Description
These festive Lemon Curd Cupcakes with Chocolate Covered Cherry Pumpkins combine tangy lemon curd filled lemon cupcakes with a creamy vanilla buttercream frosting, topped with adorable chocolate-coated maraschino cherries decorated as pumpkins. Perfect for fall celebrations or Halloween, they offer a delightful blend of citrusy, sweet, and rich flavors with charming seasonal decoration.
Ingredients
Scale
Lemon Curd
- 1 batch Lemon Curd by Flouring Kitchen
Lemon Cupcakes
- 1 batch Lemon Cupcakes by Cake Me Home Tonight (yields 11 cupcakes with black liners)
Vanilla Buttercream
- 1 batch Vanilla Buttercream by Cake Me Home Tonight (optionally add 1 tbsp vanilla bean paste for extra flavor)
Chocolate Covered Cherry Pumpkins
- Bordeaux Maraschino Cherries With Stems, enough for 11 cupcakes
- White chocolate melting wafers, enough to coat cherries
- Orange oil-based food coloring, to tint white chocolate
- Dark chocolate melting wafers, for facial details
Additional Tools
- Black baking cups
- Apple corer
- Wilton 1M piping tip and piping bags
- Cooking thermometer (optional, recommended for lemon curd)
- Toothpicks
- Parchment or wax paper
- Glass measuring cup
Instructions
- Make the Lemon Curd: Prepare one batch of Lemon Curd following Flouring Kitchen’s recipe. Use a cooking thermometer to monitor until it reaches 170ºF (76ºC), then remove from heat. Immediately cover with plastic wrap touching the surface to prevent skin formation. Refrigerate in an airtight container for at least 1-2 hours before using; curd can also be frozen for longer storage.
- Bake the Lemon Cupcakes: Follow Cake Me Home Tonight’s Lemon Cupcakes recipe using black cupcake liners. Fill liners about 3/4 full and bake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean and the tops spring back when pressed lightly. Cool cupcakes completely on a wire rack.
- Prepare the Vanilla Buttercream: Make one batch of Vanilla Buttercream as per Cake Me Home Tonight. For enhanced flavor, stir in about 1 tablespoon of vanilla bean paste instead of extract for a richer vanilla taste and speckled appearance.
- Make the Chocolate Covered Cherry Pumpkins: Pat maraschino cherries dry on paper towels. Melt white chocolate wafers in a glass measuring cup in 30-second intervals at half power in the microwave to avoid scorching. Gradually blend in orange oil-based food coloring until desired hue is reached. Hold each cherry by the stem and dip fully into the colored white chocolate, covering the stem attachment hole completely. Shake off excess and set cherries angled on parchment to dry. For deeper color, double dip once dry or touch up any exposed cherry areas with more chocolate. Melt dark chocolate wafers, transfer to a piping bag with a very small tip cut, and pipe two eyes and one nose onto each cherry. Use a toothpick to shape the dots into small triangles. Pipe a zigzag smile under the nose for the mouth. Allow decorations to dry fully.
- Assemble and Decorate Cupcakes: Use an apple corer to hollow out a small center section of each cooled cupcake. Fill a piping bag with lemon curd and fill the cupcake centers. Fit a Wilton 1M piping tip to another piping bag and pipe a swirl of vanilla buttercream over each cupcake, leaving a small opening in the center for the pumpkin. Place a chocolate-covered cherry pumpkin atop each frosted cupcake. Refrigerate cupcakes until ready to serve and allow to come to room temperature for about 10-15 minutes before eating to soften frosting.
- Enjoy: Admire your creatively decorated seasonal cupcakes and enjoy the balance of tart lemon, creamy frosting, and chocolate cherry pumpkins!
Notes
- Ensure maraschino cherries are thoroughly dried before dipping to get smooth, even chocolate coverage.
- Completely cover cherries in white chocolate to prevent leaking and maintain pumpkin shape.
- Using vanilla bean paste in buttercream adds visual speckles and intensified vanilla flavor.
- Allow cupcakes to sit at room temperature for several minutes before eating to soften buttercream for the best texture.
- Lemon curd can be made ahead and refrigerated or frozen for convenience.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cupcake
- Calories: 320 kcal
- Sugar: 28 g
- Sodium: 140 mg
- Fat: 18 g
- Saturated Fat: 10 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 6 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 38 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 3 g
- Cholesterol: 45 mg
