strawberry lemonade cupcakes!

hey everyone! how's your summer going so far? is it as hot where you are? it has been sweltering here in cape may! luckily for me, living right on the water has it's advantages... not only a gorgeous view... but a lovely sea breeze to help tame some of this heat... and you'd think this heat and humidity would stop me from putting the oven on to bake just about everyday, but i just crank up my air-conditioners and I'm good to go!

so here's a yummy and refreshing treat for all of those hotter then hot days... a delish-ious and light lemon cake, filled with fresh strawberries and white peaches with a bit of strawberry mascarpone, and topped with a sweet lemony buttercream... ahhh... sooo good!

vanilla lemon yogurt cupcakes:

dry ingredients:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
wet/fat ingredients:
8 tbsp (1 stick) melted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
2 XL egg whites
2 tsp fresh lemon juice, and 1-2 tbsp of fresh lemon zest
1 1/8 cup vanilla nonfat yogurt
directions:
1. preheat oven to 325°F and prep cupcake tins with paper liners
2. sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and set aside.
3. in a small bowl, combine lemon zest and sugar, and using your fingers rub the zest into the sugar until fragrant, then in mixer, beat together melted butter and sugar until combined, then add egg whites and beat until mixture is smooth and light, and then stir in the lemon juice.
4. add flour mixture in two additions, alternating with the yogurt.
5. bake for 20-25 minutes, until cupcakes are barely golden on top, remove from oven, let cool in tins for 10 minutes, then cool on wire rack.

to make the filling: i took a pint of fresh strawberries and one white peach, and diced them up, and coated them in 1 tbsp. lemon extract, 1 tbsp. sugar and a few splashes of strawberry vodka, and let it all play together for a few hours in the fridge... i then took some mascarpone and lightly sweetened it with the juices from the macerated strawberries... for picture purposes i added a little bit of pink food coloring to make it POP!

stay cool, and happy baking everyone!