These Lemon Cupcakes are soft, moist and filled with fresh lemon zest. They’re made from scratch with easy to find ingredients, and topped with a lemon cream cheese buttercream frosting.
First, I made Easy Homemade Chocolate Cupcakes. Then, I made these tender and soft Homemade Classic Yellow Cupcakes. For spring, I decided that lemon cupcakes were a must.
If you love lemon, these cupcakes need to go on your must-make list! Grab a couple of fresh lemons from the grocery store. You’ll be using fresh lemon zest and juice for these cupcakes and the frosting.
These cupcakes turn out tender and soft, with a fine crumb. I like to use cake flour in my cupcakes, which makes them more tender than a cupcake made with all-purpose flour.
I buy Swans Down cake flour (affiliate link) because it’s readily available in my local grocery store, and the quality is excellent. When I don’t have time to shop, I can have it delivered by amazon in just two days. Online shopping saves me heaps of time!
When it comes time to fill your cupcake liners, I highly recommend investing in a large scoop, like this OXO Large Scoop (affiliate link). It distributes the perfect amount of batter into each liner.
This way, none of your cupcakes turn out overfilled or under filled. The amount of batter in this recipe will make exactly 15 cupcakes, so make sure not to overfill your liners to make less.
Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients
Lemon Cupcakes
- 1 1/2 cups cake flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1/2 cup milk room temperature
Lemon Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 4 ounces cream cheese room temperature
- 4 cups confectioner's sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
Instructions
Lemon Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a cupcake pan with liners, set aside.
- In a bowl, sift or whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, add butter and sugar. Beat until creamed and fluffy.
- Add eggs, vanilla extract, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Mix until incorporated and smooth.
- Add half of your dry ingredients to butter mixture. Stir until just combined. Add half of milk, again stirring until just combined. Repeat once more, adding remaining dry ingredients, and remaining milk, stirring until just incorporated.
- Pour batter into cupcake liners, filling halfway full (3 tablespoons of batter in each liner). Bake in preheated oven for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Remove pan from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes before transferring cupcakes to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Lemon Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting
- In a large bowl, add room temperature butter and cream cheese and beat until creamy, about 1 minute.
- Add confectioner's sugar and slowly mix until ingredients are fully combined. Then, whip at high speed for 2-3 minutes, or until light and fluffy.
- Add vanilla extract, lemon juice, and lemon zest, then whip until fluffy, another 1 to 2 minutes.
- Pipe or spread frosting with a knife onto cupcakes and serve.
Equipment Recommendations
Notes
- Over-mixing your batter will cause your cupcakes to rise quickly, then sink in the middle. To prevent this, only mix each ingredient until it is incorporated into the batter. Try using a spoon instead of a hand mixer to incorporate the dry ingredients and milk.
- To perfectly portion cupcake batter, I recommend using a large cookie scoop (3 tablespoon size), or add 3 tablespoons of batter to each cup.
- Cupcakes are best served the same day of baking, but will remain moist for up to 48 hours when covered in a sealed container.
Do you have to use self rising flour or can you use all purpose flour?
I would not recommend self rising flour, this recipe can be made with cake flour or all-purpose flour, but highly recommend using cake flour (for the finer texture and tighter crumb) if you have it on hand.