Lemon Cream Cheese Cupcakes

Scent of lemon is charming to me. It brings the sense of freshness and delight, brightening up those around them. So I decided to make birthday cupcakes of something lemon for my sister-in-law to reflect her being optimistic and gaily.

Lemon Zest // Butter & Cream Cheese

I paired lemon cream cheese frosting with cream cheese cupcakes. The subtle tang and creaminess of cream cheese goes well with lemon scent as well as lemon zest. Cream cheese cupcakes also taste nice on their own. So I made it more than needed to have it without frosting later. Hehehehe :P

The birthday girl, with her beloved son, at her vanilla moment

Pastry Cream / Crème Patisserie / Custard Cream

Pastry cream, aka. crème patisserie or custard cream, is bff to many desserts. Raymond Blanc, a highly respected French chef in Britain, once said "Pastry cream or crème patissière is to chefs what concrete is to builders."

With its satisfactory taste, sweet and creamy with pleasurable vanilla scent, the use of pastry cream is versatile. There are a numbers of desserts that are accompanied with pastry cream -- such as trifles, fruit tarts, Napoleons, cream pies, fruit crumbles, cream puffs (eclairs), or even cakes like Boston cream pie, etc.