Lemon Raspberry Cupcakes
Light and moist lemon cupcakes topped with an easy raspberry buttercream frosting. These Lemon Cupcakes with Raspberry Buttercream Frosting are absolutely delicious!
I think cupcakes have to be one of my favorite things to create and photograph for this blog. Sadly, it’s been over 5 months since the last time I posted a cupcake recipe. I guess other things — like these brownie bites and no-bake cheesecakes — have been on my mind lately.
But today I’m changing that with these cupcakes. The idea for these lemon cupcakes came from my Lemon Raspberry Cheesecake Squares, which happen to be one of the most popular recipes (and one of my favorite recipes) on the blog.
I love lemon desserts and I know a lot of you do too, but they’re even better when paired with berries! So, I decided to make these lemon cupcakes and top them with a delicious and easy raspberry buttercream frosting.
Ingredients for This Recipe
These lemon raspberry cupcakes use primarily pantry staples, plus a few special ingredients. Here’s what you’ll need to make the cupcakes and raspberry frosting:
- All-purpose flour: Measure your flour correctly with the spoon and level method. In other words, stir the flour around, spoon it into the measuring cup, then level the top off with the back of a knife.
- Baking powder: Gives the cupcakes a little lift in the oven.
- Salt: Balances out the flavors in the cupcake batter.
- Unsalted butter: I recommend using unsalted butter since the amount of salt in salted butters can vary between different brands. If using salted butter, reduce the salt by 1/4 teaspoon per stick of butter in the recipe.
- Granulated sugar: Sweetens the cupcakes.
- Eggs: Should be room temperature before mixing into the batter.
- Vanilla extract: Use pure vanilla extract for the best flavor.
- Lemon juice and zest: The lemon juice and lemon zest in this recipe add a beautiful light lemon flavor. It’s not too overpowering, but you can definitely taste the lemon in these cupcakes.
- Milk: I recommend using whole milk in this recipe. 2% should work as well, but avoid fat-free milk.
- Sour cream: The first time I tested these cupcakes I tried using just sour cream with the lemon juice, but they were a little too dense. So I adjusted the recipe by reducing the sour cream and adding some milk to make them soft and light, which worked perfectly.
- Powdered sugar: This is used to sweeten and thicken the frosting.
- Heavy cream: Just a splash is needed to loosen up the frosting.
- Raspberry preserves: Both raspberry preserves and raspberry jam will work in this recipe.
How to Make Lemon Cupcakes with Raspberry Frosting
The flour is mixed together with a little baking powder and salt. Simple so far, right? For the wet ingredients, you’ll start out with some butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract. Once everything is mixed together you’ll mix in some lemon juice, lemon zest, milk, and sour cream.
Divide the batter between cupcake liners and bake until done. Don’t overfill your cupcake liners. This recipe will make 15 to 16 cupcakes, I always end up with exactly 15 cupcakes when I make these. Filling the cupcake liners too full will cause them to overflow and you’ll end up with muffin tops.
Let the lemon cupcakes cool completely before making the frosting and topping the cupcakes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I Use Fresh Raspberries in the Frosting?
I’ve tried fresh berries in frosting and it tends to curdle, which isn’t so pretty. I really wanted to try out freeze-dried raspberries in this frosting, but I could not find them ANYWHERE.
After almost ordering a pack online, I decided if I couldn’t find them that easily then there’s a good chance a lot of you wouldn’t be able to either. So, I stuck with using raspberry preserves in the frosting.
Can I Make a Layered Cake with This Recipe?
Yes, if you double the cupcake batter and multiply the frosting recipe by 1.5. This will be enough for a two-layer cake.
How Do You Store Them?
You may store these cupcakes in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Baking Tips
- One of the most important tips I can give when making cupcakes from scratch is to measure your flour correctly. You want to avoid using the measuring cup to scoop the flour out of the container because you can end up with too much in your recipe. Measuring your flour correctly is crucial to making soft, light, delicious cupcakes. I explain how to spoon and level flour in more detail in this post.
- For the best texture and flavor, always use full-fat ingredients. They do make a difference!
- The frosting recipe will make enough to give these cupcakes a nice frosting just like the pictures. If you prefer less frosting, feel free to cut it in half.
More Easy Cupcake Recipes to Try!
- Carrot Cake Cupcakes
- Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting
- Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
- Vanilla Cupcakes
- Chocolate Oreo Cupcakes
Lemon Cupcakes with Raspberry Buttercream
Ingredients
For the lemon cupcakes:
- 1 and 1/2 cups (190 grams) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (115 grams) unsalted butter , softened
- 1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons (45 ml) fresh lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons lemon zest (about 2 medium lemons)
- 1/2 cup (120 ml) whole milk
- 1/4 cup (60 grams) sour cream
For the raspberry buttercream:
- 1 cup (230 grams) unsalted butter , softened
- 3 and 1/2 cups (420 grams) powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon (15 ml) heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup raspberry preserves (or jam)
- tiny pinch of salt
Instructions
To make the lemon cupcakes:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Line two muffin pans with 15 cupcake liners and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large mixing bowl using a hand-held mixer, beat the butter and granulated sugar together until light and fluffy. Mix in each egg one at a time, then the vanilla extract, making sure to mix well after each ingredient. Add the lemon juice and lemon zest, mix until well combined, then mix in the milk and sour cream until fully combined.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined, making sure not to overmix the batter. Use a rubber spatula or spoon to turn the batter and make sure everything is well combined.
- Evenly distribute the batter between all 15 cupcake liners, making sure to only fill them a little over halfway full. Bake in batches at 350°F for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcakes comes out clean and the tops spring back when lightly touched.
- Remove from the oven, then carefully remove the cupcakes from the pan and transfer to a wire rack to cool.
To make the raspberry buttercream:
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large mixing bowl using a hand-held mixer, beat the butter until smooth. Mix in the powdered sugar, heavy cream, and vanilla extract until well combined. Add in the raspberry preserves (or jam) and salt and continue mixing until fully combined.
- Frost the cooled cupcakes as desired.
Wonderful Cupcake recipe. My whole family loved them. I didn’t have any milk so substituted Kafir for the same amounts of sour cream and milk. Turned out just fine. I made only twelve but big ones. I also used powdered frozen rasberries with the american buttercream. So delicious. Next time, I will definitely try to fill them with lemon curd. Thank you so much for sharing. Your recipes always are so delicious and always work out. Definitely my go to site. My home is that much sweeter with your help. So grateful.
Thank you, Giselle! So glad you’re enjoying the recipes!
I’m putting a hole in the center of the cupcake after baking and filling with Raspberry jam or make one up myself. I will bring it out of the cupcake for the center and pipe icing around that. Cut down on some sweetness from icing
I absolutely love your recipes! I have to wonder why you don’t post them with the metric version for those of us that prefer to use a kitchen scale to weigh our dry ingredients. Weighing is by far the most accurate and consistent way to bake.
All of my new recipes do include them now, this one is just an older one before I started adding them. I just added the grams and ml measurements to the recipe 🙂
Can this recipe be halved?
Yes, that would be fine!
the cupcakes were amazing!! i was just wondering if they would work in a normal 2 layer cake form have you tried this do you know ? thanks
You can bake it into a cake too, for a 2 layer cake I would double the cupcake recipe.
Can you substitute blueberry for raspberry.
Yes, that’s fine!
Could you use strawberry’s instead of raspberries and make it into a cake?
Also I made the cupcakes and they were great! A few notes are that I would cut down the sugar in the frosting by half a cup and in the batter leave out 3 tbsp of sugar. Fill the center with a Fresh raspberry, and add a bit of zest to the frosting.
You could certainly use strawberry jam instead of raspberry jam. Glad you enjoyed the cupcakes!
I have made this twice, while the fast is spot on, my cupcakes don’t rise. I even paid extra attention to how much I maxed it, any tips?
Sorry to hear that, Shannon. Did you make sure to cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy? If so, you may check your baking powder and just make sure it’s still fresh.
Can Splenda be used instead of sugar? Have you used buttermilk instead of whole milk?
I wouldn’t recommend using just Splenda, it will affect the taste and texture of the cupcakes. You can use buttermilk though.
What would you use instead of sugar? This is for diabetics.
I haven’t tested this recipe with a sugar alternative, so I’m not quite sure.
I made these yesterday and are they so good!! The lemon to raspberry ratio is spot on! Thanks for sharing this. Quick question: what temp/time Would these bake as mini cupcakes?
I would probably bake them for 10-14 minutes for mini cupcakes.
Thank you!!! 🙂
Can I skip the lemon zest?
Yes, just keep in mind that the cupcakes won’t have quite as much lemon flavor if you do.
Hi great recipe I can’t wait to try – just wondering if I can replace
Sour cream with something else maybe Greek yoghurt or normal
Cream ?
Greek yogurt would be fine.
Loved this recipe! Everyone was raving about it! Quick question…could I replace the lemon parts with lime if I wanted a lime cupcake?
Yes, that would be fine!
Hi! Do you know how long I would need to bake these if I made mini cupcakes?
I would guess about 10-14 minutes.
Good evening ma’am. I’m in the Army and decided to make this for my peers to boost morale as I work in a hospital and all the cupcakes were demolished in 10 minutes.
Your recipes are extremely easy to follow and I truly feel like a pro baker in training! Thank you for giving me confidence in the kitchen!
Thank you, Grace! So happy to hear that!
Would it be possible to double or triple this recipe quantities (both for the cake and the buttercream) to make more? I’m a total amateur and just wondering if there’s anything I should consider when doing so. Thank you!
You could double the cupcake batter to make a layered cake. The frosting may be enough for a layered cake, but if you want more you can multiply the frosting recipe by 1.5.
Thank you! And if I wanted to multiply the recipe in order just to make more frosted cupcakes (not a layered cake) would doubling/tripling work for those too?
That would be fine, I would just be careful not to over mix the batter, especially if you triple it.
Thank you, going to try it out today 🙂
Can you freeze these and for how long will they last in an air tight container?
Yes, absolutely! They should keep for up to 3 months in an airtight container in the freezer.
This recipe was delicious. Although, i’m not sure what went wrong with my frosting, it came out a bit gritty. I’m not sure if it was that I didn’t sift the powdered sugar or if it was the butter. Other than that, the cake was moist and tasted so good. My family really enjoyed them thank you!
So glad you liked the cupcakes! You can try sifting the powdered sugar and see if it helps. You can also buy superfine powdered sugar which may be a better option if you found the regular kind to be too gritty.
Is there a reason you use Granulated Sugar instead of Caster Sugar for the cupcakes?
It’s what I always use and keep on hand, but you can use caster sugar in the cupcake recipe.
Can I use 2% milk instead of whole milk?
Yes, that would be fine.
I’m in a pinch and won’t be able to get back out to a grocery store. I have both Raspberry and Lemon extract. I’m hoping to add both to the frosting to use on a white cake. Would this work? If so, how much of each extract should I use?
Hi, Jae! Are you wanting to add it to the raspberry buttercream frosting in this recipe? Or do you not have any raspberry jam and you’re wanting to add both to the frosting?
I don’t bake much and when I do I usually give away most of what I make (It’s just me and my cat). Anyway, I made these and they were delicious. I dropped some off at my friend’s house and they fought over them! My dad said, “that’s how a cupcake should taste!” I do have a question about the frosting. I felt it was a little too sweet for me. How do I make them less sweet?
Thanks,
Chris
So glad you liked the cupcakes, Chris! You could try reducing the powdered sugar in the frosting, but keep in mind that it will make the frosting softer.
I am not a baker at all but was craving some raspberry lemon cupcakes. Your recipe was very easy to follow and they came out great! I even used a handheld mixer (I don’t have a stand mixer) and the cupcakes were very light and fluffy and the buttercream was tasty! Thank you for sharing this
Hi! Wondering if there is a substitute for the heavy cream, as I always feel bad purchasing an entire container for such a small amount. Thanks!
You can replace it with milk.
Hello, can i skip the yogurt or sourcream?
You can, but the cupcakes won’t be quite as moist.
Unfortunately the lemon cupcake recipe did not work for me. They were quite a bit dense and did not rise much. I’m guessing that it was too much baking powder for baking down in the South with all this humidity.
Sorry the cupcakes didn’t turn out well for you, Anna. Did you make sure to mix the butter and sugar together for several minutes until they were light and fluffy? And have you tested your baking powder to make it it’s still fresh? Those are two reasons the cupcakes may not have risen.
I have found Trader Joe’s has freeze dried raspberries and blueberries year round. Hope you have one local, those packets are so delicious. Have a shortbread cookie recipe that uses it and sooo delicious
DEEELISH!!! Just wanted to let you know, Trader Joe’s has the best freeze dried fruit (strawberries, raspberries, mixed berries, pineapple, and so forth). I like to grind up raspberries and sprinkle the dust on top of the frosting, or chop slightly and mix into the cake batter for an extra zing surprise in each bite!
Would it be possible to add fresh raspberries to the cupcake batter or would that not work? Thanks!
I think that would be fine!
These look amazing! Can I make them as mini cupcakes, do you think? I wonder how that would change the baking time.
Yes, that would be fine! Baking time for mini cupcakes is usually 10 to 14 minutes.
Do you use seedless jam? If not, are the seeds noticeable? Along with the lemon juice, I would like to use lemon extract instead of zest(someone prefers no zest), how much would you recommend?
The jam I use has some seeds in it, but I don’t really notice them. You can use seedless jam if you prefer though. I would probably use about 1 teaspoon of lemon extract, then add more if needed.
5 stars for raspberry frosting, 4 for the lemon cupcake recipe. I’ve tried several different raspberry frosting recipes and all of them were more complicated than this one but this is the absolute best recipe I’ve tried. I will look no further.
Lemon cake, too dense for my tastes and a little too sweet. It was difficult to fill the dense cupcakes with lemon curd and they just didn’t raise as tall as I’d like. But…they have an amazing flavor. I’ve tried other lemon cake recipes and can’t find one I like better. I’ve made these several times now and I never cease to get multiple comments. We had “secret sisters” at our church and I made these for my “secret sister”. She insisted to the organizers that she have my name so I could be on her food committee for the next big dinner and the cupcakes were a huge success again..