/2 c. (or more, to taste) seedless blackberry jam

Preheat oven to 350. Line muffin cups with paper liners

Cream sugar and a stick of butter in the bowl of a stand mixer until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, then add the vanilla. Mix well.

Add flour and baking powder and stir until combined. Add milk, lemon juice, and lemon zest and mix well. The lemon may make the mixture separate a bit, but the batter should shape up fine.

Put batter into the cups, 2/3-3/4 full (these cupcakes are on the denser side, so you shouldn't have to worry about runaway cakes). Bake 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely.

Beat the remaining two sticks of butter with the 1 t. of vanilla and salt (start with a little salt and add to taste), until smooth and creamy. Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time. If it starts to get a little thick, you can thin it with a tablespoon or so of milk. Beat in the blackberry jam.