seasonal – zezoo cooks

Peach cupcakes with brown sugar cream cheese frosting

american, baking, birthday, cake, celebration, cupcakes and muffins, dessert, frosting, snack, summer, sweet, themed, vegetarian

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Just as blueberries own the month of July, for August it has got to be peaches – hands down. Peaches and nectarines dominate the farmers markets around here starting late June, and boy do they rule in August! These cupcakes adapted from smitten kitchen are one of my first “summer” bakes from a decade ago, and I can confidently say that I’ve made them – with a few tweaks here and there – every summer since. Light batter, juicy peaches, and brown sugar cream cheese frosting so perfectly matched to the cupcakes’ flavor, this one’s a keeper. I’ve made this into a layered cake for many summer birthdays over the years, and it just had to be the final installment of my seasonal cupcake project! In fact, when I started planning it, August was one of the first months I locked in with Peach (even though it was the last month in the series)!

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Blueberry cupcakes with blueberry cream cheese frosting

american, baking, birthday, celebration, cupcakes and muffins, dessert, freezer friendly, frosting, seasonal, snack, summer, sweet, themed, vegetarian

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Another no-brainer of a selection for my seasonal cupcake project – blueberries for July! No other berry, nay fruit, is better than blueberries in the month of July…at least until the peaches take over come August.

I’ve made a lot of blueberry muffins and crumb cakes over the years, and they all have a more rustic, wholesome quality to them, which I totally adore, but for these cupcakes, I wanted something more decidedly “cake” like, something more ‘dessert’ and less ‘snack’. This recipe below fits the bill perfectly. Please don’t skip the streusel-ish brown sugar and cinnamon topping – it adds amazing crunch and a really unique texture contrast with the plush cupcake and the smooth, creamy frosting! If you didn’t know already, the combination of blueberry, brown sugar and cinnamon is to die for. Now you know!

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Lemon cupcakes with lemon icing

american, baking, birthday, cake, california, celebration, cupcakes and muffins, dessert, make ahead, seasonal, snack, spring, sweet, winter

An ultra-luxe pound cake recipe adapted to cupcake format, with a lemon flavor so bright and cheerful, it will make all the zesting and juicing well worth the effort! The citrus plays beautifully with the buttery poundcake here. As a poundcake purist I can safely say that if you are going to mess with a classic, you better do it right!

We start by zesting and juicing a whole lot of lemons for this cake. 8 lemons sounds like a lot, but you are doing the work for the batter, the syrup (to soak the cupcakes and make them extra moist and lemony) and the sharp, tart glaze that will wake you up!

Put on some nice music and get right to it!

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Cupcakes and Gratitude

american, baking, birthday, cake, cake art, california, celebration, chocolate, christmas, cupcakes and muffins, dessert, european, fall, farm to table, freezer friendly, frosting, general announcements, german, holidays, make ahead, recipe card, snack, southern, spring, summer, sweet, thanksgiving, whole grain, winter

Final Update: August 25, 2021!

When I was pregnant last year, there were so many reasons it felt like a cloud was hanging over us, the pandemic being just one of them. Most of the time we powered through, busy with work, getting the house ready for the baby, and like everyone else in the world, tracking down toilet paper and disinfecting our groceries took up 80% of whatever time was left over! The upcoming early months with the baby seemed very daunting at the time, especially since we were not going to have anyone to help out at home, so to make it fun and to have something to mark the milestones and celebrate the fact that we were “surviving” early parenthood, I planned this very special little side project: I decided that for each of our baby’s monthly birthdays (the 25th of each month), I would make a seasonal cupcake recipe, and take his picture with the cupcakes!

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Orange chocolate chunk cupcakes with chocolate frosting

american, baking, cake, cake art, california, celebration, chocolate, christmas, cupcakes and muffins, dessert, frosting, holidays, recipe card, seasonal, snack, winter

A delightful citrus combination, that can be taken to the next level with the addition of orange liqueur to the cupcake batter and/or the chocolate ganache frosting! These cupcakes (which I often make into bundt cakes or mini bundt cakes with the ganache draped over, or round cakes filled with the frosting) are one of my most frequent bakes all year round – turns out many of my friends dig the chocolate and citrus combination!

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Chocolate gingerbread cupcakes with chocolate icing

american, baking, cake, celebration, chocolate, christmas, cupcakes and muffins, dessert, european, german, holidays, recipe card, seasonal, snack, sweet, themed, winter

If you can’t choose between gingerbread and chocolate for your holiday dessert, these are just for you! Make them even more festive with the addition of candied ginger, citrus peel and raisins or currants plumped in warm rum. These cupcakes are rich and intense, a perfect holiday dessert in a highly portable format. The recipe can also be made into an 8-inch square or 9-inch round cake, if that fits better with your menu!

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