20060413

when life gives you marshmallow lemons...

lemony cupcakes

...you make lemon chiffon cupcakes with lemon-vanilla butttercream, and top them with a lemon-lime marshmallow slice. of course :)

just when i think i've hit my stride when it comes to this blog, i notice i'm hemorrhaging blog hits at an alarmingly quick rate--i'm down to about 40 per cent of the volume i had at the beginning of the year. at this rate, by the end of the month, i'll have a negative percentage of people coming by. ah well. i was worried yesterday, and now i am not; i am content with what it is, and perhaps it's time to work on some overdue projects. for those of you who have chosen to stick around, welcome, and a heartfelt thank you.

it just means there's more cupcakes for us.


lemon-vanilla buttercream

1 cup unsalted, softened butter
4 cups sifted confectioners sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
zest from one lemon
lemon juice

cream butter with an electric mixer. gradually add the sugar, and beat at medium speed. the mix should look a little crumbly. add vanilla and zest. beat in enough lemon juice to make the frosting light and fluffy.

31 comments:

i'm a stealth observer with random viewing patterns which in no way indicate my tremendous appreciation of your experiments!

Hey Santos - although life hasn't given me marshmallow lemons, it has given me much lower blog hits of late. I put it down to the EXPLOSION of food blogs - I have never seen so many, there are more to read out there and so it takes more time to get through them all. Plus people are maybe making much more us of RSS readers which I don't think (at least with the stat counter I use), show up in the ratings.

i second what sam breach says. lots of people use rss. i have two santos blogs in my bloglines feed and i'm pretty sure it doesn't show up in your stats.

maybe i should drop by your actual sites more often.

Those are darling! I think cupcakes are the most fun of all the quickie projects. They're really no fuss, and yet give an opportunity to get a little creative with the decorating. Plus, people are always so enchanted with them--so happy!

Do not write your blog for hits. Once, I had a capital B Blog, with loads of people visiting and hundreds of comments per entry, blah blah. And you know, after a time, it got to be really nerve-wracking because I actually started pinning how I felt on how many people visited, and how many track-backs I got, etc. I finally ended up making the blog private.

Short version: dowhatchalike (have a neck bone, you don't have to say "please")!

Hi santos - Well, I'm like that terrible Uncle....now that I'm here, I just won't leave!

I love all your cupcakes..Santos..! and i visit everytime you have something blogged.. ;)
I sometimes do not comment.. because my brat keeps me ultra busy.. even when she is sleeping.. ;)

Santos,
Those cupcakes look adorable! I love how you shot them.

Being relatively new to the blogging world, I watched my stats very intently for the first couple of months - now I figure I'll just write the best posts I can and see what comes. Your blog is definitely one of my favorites; I'll keep visiting!

Another fan and only occasional commenter. Also a fan of your LA blog.

Looking forward to more cupcakes.

Ok, ok..i'll come out of hiding too. Another silent reader here who adores your postings and photography. :)

Those cupcakes look so yummy!! Perfect for Easter Sunday. ^^ I'm having some major cupcake cravings now.

hi everyone! thanks for all the lovely comments. i really was worried last week, as at first i lost something like 15% of hits everyday for a week, but i seem to be holding steady at a 10% decline everday, lol. i know that i'm not losing regular or even irregular readers, but it's still alarming to see, you know what i mean?

i think sam, rakka, and vanessa are definitely right. it's not going to change my blog style or focus any. although i feel rather freed by it, actually. i might actually do some things i normally wouldn't for fear of annoying readers.

i can annoy you lot, can't i? ;)

i can annoy you lot, can't i?

You can try - not sure how you'll do though!

Love the photo - I have a question about your cupcakes - I really like the straight up and down sides with the baking cup hardly expanded at all - how'd you do that (what did you bake them in)?

hi cathy, i think it's because they are chiffon cakes that they came out so straight. i used a regular muffin pan and liners and filled the cups about 3/4ths of the way full. the cakes puffed a bit, but not particularly much.

Hey Santos,

I love these cupcakes- they are very festive. I feel you on the blog hits- my biggest problem is a total lack of comments. I see that I get hits, but there must be something in my writing style (or lack thereof) that makes people NOT want to post any comments. Isn't it strange how a hobby can bring on insecurity?!?! I just have to remind myself that I am doing it for the love of it, nothing more. But the occasional comment is nice eh?;)

I love those cupcakes Santos and don't worry abt the hits - they'll be back! There is so many new food blogs nowadays that I can't keep up.

Those are gorgeous, Santos. Well done!

Hi santos,

I read you, but on my RSS feeder Bloglines. And see your pictures in flickr.

My visitor count is so pathetic I stopped tracking a year ago, but it doesn't stop me from blogging. It is my personal folly, and it feels fine to me with all its quirks and imperfections.

And the cupcakes look gorgeous too.

Hi S,

OK...I better stop by and pay you a visit. I know that you were thinking of me just now! =)

BTW...talk about hemorrhaging...in the last month, I think I lost 40% of my readers. *sigh*

don't worry be happy! Happy easter

hi santos, fret not; you have ardent admirers aplenty ;) i choose to be blissfully ignorant by not even having a stat counter -like you've said, it can feel incredibly liberating anyways to say and do what you damn well please when you damn well please!

hey Santos, I was a secret addict of your blog and thought I would come out of hiding to tell you: today, someone's postsecret (have you ever visited?) featured a picture of one of your cupcakes (I must have photographic memory...)

that and your post made me want to reveal this foodie secret of my own -- love your blog! My husband is also a big fan due to all of the yummy products that come from my new obsession.

Mmm, those cupcakes look yummy.

I've noticed I receive less visitors to my site as the weather improves in the Northern Hemisphere. I guess people are less inclined to sit at their computers when they can be outside in the sun.

hey let's make this entry a Comments party!

i know yer not really troubled about your headcount, but i'll chime in ... i've noted that having an increase or decrease in numbers doesn't always have meaning. my example: i posted a link to a hurricane katrina photo and got spikes of 100+ additional visitors a day... visitors who hit the site for "0" seconds, then moved on.

i also agree with barbara that external things like weather have an effect

Hi Santos, Happy Easter!
Could it be some of your readers are on vacation? Another blogger noted that many of the regulars aren't online these days, at least the ones in Manila are on holiday.

hello everyone! first, a secret revealed: i didn't actually try these cupcakes as i had to give every one of them away, so i don't truly know how they taste. everyone said that they were super-lemony, and the buttercream was a bit too sweet, but also intensely lemony. i'll add the buttercream recipe and a link to the cupcake recipe shortly.

and as for the blog hits, i understand there are a bunch of external circumstances, but it's still alarming to watch the drop. eh. it seems to have bottomed out. i'll definitely survive, and make more cupcakes in the meanwhile....

junebug: thanks for pointing me towards that postsecret, i hadn't seen it, and you must have quite a memory! i definitely have something to say about that particular link, but i'll do it in a new post.

I'm another rss reader. I very much enjoy your food photography. (All the more since my food photography attempts make the food look so repulsive it's like a diet aid.)

About hits: According to the stats packages my hosting service provides, my rss hits are about four times my front page hits. If you don't have any record of rss hits, try multiplying your regular hits by four and see if you like those numbers better.

Wow, great photo santos!

These cupcakes are almost unbearably dear. I am now scheming ways to get my hands on those marshmallows--unlikely in my part of the world.

mrs. canada, i haven't seen them anywhere outside of the philippines :( i do feel like they could be chinese, though, so you might want to check an asian market.

This is simply tooo cute to eat!!! Love your photos...

i want to bake but the boat not equipped with baking things

hello from france