Lemon Filled, Vanilla Birthday Cupcakes

Steven's birthday is this coming Thursday, and since I have a 3 day weekend, I decided to make him cupcakes instead of a cake! This is one of the bigger projects I've attempted for his birthday, but it's the first to come out RIGHT! Perfectly right!
So, Onto the pictures and the recipes!

Yellow Cake:
Ingredients:

• 2 Cups Flour
• 1 1/2 Cups Sugar
• 4 tsp Baking Powder
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 box Dry Pudding Mix (Not cook and serve, but instant. I use Vanilla)
  
• 3 Tbs Oil (I use Canola, but any vegetable oil will work)
• 1 Cup Milk (I use low fat soy, any low/non fat milk will work)
• 1 1/2 tsp Vanilla
  
• 6 Egg Whites (Or 3 eggs, or appropriate egg substitute)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare baking dish - either cupcake tins or 2 - 9" round pans, greased & floured.
2. Sift together dry ingredients. You can store this dry mix in a sealed container for several weeks. These dry ingredients are equivalent to 1 box of cake mix.
3. Beat egg whites until light & fluffy. Mix into the remaining ingredients and beat for 1 minute. Add to dry ingredients and beat for 5 minutes, scraping down the bowl several times during mixing.
4. Pour into prepared pans. I use 1/4 cup per cupcake or you can split it between your 2 round pans.
5. Bake. For cupcakes, 15 - 20 minutes. For rounds, 30 - 40 minutes.
6. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then remove to cooling rack until completely cool.

Next, We make the Lemon Pudding Filling! Of course, you can use lemon pudding from a box, but this is much yummier!

Lemon Pudding (vegan)

Ingredients:

• 6 Tbs Cornstarch
• 2 Lemons - Zest of
• 1 Pinch Salt
• 1 Cup Sugar
• 1 Liter Soy Milk (4 1/4 cups)
• 2 Lemons - Juice of

Directions:

1. In a large pot, mix the cornstarch, lemon zest, salt, and sugar.
2. Mix in enough soy milk to form a smooth paste.
3. Slowly mix in the remaining soy milk, stirring constantly to keep it smooth.
4. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens. This takes about 10 - 15 minutes.
5. Remove from heat and stir in the lemon juice. You can add more or less depending on how lemon-y you like it.
6. Strain to remove any lumps you may have missed. This step is optional, but makes for a smoother pudding.
7. Chill for at least 2 hours.

Next, we fill the cupcakes. All I did for this was take a piping bag and a large star tip. Fill the piping bag with the pudding. Stab your star tip into the center of the cupcake and wiggle around to make a small well. Fill with pudding until cupcake starts to bulge. Repeat on all remaining cupcakes.

Now, for the frosting! This frosting tastes a lot like marshmallow fluff and has about the same consistency. It is a little messy to make, but has endless possibilities for adapting for different flavors. Just substitute out the vanilla for a flavoring of your choice. Peppermint or coconut works well.

7 - Minute Frosting

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 Cups Sugar
• 1/3 Cup Cold Water
• 2 Egg Whites
• 2 tsp Honey
• 1 tsp Vanilla

Directions:

1. In the top of a double boiler, combine all ingredients except vanilla. Beat on low for 30 seconds.
2. Place onto bottom of double boiler, over boiling water. Cook, beating constantly on high, for approx 7 minutes. Frosting should form stiff peaks.
   
3. Remove from heat, add vanilla. Beat 2 - 3 more minutes until frosting is stiff enough to spread.

Frost your cake or cupcakes. I used a small star tip for mine. Then garnish as you feel is appropriate. Steven absolutely loves strawberries, so I cut up some strawberries for his garnish. This took most of the day to make, but he loves them!