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Lemon Cupcakes
Yield: 12 cupcakes
These lemon cupcakes are sweet and tart. Light and fluffy lemon cupcakes flavored with freshly squeezed lemon juice and lemon zest, swirled with lemon buttercream frosting!
Equipment
- Stand mixer or electric hand mixer
Ingredients
Lemon Cupcakes
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ cup milk room temperature
- 1 egg room temperature
- 2 tbsp sour cream room temperature
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- 3 tbsp lemon juice freshly squeezed
- zest of 1 lemon
Lemon Buttercream Frosting
- 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 2 ½ cups powdered sugar
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 2 tbsp lemon juice freshly squeezed
- 1 tbsp heavy cream
Garnish
- 12 lemon slices
Instructions
Lemon 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 in milk, egg, sour cream, vegetable oil, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Whisk until the wet and dry ingredients are fully combined and the batter is smooth. Do not overmix the batter.
- Portion the cupcake batter into the cupcake liners using a large cookie scoop, about ¾ full.
- Bake for 20 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 Buttercream Frosting
- In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, add in room temperature unsalted butter. Whip the butter for 5 minutes on medium-high speed, scraping down the sides occasionally. The butter will be light, fluffy, and pale in color.
- Add one half of the powdered sugar and mix on the lowest speed setting until fully combined. Add remaining powdered sugar and continue to mix on low until incorporated.
- Increase the speed to medium and add the salt and lemon zest. Slowly drizzle in the lemon juice and heavy cream.
- Turn the speed on the mixer to medium-high speed and whip for an additional 2-3 minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally to ensure the frosting is well mixed.
- If desired, switch to a paddle attachment on the stand mixer and mix buttercream on low speed for several minutes to remove air bubbles to create smooth frosting.
- Pipe the buttercream onto the cupcakes (I used a Wilton 1M tip) and garnish with a slice of lemon.
Notes
Lemon cupcakes can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Metric conversions are calculated automatically. I cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.
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