Lemon Cupcakes with Coconut Oil Frosting

I'm so glad that some of you tried (and shared - thanks for  your tweets!) last week's Coconut Oil  Frosting recipe, of course you had good reason. It's pretty amazing, right?  Now with that being said, what's a frosting recipe without a cupcake to frost it with? I love a good cupcake, you know this. 

And since it's now the ever lovely Spring I thought it was time to bring back a little lemon to spruce up my favorite vanilla cupcakes. If you're more of a Lime or Orange kind of gal, this is right up your alley with easy substitutions.

Cupcakes With  Zesty Lemon Coconut Oil Frosting -

For The Cupcakes
1 Cup Butter, Softened (*I used coconut oil but make sure your other ingredients are room temp!)
3/4 Cup Sugar
2 Cups Flour
2 Tsp. Baking Powder
1 Tsp. Salt
4 Large Eggs
1/2 Cup Milk
1 Tsp. Vanilla Extract

For the Frosting
1/3 Cup Coconut Oil
2 Cups Confectioners Sugar
1 Tbsp. Milk
1 Tsp. Vanilla Extract
1 Tbsp. Lemon Zest (Plus more for garnish)
* you can substitute Orange or Lime Zest

Preheat Oven to 350˚

Combine all cupcake ingredients in large bowl, and beat until smooth and pale (if you're using coconut oil make sure everything is room temperature or the coconut oil will harden*).

Spoon batter into cups and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. 

Remove from oven and let cool 5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack. 

Prepare frosting by beating the coconut oil, sugar, & vanilla until smooth add milk if needed (see this recipe for more info). 

Fold in Lemon Zest. 

Pipe Frosting onto cupcakes and garnish with zest, you can also skip folding it into the frosting and just top. 

And Voila! Refreshing Cupcakes!

Yields 18 Cupcakes