Disneyland Hungry Bear Restaurant ~ Lemon Bumblebee Cupcake Recipe ~ My Take

Hungry Bear is one of my favorite restaurants at Disneyland. Tucked away from the crowds, the restaurant has wonderful river side seating, not to mention a delicious Fried Green Tomato sandwich, and this luscious lemon cupcake.

Ingredients

1 boxed lemon cake mix, prepared as cupcakes

Lemon Curd Filling
1-ounce packet powdered gelatin
1 tablespoon cold water
1 cup lemon juice
1 1/2 cups sugar, divided
3 large eggs
3 large egg yolks
1/2 tablespoon butter

Honey Lemon Frosting
lemon curd filling
1 teaspoon honey
1 cup heavy cream

Easy cheesy beginning. Make cupcakes from a cake mix and cool.

For lemon curd filling:
Combined powdered gelatin and cold water in a small bowl and set aside. Bring lemon juice and 3/4 cup sugar to a simmer over low heat. Whisk together remaining sugar, eggs, and egg yolks in a medium bowl.

 Pour half of simmering lemon-sugar mixture into egg mixture, whisking so eggs do not cook.
 Pour contents of bowl back into pan with remaining lemon mixture. Continue cooking, whisking constantly for several minutes, until mixture reaches 170 degrees and thickens.

 Remove from heat and stir in the gelatin mixture and butter, mixing well. Strain through a fine sieve into a bowl.

Reserve 1 cup of mixture in a small bowl and cover with plastic wrap placed directly on surface. Refrigerate 1 hour. Pour remaining mixture into a medium bowl and cover with plastic wrap placed directly on surface. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

For honey-lemon frosting
Stir honey into cooled medium bowl of lemon curd. Cover and refrigerate for another 15 minutes. In bowl of electric mixer, beat heavy cream on high speed until stiff peaks form. Add honey-lemon curd and mix well. Refrigerate for 2 hours.

The original directions also had at home directions for sticking together chocolate chips with almond slices for wings to make a bee decoration, but as can be seen in the picture, this didn't work well, so I skipped it.

To assemble
With a small melon baller or teaspoon, scoop out a small portion from the middle of each cupcake top.

Place remaining lemon curd filling in a plastic piping bag and cut a small hole in the end. Pipe 1 tablespoon into hole in each cupcake.

Place honey-lemon frosting in a plastic piping bag fitted with a large round tip. Pipe a generous spiral of frosting on top of each cupcake.
Refrigerate until ready to serve.

This all fell apart at the decorating stage. I nearly whipped the cream into butter so stiff peaks weren't a problem. I put the frosting in the refrigerator longer than 2 hours. Immediately upon trying to pipe, the frosting softened and poured off the edge of the cupcakes. Back in the refrigerator and try to spread on top of cupcakes and get back in the refrigerator before it all slide off. The next day the frosting was much more spreadable, so you might try that.. But..these are delicious even with the frosting threatening to run down your arm when you eat it. The curd is tart and goes will with the cupcake flavor, and the bit of honey in the icing adds a depth of flavor.