Two Cupcakes for the price of one--Sugar High Friday # 47

--Lovely Lemon-Vanilla Teacakes


Ever have one of those recipes that you found, and just hung onto without making for....forever? Such is the case with the recipe for Cheesecake Factory's Carrot Cake Cheesecake. For years--probably since the first time I ever had this slice of heaven--I had this recipe I found online. It's listed on lots and lots of websites, copycat forums, and reader-submitted recipe sites like GroupRecipes, AllRecipes, etc.
I really don't know what kept me from trying it at home. I've had so many birthdays go by where I should have made this, being my all-time favorite cake ever. Yet I usually just make a simple carrot cake instead. I think perhaps I was afraid that it wouldn't be nearly as good as the original, and I would lose hope. Because the original is SO damn good.
Well, Sugar High Friday has rolled around again, this time hosted by Fanny at Foodbeam. I actually made several different batches of cupcakes this month, a pumpkin one for Cupcake Hero included in that lot...but nothing wowed me enough to sent it off to SHF. Time flew past as the deadline approached. I could make a simple batch of yellow or chocolate...but then everybody else would do the same. I could repeat the Red Velvet experiment as a cupcake. What to do?
Last night, it came to me, and I was so excited about finally trying the recipe that I could hardly sleep. I would finally try out the cheesecake recipe, and bake it in my Texas-sized muffin tins. It would be fantastic and beautiful and impressive and everyone would love me.
Well...things in the kitchen don't always go according to plan. Here is what my cupcake looked like after cooling:

Yeah. I know.
The first of my problems were temperature. Much to my despair, my oven has gone from cooking at 25 degrees too cool to about 50-60 degrees too hot, and that's not all the time. So my filled cupcakes were scorchingly overbaked after 30 minutes at about 375...or so. (The dial was set to 325.)
The second thing I noticed--and I don't know if this is due to the unique shape of the cupcake tin--was that the center was kind of a pooled cheesecake, leaving almost a filled-cupcake look. Which isn't necessarily bad, but not what I was going for. I was expecting distinct layers. On the plus side, the carrot cake layer was delicious and moist. At least that doesn't need fixing. I am thinking..switch the layers and put the heavier cheesecake layer on the bottom? Swirl them? Pre-bake the cheesecake layer? Chill something? I'm not sure where I'll head next with this. I seriously contemplated running down to CF in Fashion Valley and picking up a slice for comparison's sake, because it's been awhile since I've eaten there. (Maybe tomorrow.)

So, the recipe I have for you today for SHF is not going to be Carrot Cake Cheesecake, cupcake-style. It will be for my hurriedly made (and unfortunately, also overbaked) Lemon-Vanilla Tea Cakes. The fact that these were stand-ins for my original venture should make them no less worthy--in fact, the thing I love about them is their simplicity and speed. Start to finish, with clean dishes, in half an hour. They are adapted from a recipe for madeleines, and have a very fine, tender crumb. They are studded with flecks of vanilla bean and brightened up with fresh lemon zest--one of my favorite flavor combinations. I served mine with a little powdered-sugar and lemon glaze, but they are perfectly sweet and delicately flavored all on their own.

Lemon-Vanilla Tea Cakes
adapted from a favorite madeleine recipe

Dry:
1 oz (1/4 cup) cake flour
1.25 oz (1/4 cup) all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp table salt
1/8 tsp baking powder

Wet:
2 eggs plus one yolk
1/4 cup white sugar
4 tbsp melted butter, cooled
zest of half a lemon
seeds from one fresh vanilla bean

Preheat oven to 375.
Grease a non-stick mini muffin pan or nonstick standard muffin pan with nonstick spray.

Sift together all dry ingredients in a small bowl. In workbowl of electric mixer, beat eggs and yolk with whisk until fluffy, 1-2 minutes. Slowly drizzle in sugar, and turn to high speed. Let whip until eggs are ribbony, very light in color and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add lemon zest and vanilla bean, and remove from stand.
Gently fold in dry ingredients, taking care not to deflate eggs. Then stir in melted butter just until no streaks remain.
Pour into muffin cups about half to two-third full. Bake in middle of oven until very lightly colored (not browned) and toothpick comes out clean, about 8-10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool on wire rack.

Lemon Glaze:
1 cup confectioner's (powdered or icing) sugar
1 lemon, juiced

Mix enough lemon juice into sugar until it's a drizzly consistency. Refrigerate to firm it up.



I'm going to work out the kinks of this carrot cake recipe...but it may not be in cupcake form, after all. Stay Tuned.

Sugar High Friday is the brainchild of Jen at the Domestic Goddess.