Lemon & ricotta cupcakes

Preheat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 5.

Prepare the decoration: cut the yellow part of one lemon into thin stripes, and let them simmer in a pan with 200g water and 200g sugar for about 20 minutes. Let the lemon stripes cool in the syrup while you prepare the cupcakes.

Prepare the dough: beat the eggs with the sugar for 2 or 3 minutes. Add,still beating, the butter, the ricotta, lemon juice and zest, the almond extract and, at the end, the flour previously sifted with the baking powder. The dough should be smooth and silky.

Pour the dough into 12 muffin tins lined with paper cases (they should be filled at 3/4 of their height), and bake the cupcakes for 20-25 minutes in the oven untill golden. Allow to cool on a rack.

Prepare the lemon glaze adding about the juice of half a lemon (you can use the one you zested for the decoration), and mix untill you get a very dense glaze.

Pourone or two tbsp glaze over each cold muffin, add a few lemon stripes on top and let rest for 10-15 minutes before serving.