Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes
Lemon blueberry cupcakes are the perfect spring or summer dessert. The lemon cupcake is light and fluffy with pops of tart blueberries and swirled with lemon cream cheese buttercream frosting. This lemon blueberry cupcake recipe is one of my personal favorites!
Ingredients for Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes
Lemon blueberry cupcakes
- All-purpose flour: All-purpose flour works perfectly. Be sure to level your measuring cups.
- Granulated sugar: Granulated sugar adds some sweetness to the cupcakes.
- Baking powder: Baking powder serves as the leavening agent, causing the cupcakes to rise.
- Salt: Salt enhances the flavor of the cupcakes.
- Milk: Room temperature.
- Vegetable oil: Use vegetable oil, canola oil, or any other neutral flavored oil.
- Sour cream: Sour cream adds moisture and tang to the cupcakes.
- Egg: The egg serves as a binder and a source of moisture. Be sure it is also at room temperature.
- Lemon juice & lemon zest: Be sure to zest the lemon before you juice it! Depending on the size of the lemons, you may need to use one or two. Check for seeds before you add it in!
- Blueberries: Fresh blueberries are a must for this recipe. Frozen blueberries will bleed into the batter, turning it a blue color. Part of the beauty in these cupcakes is the contrast of the blue and yellow colors.
Lemon cream cheese frosting
- Unsalted butter: Room temperature.
- Cream cheese: Room temperature.
- Powdered sugar: Powdered sugar sweetens the frosting. No need to sift!
- Lemon juice & lemon zest: Zest before you juice, watch out for seeds, and don’t add too much lemon juice or it will loosen the frosting.
- Salt: A bit of salt adds contrast to the sweetness of the frosting.
Tools & Supplies for Making Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes
How to Make Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F & line cupcake pan with cupcake liners.
- Whisk together all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt.
- Add in milk, egg, vegetable oil, sour cream, lemon zest, & lemon juice to the flour mixture.
- Whisk the dry ingredients and wet ingredients together until combined and smooth. Do not overmix.
- Fold in the blueberries until they are well dispersed.
- Portion into cupcake liners using a large cookie scoop, 3/4 full.
- Bake for approximately 20 minutes until the cupcakes bounce back when gently touched.
- Cool in the pan for 5 minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
How to Make Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
To make the frosting, you will need a stand mixer fitted with a whisk or paddle attachment or an electric hand mixer.
- Whip the butter and cream cheese on medium-high speed until light and fluffy.
- Add half of the powdered sugar and mix on low. Then add the remaining half and continue to mix on low speed.
- Add in the lemon juice, lemon zest and salt. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure everything is well mixed.
- Turn the mixer to medium-high and whip for 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy.
Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes Recipe Tips
Bake perfect cupcakes
Check out my baking tips blog post on 10 Tips for Baking Perfect Cupcakes to learn simple tips and tricks on how to bake the best cupcakes.
Use fresh blueberries
For the best results, use fresh blueberries. Frozen blueberries would not work for this recipe because they will bleed into the cupcake batter and turn the cupcakes green.
Fresh lemon juice and zest
Be sure to use fresh lemon juice and zest for the best, brightest lemon flavor. Be sure to zest the lemons before you juice!
Assembling the cupcakes
To make the cupcakes as pictured, you will need a piping bag fitted with a Wilton 1M tip to pipe a swirl of lemon cream cheese frosting onto the cooled cupcakes. Add a couple fresh blueberries for a little decoration.
Storing and serving
The cupcakes should be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. To serve, bring the cupcakes to room temperature for the best taste and texture.
click the stars to rate!
Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes
Equipment
- Electric hand mixer or stand mixer
Ingredients
Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes
- 1 ¼ cup (156 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- 1 ½ tsp (6 g) baking powder
- ½ tsp (3 g) salt
- ½ cup (122 g) milk room temperature
- ¼ cup (55 g) vegetable oil
- 2 tbsp (24 g) sour cream
- 1 (1) egg room temperature
- 2 tbsp (30 g) lemon juice fresh squeezed
- 1 (1) lemon zested
- ¾ cup (111 g) blueberries fresh
Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1 cup (227 g) unsalted butter room temperature
- 4 oz (113 g) cream cheese room temperature
- 3 ½ cups (420 g) powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp (15 g) lemon juice fresh squeezed
- 1 (1) lemon zested
- ¼ tsp (1.5 g) salt
- additional lemon zest and blueberries for garnish
Instructions
Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Line a cupcake pan with 12 cupcake liners.
- In a mixing bowl, combine all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt. Whisk to combine.
- Add milk, vegetable oil, sour cream, egg, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Whisk to combine. Do not overmix the batter.
- Add the blueberries to the cupcake batter and mix until the blueberries are dispersed throughout the batter.
- Portion the cupcake batter into the cupcake liners, approximately ¾ full.
- Bake for 20-22 minutes or until the tops of the cupcakes bounce back slightly when touched.
- Remove from the oven and cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Remove the cupcakes from the pan and cool completely.
Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
- In a mixing bowl or bowl of a stand mixer, combine unsalted butter and cream cheese. Whip on medium high with an electric hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment until light and creamy.
- Add half of the powdered sugar and mix on low. Then add the remaining half and continue to mix on low speed.
- Add in lemon zest, lemon juice, and salt. Mix on low speed until the ingredients are fully combined.
- Turn the mixer on high speed and whip for approximately 2-3 minutes until the frosting is light and fluffy.
- Spread or pipe onto cupcakes and garnish with blueberries and lemon zest if desired.
Notes
Made This Recipe?
Please leave a comment with a star rating to let me know how you enjoyed the recipe!
About Courtney
Baker | 80s Lover | Cookbook Author
Courtney is a self-taught home baker and cookbook author of “Girls Just Wanna Bake Cupcakes”. She loves to create new and unique recipes while simultaneously listening to 80s music.
I made these with buttermilk instead of regular since we still had some and butter instead of vegetable oil in a 1:1 ratio (in grams!!). I had to add some vanilla sugar to offset the sourness from the buttermilk, but they turned out great! I ended up with a little too much batter, but otherwise the recipe worked out perfectly. Will definitely bake again!
So glad you enjoyed the recipe! It is one of my personal favorites 🙂
Is it possible to make this recipe Gluten free using the 1:1 gluten free flour?
Hi Teresa! I haven’t tested GF flour with this recipe specifically, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. After you make the cupcake batter, let it rest for about 5 minutes before scooping and baking. If you test it out, let me know how it goes!
Would it be possible to use buttermilk or any other milk for this recipe?
Hi Angela! Yes, you can use buttermilk or another type of milk for this recipe.
Would I be able to substitute avocado oil for the vegetable oil?
Hi Lauren! Yes! You should be able to use avocado oil for the recipe!
Hi! Can I use frozen blueberries instead of fresh?
Hi Brian! You can use frozen if you prefer, however, the juices will leak into the cupcake which may turn the cupcake a blue-green color. I recommend thawing the blueberries completely and blotting them dry before adding them to the cupcake batter.
Hi! I’m planning to make these for a baby shower. What adjustments would you recommend for mini cupcakes?
Hi there, Anna! For mini cupcakes, you will want to cut the baking time down to 10-12 minutes or so. Other than that, you can make the recipe as written. For mini cupcakes, I typically portion the dough using a small cookie scoop.
can you make these ahead and freeze them?
Hi Caitlyn! I’m not a huge fan of freezing cupcakes in general. Every time I have frozen them, the liners peel off when they thaw. You can keep these cupcakes in the refrigerator for up to five days!
These are delicious! Highly recommend.
Definitely one of my personal favorites!! So glad you enjoyed these cupcakes!
I’ve made these and they were a huge hit! So much so that a friend requested a cake version for their nephew’s birthday party. Would this recipe work for a cake, how would you modify it for two 9” round pans?
Hi Meagan! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! I actually have a lemon blueberry cake recipe that I would encourage you to try out! The cupcake recipe doesn’t translate super well into a cake. Check out the recipe here! https://cakemehometonight.com/lemon-blueberry-cake/
Do you use salted or unsalted butter for the frosting? I plan on making these this weekend for Mother’s Day.
You can use either depending on your taste! Some people find salted to be a little too salty. I love doing one stick of each!
Thank you so much, I went with unsalted. They turned out PERFECT! Can’t wait to try your other recipes.