sweet corn cupcakes with browned butter frosting

My brother and I have our birthdays within a week of each other. This year, for possibly the first time in 23 years, my mom decided that we weren’t both getting our own separate birthday cakes. Whether this brilliant notion hit her for the first time this year, or perhaps this was the first year my brother and I were simultaneously mature enough to not make a fuss about it (obviously this is the right answer, but I’d rather blame it on mom’s sudden stroke of genius if I can get away with it), she did it by scrapping tradition (chocolate raspberry truffle cheesecake, in my case – I’ll share that with you eventually) and going with something completely new and a little bit…well…weird. At least until I tasted them. My mom is an amazing cook.

Corn cupcakes. Go with me. These are light and summery, thanks in part to the corn, and in part to the hint of lemon in the frosting. The frosting is mostly butter, so that should defeat the lightness, but I promise you that you’re going to want to smear this stuff on everything. I would love to try it on gingerbread, and I expect that, come winter, I will. Brace yourselves.