The Story of a Blue Lemon Cupcake...

 I associate lemon with bright, "buttery" yellow colors from the crayon box, tart lemonade in a tall glass, sunshine, warmth, and lazy summer days. That is probably why I found my son's request for BLUE frosting so unsettling.

Yesterday Caleb didn't want to get dressed for church. I admit I did the "bribery thing" and promised to make cupcakes with him after church if he got dressed with out a fuss. Little did I realize that my stubborn little Caleb would agree to get dressed but would absolutely refuse to go to his Primary class. About 10 minutes after class should have started Matt brought me a hysterical tear stained boy to "deal with." On a side note, why is it that THE DAD never seems to handle the hysterical meltdowns and always passes them off to THE MOM? I don't always know how to handle it either... Anyways, I digress.

So what do you do with a sobbing child while at church?
Why, the only thing to do is up the ante.

I promised him that not only would we make cupcakes when we got home, but that HE could pick the color of the frosting. That seemed to calm him down and I quickly marched him back into class, where he was fine. 

Later, at home, I let Caleb pick his choice of cake mix. I was a bit surprised he chose the lemon cake, but I was game. When I went to make the frosting he insisted on making it blue. OK now, I admit I had a hard time putting blue frosting on a lemon cupcake, seems to go against nature or something. Especially since I made lemon flavored icing for the lemon flavored cake. (Tasted absolutely wonderful  by the way!) But when I saw Caleb's happy eyes, it made it all worth it. 

 

I feel slightly guilty for bribing my children to behave. In my defense though, it ended up being a very tasty decision, and the real secret is: (SHHHH!) I was planning on making cupcakes anyway... :) (Don't tell Caleb!)

 

PS to make lemon flavored icing use a regular butter cream recipe, but instead of using milk, substitute lemon juice. It is slightly tart, but oh so yummy!