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These easy lemon cupcakes are moist, fluffy, zingy and topped with an incredible lemon buttercream that’s a lemon-lover’s dream!
When life gives you lemons, make a big batch of lemon cupcakes!! These are one of my favorite cupcake recipes, I love the fluffy, moist crumb with that lemony frosting. Each bite is perfect. I loved these simple buttercream lemons as a decoration idea. They’re delicious any way you make them but if you feel like breaking those piping tips out then I highly recommend giving this a try! For another delicious recipes try my vanilla cupcake recipe!
How to Make Lemon Cupcakes
1. Preheat oven to 375F. Add the sugar and zest to a food processor and pulse until the sugar is light yellow in color and the zest has been all broken up. This really infuses the sugar with a lot of flavor from the oil in the zest but you can skip this step and add the zest to the wet ingredients later on.
2. In a medium bowl add the sour cream, melted butter, eggs, milk, sugar and lemon juice then whisk together and set aside.
3. Sift the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder together in a large bowl then whisk together.
4. Pour the wet mixture into the dry then mix until just combined.
5. Add cupcake papers to your muffin tin and fill about 3/4 the way up. I like to use an ice cream scoop with a trigger to fill the papers but you can also just spoon the mixture in. Bake at 375 for 5 minutes then reduce temperature to 350F and bake another 12 minutes or until the cupcakes are springy to the touch.
6. While the cupcakes bake it’s time to mix up some delicious buttercream. Add the butter, salt, and zest to the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat for a few minutes. You want to rough up the zest a bit so it releases the oil inside.
7. Sift in the powdered sugar in a few batches, beat until combined then scrape the bowl down. Drizzle in the lemon juice while mixing on low then increase speed to medium and beat until smooth. Scrape down one last time then beat again.
8. Once the cupcakes are cool they’re ready to decorate! You can use a star tip to pipe an easy swirl on, you can spoon on a rustic dollop or you can pipe little buttercream lemon wedges on! For the wedges start by piping a circle of buttercream on top. Use a large round tip or just snip the tip off a piping bag then use an offset spatula or small knife to smooth the top.
9. Use a large petal tip like a 128 to pipe a half circle with yellow buttercream.
10. Finish your wedge with some white accents for the pith. Use a small round tip or again just snip the tip off of a piping bag.
These homemade lemon cupcakes are so magically moist, zingy and wonderful. You will LOVE this recipe, even if you’re not a huge lemon fan.
Pro Tips for this recipe
- Measure your flour correctly! Adding too much flour to the recipe is the most common mistake. The best and easiest way to measure flour is by using a scale. If you don’t have one then fluff your flour with a spoon, sprinkle it into your measuring cup, and use a knife to level it off.
- If your frosting is runny then add more powdered sugar a cup at a time until the consistency thickens up.
- Give your frosting a mix before using for the best results.
- NEVER use bottled lemon juice! It really will not taste the same.
- You can substitute whole milk yogurt for the sour cream if desired, I do it all the time and can’t really tell the difference.
- If you’re using lemon zest for garnish then add just before serving. It will dry out fairly quickly.
- Room temperature ingredients are always the best. If your wet mixture clumps up after mixing then pop the bowl in the microwave for thirty seconds them mix together once more.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Long Will These Cupcakes Keep For?
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- These cupcakes are fine overnight if left covered. You can refrigerate them for three days but they should come to room temperature before eating. Butter-based cake needs to warm up a bit.
- If unfrosted you can wrap and freeze the cupcakes for up to two months.
Can I make these without a food processor?
Sure! I like processing the sugar with the zest but you can just mince the zest and mush it up with the sugar in a bag or just mince the zest and toss it in with the wet ingredients. Either way it will be delicious!
What Can You Fill These Cupcakes With?
Lemon Curd! Remove the center of the cupcakes with a cupcake corer, small knife, or spoon. Fill with lemon curd then place the cake cap back on and frost. Lemon curd is SO easy to make and just plain delicious. I highly encourage giving this recipe a try.
If you’ve tried this Lemon Cupcake recipe then don’t forget to leave a rating and let me know how you got on in the comments below, I love hearing from you!
Lemon Cupcake Recipe
Ingredients
For the Cupcakes:
- 1¾ cups all-purpose flour (210g)
- 1 cup granulated sugar (200g)
- 2 tablespoons lemon zest (2-3 lemons)
- 1½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¾ cup unsalted butter melted (170g)
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- ½ cup sour cream room temperature (120g)
- ¼ cup whole milk room temperature (60ml)
- ¼ cup lemon juice (60ml) (1-2 lemons)
For the Buttercream:
- 1 cup unsalted butter (226g)
- 4½ cups powdered sugar (540g)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoon lemon zest (2-3 lemons)
- 2-4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (30-60ml) (1-2 lemons)
Instructions
For the Cupcakes:
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a 12-cup cupcake pan with paper liners and set aside.
- Add the sugar and lemon zest to the bowl of a food processor, then pulse until the zest is broken up and the sugar is pale yellow in color. Transfer the sugar to a medium mixing bowl. (If you don’t have a food processor, rub the sugar and zest together in a medium bowl with your hands until the sugar is damp and very fragrant.)
- Add the butter, eggs, sour cream, milk , and lemon juice to the bowl with the lemon sugar, and whisk together until it is lump-free and well combined.
- Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a large bowl then whisk together. Pour the wet ingredients into the flour mixture and fold together just until all of the dry streaks of flour have disappeared.
- Fill each cupcake liner almost full with batter (about ¼ cup/60g of batter each).
- Bake for 5 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 350°F (do not remove the cupcakes or open the oven door), and bake for another 10 to 12 minutes or until the center of each cupcake is springy to the touch. Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for a few minutes, then remove and place on a wire rack to cool completely.
For the Buttercream:
- Combine the butter, lemon zest and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, or in a large mixing bowl using a hand mixer. Beat together on medium-high speed until light and creamy, 2-3 minutes.
- Then sift in the powdered sugar a cup at a time, and beat in until well combined between batches. Stop and scrape down the bowl as needed. Then, add 2 tablespoons of lemon juice while mixing on low speed. Scrape down the bowl and mix once more until fluffy, about 1 minute. Add more lemon juice as needed if your frosting feels stiff or if you’d like a zippier flavor.
- Transfer the frosting to a piping bag with a decorative tip (I used a large star tip) and pipe it onto the cooled cupcakes.
Notes
- Garnishing with zest or lemon slices? Add the fresh garnish just before serving, as the zest and slices dry out quickly.
Nutrition
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