Strawberries & lemons & sugar, oh my

Someone (hi JoAnn!) has asked if I might share the recipe for Lady Lucinda's Lemon Lulu Cupcakes, and I most certainly will! Dessert recipes are not ever meant to be kept under lock and key! :)

First, I'm not able to claim the original recipe as my own, but it can be found here. And, if you follow the instructions just exactly right, I bet you'll end up with this little darling:

(Raise your hand if perfect cupcakes on tiny cake stands make you happy!)

Now, we did not follow the recipe to a T, and here are the changes we made: For one thing, I renamed them just because I thought my young bakers would get a kick out of a long, silly title - and they did :)  As for the actual recipe, we left out the limencello altogether and rather than making the lemon curd ourselves, opened a jar of Trader Joe's. The girls had asked for strawberry frosting, so instead of using the recipe's lemon buttercream, we mixed 8 ounces cream cheese, a stick and a half of butter, a teaspoon of vanilla, about 3 cups powdered sugar and lots of finely chopped strawberries with a healthy dose of red gel food coloring. Once each cupcake was thoroughly covered - we do not skimp on the frosting around here! - the girls topped their masterpieces with bigger strawberry pieces and then beamed while their mama, auntie and I oohed and ahhed over their very fine work.