Hey there cupcake

My wonderful, always put together, cute as a button, four years younger than me, red-headed, I want to be her BFF, cousin, Sara just called me. Did I mention already that she is wonderful? Oh I didn't? Well, she's wonderful.

She just called to ask what kind of icing to put on a lemon cake. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Ferris Bueller? Ding! Ding! Ding! That's right, cream cheese icing. Mix some lemon zest with cream cheese icing and spread it on thick.

I recently made what you see in the pictures below and they were such a hit! Before you go asking me for the recipe, I will first direct you to your local grocery store. Usually around aisle five or six in most grocery stores, there's this thing called the boxed cake aisle. Yeah, um, they have, like, every flavor of cake mix you could ever want or wish for or hope to stuff in your mouth. And if you look closer, usually to the left, right or on the shelves above these convenient little boxes, there are these tubs of ready made icing, again, in any flavor you could ever want or wish for or hope to dip your finger into. Yeah, go ahead, it's okay. You can cheat. No flour to sift, no sugar to measure, no butter to soften. I cheated with these. But they don't look like they came from a box & tub, do they?

To make them a little snazzier, instead of using paper muffin wrappers, cut small squares of wax paper and press them into the mini muffin cups. Give them a quick spray with Pam. (I like the Baking Pam with flour in it!) Using a ziploc bag, pipe the cake mix into the wax paper cut-outs. (Just lay a ziploc bag in a cup or empty jar and fold the ziplocking ends over the side and pour your batter in. Close the bag and snip a small hole in one of the bottom corners of the bag. Pipe away. You'll do this for the icing too.) Bake according to Mrs. Crocker's or Mr. Hines' box directions. While they're in the oven, using a citrus zester, microplane, or the smallest blade on your cheese grater, zest a lemon. If you like lots of lemon taste, zest quite a bit (I'd say about 2 Tablespoons worth) and vice versa if you don't like a lot of lemon; just do it to taste. I like to use a flat, offset spreader spatula thinga-ma-jig, but you can use a spoon if you don't have a flat, offset spreader spatula thinga-ma-jig handy, and mix the zest in with the cream cheese icing still in the tub. Put it into a ziploc bag but wait to snip the end until you're ready to frost. Let the cupcakes cool completely, then pipe the icing on in a circle motion. Top with decorations and say a prayer of thanksgiving to Saint Crocker and/or Saint Hines for putting their awesome recipes into boxed form.

Now go eat a dozen mini cupcakes.

And look, I know you don't care about any of this, but I was pleased that my cousin would call me with such a question. It makes me think I'm closer to reaching my goal of becoming Ms. Domestic USA, ok? So just humor me. And bring me a cupcake.