Dorothy Kern
Lemon Cupcakes are not for the lemon faint of heart. They’re the perfect lemon cupcake with triple the lemon flavor.
It’s like lemon smacks you in the face in every single bite!
Recipe Video
BEST Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream
It’s no secret that I love lemon. Sometimes I crave it so fiercely I find myself in the kitchen baking up a storm. This recipe is a product of one of those times. I think you’ll be glad for my fierce craving!
These lemon cupcakes are the best lemon dessert I’ve made. Ever. And?
This recipe is the best lemon cupcake I’ve ever had.
Strong words, but true. In my opinion the best lemon cupcakes have lemon curd filling and a lemon butter cream. TRIPLE the lemon flavor: lemon in every bite!
Awhile back I had lemons in my refrigerator and needed to do something with them before they went bad. I made lemon curd and then used that curd to fill these easy lemon cupcakes.
Table of Contents
How to make Lemon Cupcakes
I wanted the lemon in these cupcakes to punch you in the face with flavor. Every single bite needed lemon, so I made these triple lemon cupcakes with three times the lemon!
- Flour, Baking Powder, Salt: Whisk the dry ingredients in a bowl.
- Melted Butter, Sugar: I start with melted butter to keep the cupcakes moist. Mix with sugar.
- Eggs: Add eggs one at a time.
- Lemon: lemon zest and lemon juice go in next.
- Milk: mix the dry ingredients in with milk alternately.
The cupcakes make the oven smell amazing, which is how you know you added enough lemon.
This recipe is a simple lemon cupcake made from scratch.
Lemon Curd is the perfect filling for Lemon Cupcakes!
You can easily buy lemon curd (it’s sold by the jams and jellies) or you can make homemade lemon curd. Making your own is easy and fast and it’s SO good to fill cupcakes with or eat on toast or with a spoon.
To fill the cupcakes, simply cut out a small section of the cupcake (a circle about the size of a dime) and spoon some curd in the hole. Replace some of the removed cupcake part and your lemon cupcake is ready for frosting.
The best frosting is lemon buttercream!
While you could use cream cheese frosting on these cupcakes, I like making a from scratch lemon buttercream. My favorite buttercream recipe is easily adapted to lemon: instead of vanilla, you add fresh lemon juice and lots of zest to the butter and powdered sugar. This lemon frosting is super lemony – perfect for an in-your-face lemon cupcake.
- Tip: I love making the frosting up to two days ahead of time and storing it in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Then when I’m ready to frost my cupcakes, I just let it come to room temperature before frosting.
Lemon is one of my favorite ingredients! Other lemon recipes:
- Lemon No Bake Dessert
- White Chocolate Lemon Bars
- Lemon Butter Cake
- Lemon Cake Roll
- Lemon Meringue Pie
- Or see all of my lemon recipes here!
Perfect Triple Lemon Cupcakes
Ingredients
Cupcakes:
- 1 ½ cups (186g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup (113g) unsalted butter melted
- 1 ¼ cups (250g) sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- ¼ cup (59ml) fresh lemon juice from about ½ a large lemon
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest from about 1 large lemon
- ½ cup (119ml) whole milk
Filling & Frosting:
- ½ cup lemon curd jarred or from scratch for the filling
- 1 cup (226g) unsalted butter softened
- 4 ½ cups (509g) powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest 1 large lemon
- ¼ cup (59g) lemon juice 1 large lemon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1-2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream for desired consistency
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line cupcake tins with liners (makes 15-16 cupcakes).
- Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.
- Add melted butter to a large bowl and mix in sugar with a hand mixer for 30 seconds, until thick and yellow. Add eggs one at at time, beating after each addition. Beat in vanilla extract, lemon juice, and zest.
- Add the flour mixture and milk alternately, starting and ending with the flour. Don’t over mix! Divide batter among liners, filling 2/3 full (about ¼ cup of batter per cupcake). Bake for 13-18 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. (Mine took about 14 minutes.) Cool completely before frosting.
- To fill: cut out a small bit of the top/center of the cupcake. (Cut a hole that’s about the size of a dime and the amount of cupcake you take out is a little larger than a marble.) Fill each hole with about ½ – 1 tablespoon of lemon curd. Replace a piece of the cupcake to cover.
- To make the frosting: Beat butter until creamy. Beat in salt and 1 cup of powdered sugar at a time until it’s all added.
- Beat in lemon juice and zest. Add 1 tablespoon of heavy whipping cream and mix until smooth. Add more cream as needed for desired consistency. Frosting can be made up to 2 days ahead and stored in the refrigerator. Make sure to let it come to room temperature before using.
- Frost cupcakes by placing frosting in a pastry bag. I like the 1M tip, it gives pretty swirls. Add extra lemon zest or sprinkles for decoration, if desired.
Recipe Notes
- Be sure not to over mix the batter or they will turn out too dense
- Don’t let the batter sit – bake them as soon as they are mixed for a fluffier cupcake.
Nutrition Information
Nutritional information not guaranteed to be accurate
Click here to see the complete list of Lemon Recipes!
Last Updated on May 3, 2021
All text and images © DOROTHY KERN for Crazy for Crust. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words, or link back to this post for the recipe. Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be accurate.
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, read my disclosure policy.
Published on: March 22, 2021
I made these cupcakes last week for my Dad’s birthday and they were exceptional! We all love lemon meringue pie and these cupcakes rivaled our favorite dessert for lemony flavor, SO good! Great recipe, easy to follow. I made 12 cupcakes from recipe and it took me longer than the prep time listed but I am sure I’ll be quicker next time. Thank you!
The buttercream frosting came out to thin. I don’t know if my butter was too soft or if I shouldn’t have used so much juice. Helpful hints?
Can the cupcakes (with the lemon curd in them) be frozen and then iced after defrosting? Thanks!
Yes that should work just fine
these turned out really good! i had some problems with the homemade curd not thickening but that was because i didn’t heat it long enough but i reheated it and it turned out amazing. the cupcakes also didn’t rise as high as other cupcakes i’ve made before but the buttercream was the best buttercream i’ve ever made myself — almost tasted professionally made! overall they were really good and – this might just be personal preference – i think they tasted even better the next few days after i made them! will definitely be trying more recipes from here 🙂
These were the best cupcakes I’ve ever made. My whole family loved them and said they were the best cupcakes they’ve ever tried and the frosting was delicious!
These definitely fell short of what I was looking for. Don’t get me wrong they were good as a whole but I will definitely use another cupcake base recipe next time. I have made these twice thinking I over mixed the batter but they came out the same both times. It reminded me more of a moist muffin than a cupcake.