Mimi is one of my oldest and dearest friends that I’ve known for almost 25 years. We’ve shared so many milestones, made so many memories……..needless to say, I love me some Mimi 🙂
So you can imagine my utter glee when I found out that she was expecting twins!!! In fact, the twins were such eager little ones that they arrived almost two months early. We were excited to welcome Baby Christopher and Baby Abigail at the end of February—and both are getting stronger with each day!
Mimi and Jinhyeong had their baby shower this past weekend and the theme was perfect—–Two Peas in a Pod. The color scheme was green and yellow and with that, I just knew what I wanted to bring to the baby shower.
Lemon Cupcakes filled with Lemon Curd and a Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting—-and topped with fondant sculpted peas! Aren’t the peas darling?
I must admit, I spent more time making these little fondant toppers than I did making the cupcakes—-but they were so much fun! I used premade fondant and dyed them with food color gels to get the right hue for the peas and shells. I also painted on some eyelashes and rosy cheeks for the “Baby Abigail peas” to delineate them from her big brother Christopher.
Fondant is pretty fun and easy to work with—quite reminiscent of sculpting with Play-Doh! I also learned from my cake pops to nix the food color markers and painted the faces with food color gels and toothpicks. MUCH more effective don’t you think?
I’ll be the first to say that I’m not the greatest fan of the flavor fondant. But it’s the perfect medium to sculpt things with. Just be sure to use a tad of water when you adhere the pieces together or cornstarch when you want to prevent the fondant from sticking.
I would also be remiss if I didn’t give full credit to my nieces Nina and Maya for rolling out all the little peas while I shaped the shells. They were such troopers! 🙂
Over all, I think the new Mama, Papa and their guests enjoyed the “Two Peas in a Pod” Lemon Cupcakes. They were whimsical treats to accompany the oober cute decor that the hostesses prepared. 🙂
Just my small contribution to Welcome Baby Christopher and Baby Abigail!!!!!!!! xoxo!
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“Two Peas in a Pod” Lemon Cupcakes
From Brown Eyed Baker
Makes 28-30 Cupcakes
For the cupcakes:
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
4 ounces unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
2 cup granulated sugar
5 large eggs
4 tablespoons limoncello
1 cup buttermilk
½ cup lemon juice
Zest of two lemons
For the lemon curd:
Zest of 2 lemons
1 cup lemon juice
½ cup granulated sugar
2 eggs + 2 egg yolks
For the cream cheese limoncello frosting:
½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
16 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
2 tablespoon limoncello
4-5 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1-2 drops yellow food color
1. Prepare the cupcakes. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and position a rack in the center. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter, cream cheese and sugar on medium speed until light and creamy, 2-3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the limoncello and beat an additional minute. On low speed, add flour mixture and buttermilk alternatively, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Add the lemon juice and zest and mix on low speed just until incorporated. Divide the batter between 12 muffin tins. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the middle comes out clean. Let cool completely.
2. Prepare the lemon curd. In a heavy medium saucepan, stir together the lemon zest, juice and sugar and bring to a simmer over medium heat. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg and egg yolk. Whisk the lemon mixture into the eggs to temper them. Scrape the mixture back into the saucepan and place over medium heat, whisking constantly until it thickens, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat, and let cool completely.
3. Prepare the cream cheese limoncello frosting. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and cream cheese on medium speed until light and creamy, about 2-3 minutes. Add the limoncello and beat for an additional minute. Reduce the speed to low and gradually add the sifted powdered sugar and beat until fully incorporated and smooth.
4. Assemble the cupcakes. Cut a hole into each cupcake with the large end of a melon baller or the back end of a large pastry tip. Fill each cavity with the lemon curd. Fill a pastry bag with the cream cheese limoncello frosting and pipe onto each cupcake. Top with fondant peas.
theculinarychronicles.com 
WOW! This is my first visit to your blog and your cupcakes blew me away… How cute are they!!! Fantastic job with the fondant… You can bet I’ll be back to visit a lot more! Nice to ‘meet’ you!
Hi Nam;¡ Super amorosos! y un precioso regalo para tu amiga Mimi. Mis felicitaciones para las dos, porque serás tía Nam ji,ji,ji…En España a las mejores amigas de mamá les decimos “tía”.
Y me llevo , con tu permiso, este maravilloso diseño. Besitos
Oh my goodness, these are SO adorable! Really creative and impressive!!! And I bet they tasted yummy too 🙂 I haven’t yet attempted to do anything with fondant, but now I kinda want to…
How adorable! What a good friend you are! I bet they were so surprised and just proud to have an awesome friend to do this for them.
Those are so freakin cute! They really look amazing! I’m really impressed with their little faces, it must have taken a fair amount of time, or at least it would have for me!
Incredible cupcakes! Love love love!
Just so lovely…
These are adorable! Insanely so. It must have taken a lot of time to do the detail on all those little faces.
Oh my goodness! They are so cuuuuuutteeee! You are amazing. Who can actually eat these adorable cupcakes…. Congratulations on being featured on Cupcake Take The Cake site!
Ohmygosh, you just helped me reach my daily quota of “aww.” Those are the most adorable things I’ve seen in a while. I especially like the shots of the peas in the egg carton! I’m sure Mimi and Jinhyeong loved them=).
~Kurious
aww. these are too cute to eat!
They are super gorgeous!!! And cute! So clever.
Those cupcakes are so adorable! Well done. Such a perfect treat for the babies!
Gorgeous, gorgeous work!
Saw these on tastespotting and fell in love! My best friend just found out shes pregnant and I think she would love these!!!
bravo!!! ils sont adorables!! bon dimanche! kouky
http://cuisinea4mains.wordpress.com
Oh these are gorgeous!!! Wow… beautiful job. And the taste must be amazing… I love anything that’s citrusy!
Congrats on making top 9… well deserved!
so so cute!
So cute! The recipe sounds delicious. I think I will give your recipe a try soon. Thanks for sharing!
These are the cutest cupcakes ever!!!!
That was so touching dear!I believe when you make something with so much love filled in it,it ought to be so wonderful!:) My wishes for you and you dear friend and congratulations to you for the Top 9!
Cheers!
Wit,wok&wisdom
These looks totally adorable…:D)!!
Adorable! Congratulations to Mimi and the new additions. You did an amazing job on these little guys!!
Well then…these are exceptional cupcakes! What an artisan you are…and a contagious smile as well!
Good luck in all of your culinary adventures!
Regards,
Chef Chuck
pittsburghhotplate.com
Congratulations to your dear friend Mimi and welcome babies Christopher and Abigail.
Your fondant peas are precious. A person can’t help but smile when looking at these happy and gorgeous cupcakes! Beautiful and lovingly done. =)
How cute!! Your fondant peas are wonderful, than you very much!
I just had to visit after seeing these adorable cupcakes popping out among the other photos. I love the idea and these will be forever remembered by your friend for sure!
I’m not much of a cook, but I would love to make these with my girlfriend!
yay yay! these were as cute in person as they are in picture! my one regret? i had my babies too soon – before you made these!
GOOD JOB on being featured! wootwoot!!!
awesome job, so cute!
These are just too adorable. What a great friend you are to have!
Wow these are SO cute and sound delish, I love them!! 😀
these are soooo freaking adorable!
WOW awesome cupcakes! You are so creative!!
These are fabulous! Total cuteness rating: 10 out of 10!!
Wow! These are so cute…. these would have been so perfect for my girls. I had twins at 2 months early as well. Blessings to the little ones. My girls are strong and are 10 years now! Tell her it gets easier when they are out of diapers. ; )
What is limoncello? and where do you find it? My children don’t care for cream cheese, a huge shame huh? would you subsitute for something else, or would you just omit it?
Thank you for your inspiration!
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