Fresh Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
These fresh lemon cupcakes with lemon cream cheese frosting are perfect for any cupcake-worthy occasion. They are full of bright, sunny lemon flavor with the perfect balance of sweet and tart.
Course Desserts
Keyword lemon cupcakes, lemon cupcakes from scratch, lemon cupcakes with cream cheese frosting
1/2teaspoon3 ml butter vanilla bakery emulsion (or vanilla extract)
1/4teaspoon2g table salt
Instructions
Make the cupcakes:
Allow the butter, buttermilk, and eggs to come to room temperature.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cupcake/muffin pan with paper cupcake liners.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the sugar and butter until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula as needed.
Add the egg, vanilla bakery emulsion, lemon bakery emulsion, lemon zest, and lemon juice, and beat 2 minutes more until fluffy.
Add the buttermilk and dry ingredients alternately, 1/3 at a time. Blend until well combined. End with the flour mixture. Scrape down sides of bowl as needed.
Divide the batter among 17 cupcake cups, filling each about 2/3 full. Do not overfill.
Bake at 350°F for 20-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
Make the frosting:
In the bowl of an electric mixer, add butter and cream cheese. Beat on medium speed with the whisk attachment for about 1 minute, until smooth.
Add 1 cup of powdered sugar, and beat until combined. Repeat with 1 more cup.
Add lemon zest, lemon juice, bakery emulsions, and salt, and beat until combined.
Add the remaining powdered sugar, one cup at a time, beating until combined after each addition, for a total of 6-8 cups, until the frosting is the texture you want.
Beat for about one additional minute, until frosting is smooth, thick, and fluffy.
Notes
To substitute salted butter: For the cupcakes, use 1 stick salted butter and reduce table salt to 1/4 teaspoon. For the frosting, use 1 stick salted butter and omit table salt.The frosting recipe makes a generous amount of frosting, for piping with jumbo frosting tips. If you want to use a smaller amount of frosting, the recipe can be cut in half.