Light, moist & airy Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream. These scrumptious cupcakes are perfect for Spring and Summer.
I love baking, but the frosting is not my cup of tea. I tend to frost cupcakes the old-fashioned way - using a spatula.
For my friend's recent Gender Reveal, I wanted to bake and figured I'd challenge myself and frost these Lemon Cupcakes using an icing tip.
It was surprisingly easy. If I can do it, anyone can do it.
When baking with butter, I find my baked goods tend to be dry and crumbly. For this reason, I baked these lemon cupcakes with cake flour instead of all-purpose flour. I find that cake flour contributes to a light and airy cupcake that's less crumbly too. I also added some sour cream which makes these cupcakes moist.
Seriously, two days later and these cupcakes were super moist. I had to stop myself from eating the whole thing. Hope you try these out because I know you're gonna love them.
lemon cupcakes are:
Moist
Light & Airy
Scrumptious
Versatile
Perfect for Spring & Summer
Ideal for a Baby Shower
Ideal for a Gender Reveal
How to make Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream step by step?
For the Cupcakes
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line your baking tray with cupcake holders.
2. Begin by zesting 2 lemons and juicing a lemon. Set aside.
3. In a medium sized bowl, sift the dry ingredients... flour, baking powder and salt.
4. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar so it's light and fluffy. Beat on low and work your way up, about 3-5 minutes.
5. Add one egg at a time, and mix with an electric mixer.
6. Add vanilla.
7. Now alternate between the dry and wet ingredients in 3 batches, starting and ending with the dry. Mix, but DO NOT OVERMIX.
8. Add half the milk.
9. Mix.
10. Once all the flour and milk have been added, add sour cream. Blend for a few seconds until combined. Do not over-mix.
11. Add the lemon zest and lemon juice. Blend for a few seconds. Do not over-mix.
12. Batter is ready.
13. Using a mini scoop, add 2 ½ scoops of cake batter into each cupcake holder.
14. Place into the oven for 20-24 minutes. Start checking at 20 minutes and using a toothpick to test make sure the center comes out clean.
15. Perfect and fluffy.
Lemon Buttercream
16. Whip the butter.
17. Once light and fluffy, add the powdered sugar, vanilla, lemon juice, milk, and lemon zest.
18. Frosting is ready. You can always add more or less milk to make it more or less firm.
Optional: Food Color
19. I baked these cupcakes for a gender reveal, hence I needed pink and blue frosting. I split the buttercream into 2 bowls and added a drop of blue frosting to one bowl and a drop of red to the other. A yellow buttercream would be ideal for these cupcakes.
20. I frosted my cupcakes using a 1M tip.
21. Right before serving, you can garnish the cupcakes with a little wedge of lemon and white edible pearls as seen here. Note: don't leave the lemon wedge on the frosting too long because it will dilute the buttercream.
Enjoy!
More Cupcake Recipes!
- Sprinkles Strawberry Cupcakes with Strawberry Frosting
- Banana Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
- One-Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting
- Magnolia's Vanilla Vanilla Cupcakes
📖 Recipe Card
Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream
Ingredients
dry ingredients
- 1 ½ cups cake flour*
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
wet ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter room temperature
- ¾ cup sugar
- 2 eggs room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ cup whole milk room temperature
- 1 ½ tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- ¼ cup sour cream
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
for lemon buttercream
- ¾ cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 2 ¼ cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 2 tablespoon whole milk
- 2 teaspoon lemon zest
Instructions
- For the Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line your baking tray with cupcake holders.
- Begin by zesting 2 lemons and juicing a lemon. Set aside.
- In a medium sized bowl, combine the dry ingredients... flour, baking powder and salt.
- In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar so it's light and fluffy. Beat on low and work your way up, about 3-5 minutes.
- Add one egg at a time, and mix with an electric mixer.
- Then add vanilla.
- Now alternate between the dry and wet ingredients in 3 batches, starting and ending with the dry. Mix, but DO NOT OVER MIX.
- Add half the milk.
- Mix.
- Once all the flour and milk has been added, add sour cream. Blend for a few seconds until combined. Do not over mix.
- Add the lemon zest and lemon juice. Blend for a few seconds. Do not over mix.
- Batter is ready.
- Using a mini scoop, add 2 ½ scoops of cake batter into each cupcake holder.
- Place into the oven for 20-24 minutes. Start checking at 20 minutes and using a toothpick to test make sure the center comes out clean.
- Perfect and fluffy.
- For the Lemon Buttercream
- Whip the butter.
- Once light and fluffy, add the powdered sugar, vanilla, lemon juice, milk and lemon zest.
- Frosting is ready. You can always add more or less milk to make it more or less firm.
- Optional: Food Color
- I baked these for a gender reveal, so I split the buttercream into 2 bowls. Added a drop of blue frosting to one bowl.
- I frosted my cupcakes using a 1M tip.
Notes
In this scenario we are using 1 ½ cups of cake flour which is equal to 1 ¼ cups + 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour and 3 tablespoon cornstarch.
Priya says
Followed the recipe to a T and it was perfect