Cupcakes for Breakfast?

Before we even left home, for Washington, my mom called requesting that I make cupcakes sometime while we were in town. Never say no to your mother. Got that? My brother got wind of this request and began emailng me with different flavors and cupcakes that he wanted to eat. After messing with the recipe a bit we came up with this Strawberry Lemon Scone cupcake. People often eat scones for breakfast, so why not have a scone cupcake for breakast. Nice, huh?

What makes this cupcake a little different is the fact that the cake part is more like a scone rather than a cake. It's less spongy.

Scones go well with jam, so choose your favorite jam and place it in the middle of your cupcake/scone. 

No cupcake is complete without frosting, so we made a lemon buttercream for the top. Yum!

You can add a little strawbery or lemon zest for garnish.

Strawberry Lemon Scone Cupcakes

Vanilla Cupcakes

2 2/3 cups sifted plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1cup butter, softened and cubed
2 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup milk

Preheat your oven to 350˚F and line a muffin tin with 12 paper liners.

Cream butter and sugar in a mixer until it is soft and pale. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Next, add vanilla.

With the mixer on low, alternate milk and flour mixture, starting and ending with flour.

Fill cupcake liners ¾ full with batter. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Meanwhile, make the buttercream below.

Lemon Buttercream

1 cup softened unsalted butter

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

6 cups icing sugar

Cream the butter for 1-2 minutes. Add the lemon juice, vanilla the icing sugar until light and fluffy and of desired consistency. If the mixture is too wet, add more icing sugar and if it is too dry, add more lemon juice.

Cupcake Assembly

After cupcakes have cooled, cut a hole out of the center of each cupcake. Place jam in the center of each cupcake. Frost each cupcake with buttercream frosting. Garnish with a strawberry slice or lemon zest. Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Honey and Soy blog.