Lemon filled cupcakes

I don't know if there is a right way to "fill" a cupcake, and I didn't look it up. I just tried something and it worked! Here is what I did:

1. Bake the cupcakes (I made 18 with a white cake recipe). Let them cool.

2. Cut the top off each cupcake, with a knife down into each cake so that you're cutting out some of the centre of the cupcake.

 What gets cut out will be a pointy piece.

3. Cut the pointy part off the "lid", making it flat and giving room to fill the cupcake.

4. Fill the cupcake. I used lemon curd.

5. Put the "lid" back on the cupcake.

6. Decorate the top of the cupcake. I sealed the edges with buttercream icing. Then I just piped the top in a swirl pattern. 

7. And here it is: the delicious, lemon filled, buttercream-iced cupcake.

Lemon Curd  (From Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook 14th Edition p 292)
1 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
3 tsp. finely shredded lemon peel (make it really finely shredded)
6 Tbsp lemon juice
6 Tbsp water
6 egg yolks, beaten
1/2 cup butter

1. In a saucepan, stir together sugar and cornstarch. Stir in lemon peel, lemon juice, and water. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly.

2. Stir half of the lemon mixture into the egg yolks. Return egg mixture to the saucepan. Cook, stirring constantly, over medium heat until mixture comes to a gentle boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes more. Remove from heat. Add butter; stir until melted. Remove from heat. Cover surface with plastic wrap. Chill one hour.

We noted that when you freeze the lemon curd, it tastes like lemon sherbet! It was fantastic! I used this recipe in the first place to use up the egg yolks I got from the white cake recipe that I had used previously. It was genious how well the lemon curd worked as a filling for the white cake.