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These Lemon Cupcakes are the perfect lemon dessert with triple the lemon flavor. It’s like lemon smacks you in the face in every single bite! This is one of my favorite cupcake recipes – moist and tender with lemon filling and lemon buttercream frosting!
The Best Triple Lemon Cupcakes
It’s no secret that I love lemon desserts. These lemon cupcakes are the best lemon dessert I’ve made and this recipe is the best lemon cupcake I’ve ever had. You get lemon with every bite you take!
I wanted to have these cupcakes have lemon in every single bite so I added a hefty amount of zest to the cupcakes and tons of lemon flavor in the frosting PLUS I filled the cupcakes with my perfect lemon curd.
The result: These are the BEST Lemon Cupcakes you’ll ever eat!
Important Ingredients Needed
- Flour, Baking Powder, Salt: These are what I use in my vanilla cupcake recipe.
- Melted Butter: I start with melted butter to keep the cupcakes moist.
- Lemon: lemon zest and lemon juice to punch up the lemon flavor.
- Milk: Whole milk is best but you can use any fat content or nondairy milk.
- Powdered Sugar: Confectioners’ Sugar is best for a fluffy frosting
How to make Lemon Cupcakes
- Whisk dry ingredients in a medium bowl.
- Mix melted butter with granulated sugar, then add the eggs one at a time and add pure vanilla extract. You can use an electric mixer in a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Be sure to scrape the sides of the bowl during mixing.
- Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients alternately with the milk and mix just until moistened.
- Place cupcake liners in muffin tin and fill 2/3 full. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean. You’ll need 2 cupcake pans. Cool on a wire rack.
- Once the cupcakes are cool, you can fill the cupcakes with lemon curd. 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.
- Make the frosting by beating the softened butter with powdered sugar until crumbly, then add the lemon zest and juice until mixture is smooth for frosting.
The cupcakes make the oven smell amazing, which is how you know you added enough lemon.
Expert Tips
- 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.
- 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. I also love freezing the frosting for later!
- Store cupcakes unfrosted in the freezer for up to 2 months (in an airtight container).
- Want even more lemon flavor? Add 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract with the vanilla.
- You know cake and cupcakes are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
FAQs
Can you freeze these cupcakes?
You can! Freeze these cupcakes in an airtight container for up to 2 months.
Perfect Triple Lemon Cupcakes Recipe
These Lemon Cupcakes are perfect! They have triple the lemon flavor with lemon in the cupcake and the frosting, and they’re filled with lemon curd. The perfect cupcake to bring sunshine to any day!
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
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 1/2 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 1/4 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 1/2 – 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 Video
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.
Recipe Nutrition
Serving: 1cupcake | Calories: 464kcal | Carbohydrates: 68g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 21g | Saturated Fat: 13g | Cholesterol: 84mg | Sodium: 159mg | Potassium: 75mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 57g | Vitamin A: 645IU | Vitamin C: 4.1mg | Calcium: 33mg | Iron: 0.8mg
Nutritional information not guaranteed to be accurate
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Last Updated on April 7, 2024
I made these yesterday for bible study and they were a huge hit! Super moist and the frosting just melts in your mouth! Thank you for sharing this!! This is a recipe I know I will make over and over!!Â
Are you able to freeze these? I’m making them for my daughter’s birthday which is 3 days away and we’re camping so I’m making them ahead of time. I just wasn’t sure if I filled them with the curd now would it soak into the cupcakes or should I just bring everything seperately and do it there?
Yes you totally can! I would freeze the cupcakes without filling, then fill them day of (you can fill them earlier in the day, or even the day before, I just wouldn’t freeze them with the filling). The frosting can even be made ahead and frozen, it might need a little stirring with some milk/cream after it thaws, but it’ll work just fine. Enjoy! Happy birthday to her!
I made lemon cupcakes using another recipe and although the taste was amazing I had a problem with the cupcakes wrappers coming away from the side of the cakes. (I know its a small problem but appearance is also important!) The lemon cupcakes are the only flavour of cupcakes I’ve had this problem with and I believe it was due to the high quantity of lemon juice in the cakes. Yours have a similar amount of juice in them so have you had this problem too?
I didn’t have this problem with mine but that usually happens when I make something with a lower fat content (like low-fat muffins). If you’re worried about it, try spraying the muffin liners with nonstick cooking spray. That’ll help the problem!
Hi Dorothy,
I been looking for a good lemon cupcake recipe for a long time. After trying Your lemon cupcake recipe I do not need to look any more. I brought the lemon curd and it didn’t taste good so I didn’t use it, but I will make it next time using your recipe. Thank you so much for sharing your recipe.Â
Yay! I’m so glad you enjoyed them!! 🙂
Should the baking time/oven temperature for the cupcakes be changed if I make them mini? Is a 1/2 teaspoon too less of vanilla?
Just cut the amount of vanilla in half from what the recipe calls for, and yes be sure and check the baking time. If you’re making mini cupcakes it will not take that much time. Start checking at 8 minutes and go from there!
Hi, I’m wondering if I could reduce the vanilla in half? And also if I skip the lemon filling will they be dense? Thanks!!
These are dense cupcakes. If you want airier ones, try using cake flour. And yes, you can reduce the vanilla!
I made these for a friend’s birthday who loves Lemon cake, and they tasted delicious! The frosting was especially lemony. However, my cupcakes came out so dense that even the cupcake box seemed unusually heavy. Any ideas on why this might have happened?
I’m glad you liked them! They are a dense cupcake; it’s from using all-purpose flour. I like my cupcakes more dense, especially when I fill them!
I’m SO looking forward to this recipe! Thank you! it looks beyond delicious!
Thanks Samra! I hope you enjoyed them as much as we did!
Does the melted butter need to be cooled or still warm ?
I just melt and go, so no need to wait!
Can you use 1% milk instead of whole milk in cupcake recipe?
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