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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!

A perfect triple lemon cupcake cut in half to show lemon curd filling


BEST Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream

It’s no secret that I love lemon desserts. Sometimes I crave it so fiercely I find myself in the kitchen baking up a storm. These lemon cupcakes are the best lemon dessert I’ve made. Ever. And? This recipe is the best lemon cupcake I’ve ever had. TRIPLE the lemon flavor: lemon in every bite!

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! The taste is amazing – I know you’ll love them.

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.

BEST Frosting: Lemon Buttercream

While you could use cream cheese frosting on these cupcakes, I like making a from scratch lemon buttercream. My favorite vanilla 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.

To pipe pretty frosting as I did, use a piping bag fitted with a Wilton 1M tip and pipe the frosting high on the cupcake.

A bunch of perfect triple lemon cupcakes topped with lemon buttercream

Tip From Dorothy

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.
A perfect triple lemon cupcake cut in half to show lemon curd filling

Perfect Triple Lemon Cupcakes Recipe

4.07 from 108 votes
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
Yield 15 cupcakes
Serving Size 1 cupcake

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
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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
Course Dessert
Cuisine American

Last Updated on February 15, 2024



Dorothy Kern

Welcome to Crazy for Crust, where I share recipes that are sometimes crazy, often with a crust, and always served with a slice of life.

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118 Comments

  1. The cupcakes turned out really good. I didn’t do the custard, or frosting. l just iced them with confectioners sugar mixed with lemon juice and water. And it turned out superb. Maybe l’ll try to make a lemon cake using this recipe.

  2. I was concerned that there might be too much lemon or too much vanilla. But I followed your recipe exactly, and everything was just right. These were extra delicious. I was able to deliver some to the people who have done some grocery shopping for me during isolation and still have some left for our family. This is a recipe I will definitely be making again.

  3. So. I only made the cupcake, not the curd or the frosting because I always top with a berry frosting but anywho, these cupcakes are so dang good. I’ve been on the hunt for a bursting with flavor lemon cupcake and this is it. I did 2 tsp of Baking soda instead of 1, and added about a half lemon more zest and juice because I wanted that BAM flavor in the cake itself. My goodness, this will forever be my go to recipe for the perfect lemon cupcake!

  4. We are not bakers. Just made these in Day ??? of quarantine for our friend’s 16th bday. “Double Triple Keeper Recipe” was the verdict from our youngest (11yrs) of three boys. The birthday girl across the street and her family also loved them! “The lemon cupcakes are DELICIOUS!”
    Excellent recipe. The best lemon cupcakes ever! And thank you for a wonderful delicious diversion from current events.

  5. This recipe is delicious!!!!!!! We are huge lemon fans and can never find a recipe that really has the lemon kick we want, until now. I will be making these cupcakes often.

    1. This will be the second time I’ve made these. First time I forgot to use the curd. But with or without (store bought curd or homemade), they are hands down the best lemon cupcakes! Perfect amount of lemon!! Quarantine shmorentine with these babies around!

  6. My husband loved these cupcakes. He called them refreshing. They were perfect, with or without the curd and icing.