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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
- 1.5 cups cake flour
- 1.5 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 4 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup milk, room temperature
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
Lemon Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting
- 3 cups confectioner's sugar
- 4 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature
- 4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
- 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 large bowl, whisk together the ingredients: flour, baking powder, and salt.
- In a separate bowl, combine wet ingredients: butter, sugar, milk, eggs, vanilla extract, lemon zest, and lemon juice.
- Add half of dry ingredients to wet ingredients, stir until combined. Add remaining dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
- Pour batter into cupcake liners, filling halfway full (3 tablespoons of batter in each liner). Bake in preheated oven for 18-22 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, whisk or sift the confectioner's sugar to remove clumps.
- In a separate bowl, add butter and cream cheese. Cream together until fully combined. Add vanilla, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Mix to combine.
- Add confectioner's sugar, mix slowly at first to incorporate. Then, whip at high speed for 2-3 minutes, or until light and fluffy.
- Pipe or spread frosting with a knife onto cupcakes and serve.
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