Lemon Cupcakes {With Cream Cheese Frosting}
Best, quick and easy lemon cupcakes recipe with cream cheese frosting, homemade with simple ingredients from scratch. Soft, most and fluffy with lemon zest, juice, extract and lemon curd filling!
If you are fond of my Lemon Bundt Cake (With Cake Mix) and my Moist Lemon Cake you have to try today’s recipe. It’s perfect for Easter and Summer and also great for birthday parties and weddings. These taste just as good as they look and are so refreshing.
How to make lemon cupcake recipe?
- Cream together butter and sugar.
- Mix in eggs.
- Mix in extracts, lemon juice, zest, milk, sour cream, food coloring.
- Add flour and baking powder. Mix.
- Pour in cupcake liners.
- Bake.
- Let them cool.
- Fill with curd and ice with cream cheese frosting.
Lemon cupcake frosting
The classic choice is cream cheese frosting or American Buttercream Frosting. However, there are are many other delicious flavor combinations. Try out some of these pairings:
- Homemade Whipped Cream– Add a little lemon extract and zest flavor it.
- Maraschino Cherry Frosting– For all of you who are obsessed with cherries, this frosting is the best and pairs very well with lemon too.
- Orange Frosting– Bring on the citrus flavor with both, lemon and orange.
- Blackberry Buttercream Frosting- Another fruity frosting that compliments this cupcake flavor very well plus it has beautiful natural pinkish purple color.
- Strawberry Buttercream Frosting- Another berry-based frosting that compliments lemon.
- White Chocolate Buttercream– Semisweet or milk chocolate frosting are an awful pairing but white chocolate works super well.
- Seven Minute Frosting– A classic icing that works well on pretty much all cakes and cupcakes.
- Mango Frosting- Makes these cupcakes very exotic and tropical.
Lemon filled cupcakes
The classic choice is obviously making lemon curd cupcakes because it truly enhances the zesty lemon flavor. You can also try other fillings like various flavors of jams and spreads such as this Homemade Strawberry Jam. You can even fill them with fresh berries (e.g. raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, blackberries e.t.c.). Let’s not forget about pie fillings such as this Peach Pie Filling or this Apple Pie Filling or this Strawberry Pie Filling. All of these fillings can be homemade or store-bought.
Variations
- Lemon blueberry cupcakes– Replace lemon curd filling with Blueberry Pie Fillingor even blueberry jam. Decorate with fresh blueberries.
- Lemon raspberry cupcakes– Replace lemon curd with Raspberry Pie Filling or even raspberry jam. Decorate with fresh raspberries.
- Lemon meringue cupcakes– Top the cupcakes with meringue frosting. These will have all the flavors of a classic meringue pie.
- Add poppy seeds- Mix in 1 tbsp poppy seeds to the cake batter, to make cupcakes inspired by the classic lemon poppy seed cake and bread.
- Add crushed dried flowers- Such as lavender or elderflower in the cupcake batter. They smell heavenly and add a very subtle “flowery” taste.
- Mini cupcakes– Use a mini cupcake pan to make smaller cupcakes. Watch them closely while baking to prevent them from becoming over-baked and dry.
Tips and Techniques
- All ingredients must be at room temperature– That’s because they blend together smoothly and evenly.
- Don’t over-mix cake batter- Because this will yield a tough and it can also cause the cake to collapse/sink during baking.
- Use unsalted butter- This prevents the cake from becoming too salty.
- Use full fat ingredients- Such as full fat sour cream, whole milk and real butter because that makes this cake rich and moist. No fat free or low fat ingredients!
- Only use all-purpose flour- I have tried other flours and they don’t yield the same fluffy texture. The only other flour that still yielded good results was Homemade Cake Flour.
- Gel coloring is optional– I add a little yellow food coloring to make these cupcakes more vibrant but you can omit it, if you like.
- Temperature is key– Do not fill or frost these cupcakes until they have fully cooled down or else everything will melt into a big soggy, sticky mess.
- Fresh is always best– Use fresh lemon juice and zest for best flavor and aroma.
Other Classic Cupcake Recipes
- Strawberry Cupcakes (Soft and Moist)
- Blueberry Cupcakes
- Raspberry Lime Cupcakes
- Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes
- Coconut Orange Cupcakes
Other Lemon Desserts
Easy Lemon Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Forsting
Quick, easy lemon cupcakes recipe with cream cheese frosting, homemade with simple ingredients from scratch. Soft & most with lemon zest, juice and extract.
Yield: Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup Butter, Unsalted, Room temperature
- 1 cup Granulated sugar
- 1 Eggs, Large
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract
- 1 tsp Lemon extract
- 3 tbsp Lemon juice
- 2 tsp Lemon zest
- 1/2 cup Milk, Whole
- 1/4 cup Sour cream, Full fat
- Yellow gel coloring, Optional
- 1.5 cups All-purpose flour
- 1.5 tsp Baking powder
- 2 cups Lemon curd
- 3 cups Cream cheese frosting
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add eggs and mix until smooth.
- Add vanilla extract, lemon extract, lemon juice, lemon zest, milk, sour cream, yellow gel coloring (optional) and mix until smooth.
- Add flour and baking powder and mix until just combined.
- Pour batter in cupcake liners and bake at 350 degrees F for about 20 minutes or until an inserted toothpick in the center comes out clean.
- Allow the cupcakes to cool down completely.
- While the cupcakes are baking and cooling, prepare the lemon curd and cream cheese frosting.
- Use Wilton’s Filling Tip # 230 to fill each cupcake with lemon curd.
- Top off each cupcake with cream cheese frosting. To make them very pretty, use Wilton’s Tip # 104 to decorate ruffle flowers, like I did. Enjoy!
Notes
- Read all my tips above.
- Leftovers can be stored in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 2 days.
Nutrition
Calories: 592kcal, Carbohydrates: 94g, Protein: 3g, Fat: 23g, Saturated Fat: 10g, Cholesterol: 32mg, Sodium: 306mg, Potassium: 118mg, Sugar: 80g, Vitamin A: 260IU, Vitamin C: 1.7mg, Calcium: 45mg, Iron: 0.8mg
Until next time, tata my lovelies!
