Sweet and Sour

Cupcakes are my favorite treat to make. I adore looking at beautifully-decorated cupcakes (like on my friend Nadia's awesome blog), but I'm no pastry chef, and am too intimidated to attempt the ones that require an artistic flair and a steady hand. Yesterday I decided to take a leap from my tried and true favorites, and baked Martha Stewart's Triple-Citrus Cupcakes for a friend's surprise party. I had to zest far too many lemons, limes, and oranges, but the labor-intensive recipe was worth it. These were a fabulous summer treat - refreshing, light, and perfectly balanced between sweet and sour. I had never worked with a glaze before, though dipping cupcakes actually turned out to be much easier than frosting them. I also substituted a third of the butter with applesauce to make them more moist. The lime ones were my favorites - I used key lime juice in the frosting, so they tasted like mini key-lime pies.