sunshine on a rainy day: lemon cupcakes

i've recently swerved my recipe sources (sorry Ina) and began testing out hummingbird bakery's cookbook.  while the chocolate cupcakes were a success, these weren't so much.  not sure what went wrong but they didn't rise as much as usual. the taste, however, was pretty darn good..which is all the counts right? 

courtesy of hummingbird bakery cookbook...

lemon cupcakes

the ingredients:
120g plain flour
150g caster sugar
1 ½ tsp baking powder
2 tbsp grated lemon zest, plus extra to decorate
40g unsalted butter (at room temperature)
120ml whole milk
1 egg
the temperature: preheat to 170C (325F)
the preparation:
put the flour, sugar, baking powder, lemon zest and butter in a mixer (hand held electric whisk...or as I’ve been falling back on- good ‘ole spatula by hand!)  beat on slow until you get a sandy consistency and everything is combined.  gradually pour in the milk and beat until just incorporated.

add the egg to the flour mixture and continue beating until just incorporated, scrapping any unmixed ingredients from the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula).  continue mixing for a couple more minutes until the mixture is smooth.  do not overmix.

spoon the mixture into the paper cases until two-thirds full and bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until the sponge bounces back when touched (i always stick to the ‘toothpick comes out clean from center’ rule) Leave the cupcakes to cool slightly in the tray before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

lemon frosting
the ingredients:
250g icing sugar (confection sugar) sifted
80g unsalted butter (at room temperature)
2 tbsp grated lemon zest
a couple drops of yellow food colouring (optional)
25ml whole milk

the preparation:
beat together the icing sugar, butter, lemon zest and food colouring, if using, in a free standing (or hand held) mixer on medium-low speed until the mixture comes together and is well combined.  turn the mixer down to a slower speed.  slowly pour in the milk, then when it is all incorporated, turn the mixer up to high speed.  continue beating until the frosting is light and fluffy, at least 5 minutes.  the longer the frosting is beaten, the fluffier and lighter it becomes.

when the cupcakes are cold, spoon (or pipe) the frosting on top and decorate with a little zest.