Lemon Cupcakes
Posted Apr 30, 2023, Updated Mar 04, 2024
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These lemon cupcakes are light and sweet with the perfect crumb and bright lemon flavor. They are easy to make from scratch and taste best frosted with homemade lemon frosting!
This lemon cupcake recipe is a delicious dessert to make any time of the year. They are light and sweet and infused with lemon juice and zest for a bold lemon flavor.
Lemon cupcakes are easy to make with a handful of simple ingredients. You can prepare them in advance by baking them and freezing to frost and serve later.
Lemon Cupcake Recipe: Ingredients & Substitutions
- All-purpose flour. cake flour can be used in place of all-purpose flour.
- Salted butter. Unsalted butter works well too. You can replace up to half of the butter with canola oil.
- Granulated sugar. organic cane sugar or regular white sugar are both good choices.
- Sour cream. full-fat Greek yogurt is a great substitute.
- Whole milk. Heavy cream or half and half can be used in place of whole milk.
- Lemon juice. use freshly squeezed or bottled juice.
- Lemon zest. This is optional, but recommend for a bold lemon flavor.
How to Make Lemon Cupcakes
Let’s walk through this lemon cupcake recipe step-by-step, and don’t forget to watch the video!
Begin by combining the dry ingredients (but not the sugar) in a medium bowl, then set the mixture aside.
Next, cream together the butter and sugar together for 1 minute.
This can be done by hand, in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl with a hand-held mixer.
Next, add eggs and vanilla and beat for 1 minute.
Then add the sour cream, milk and lemon juice and stir until combined.
Next, add the dry ingredients and lemon zest to the wet ingredients and stir until the batter is smooth.
Bake
Once the batter is ready, fill each cupcake liner with ¼ cup batter.
Then, bake the lemon cupcakes in the preheated oven for 18-20 minutes, or until the tops are set and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcakes comes out clean or with a few crumbs.
Transfer the baking pans to a wire cooling rack and cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then remove the lemon cupcakes from the pan and let them cool completely on the wire cooling rack.
Frost & Serve
Once cool, frost the lemon cupcakes with your favorite frosting and serve. I suggest this lemon buttercream frosting, vanilla buttercream frosting or homemade vanilla frosting for the best results! You can also fill them with lemon curd!
Transfer the frosted cupcakes to a serving plate and store in the refrigerator until ready to serve. I like to chill them for at least 30 minutes so the frosting sets.
Store
Store these cupcakes in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week. Serve at room temperature or slightly chilled.
Freeze
To freeze, follow the recipe and let the cupcakes cool completely. Then transfer the cupcakes (frosted or unfrosted) to an airtight container and freeze in a single layer until you’re ready to frost and serve.
Thaw at room temperature (do not microwave or heat in the oven).
Lemon Cupcakes Recipe FAQs
I use the following tools to decorate cupcakes:
Piping bags – I have both reusable and disposable piping bags and use them all the time.
Piping tips and couplers – I recommend a great starter tip and coupler set. However the Wilton 1M tip and large coupler are my favorite – and can be used in so many ways.
Yes, you will need to use a mini cupcake pan and shorten the baking time (to about 10-12 minutes).
Yes, I use pure, organic bottled lemon juice to make this recipe to save time!
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Lemon Cupcakes
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ cup butter softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup sour cream
- ¼ cup whole milk
- ⅓ cup lemon juice
- 1 Tablespoon lemon zest
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Line two standard muffin pans with liners and lightly grease each liner with cooking spray, set aside.
- In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and sea salt. Set aside
- In the bowl of a standing mixer, or in a large bowl with a hand-held mixer, beat butter and sugar for 1 minute.
- Add eggs and vanilla and beat for 1 minute.
- Add sour cream, milk and lemon juice and stir until combined.
- Add dry ingredients and lemon zest to the wet ingredients and stir until the batter is smooth.
- Fill each cupcake liner with ¼ cup batter.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 18-20 minutes, or until the tops are set and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcakes comes out clean or with a few crumbs.
- Place the baking pans on a wire cooling rack and cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then transfer the to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
- Once cool, frost (with lemon buttercream) and serve.
Video
Notes
- All-purpose flour. cake flour can be used in place of all-purpose flour.
- Salted butter. Unsalted butter and canola oil are good substitutes for salted butter. I recommend using butter for the best flavor.
- Granulated sugar. organic cane sugar or regular white sugar are both good choices.
- Sour cream. full-fat Greek yogurt is a great substitute.
- Whole milk. Heavy cream or half and half can be used in place of whole milk.
- Lemon juice. use freshly squeezed or bottled juice.
- Lemon zest. This is optional, but recommend for a bold lemon flavor.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I made these and they are absolutely delicious even without frosting!
I’m so glad you love them, Jane!!!
I was looking for a new lemon cake recipe and was so excited to find one on this blog. (Every recipe I’ve tried from this blog has been amazing!) This lemon cake did not disappoint! These cupcakes were perfectly moist and so lemony! The lemon zest really adds a lot of flavor! I’m not sure if my cupcake pan is bigger or if I overfill mine or something, but this only made 12 cupcakes for me. (Which is fine because I didn’t really want 2 dozen cupcakes hanging around tempting me!)
I used Miyoko’s oat milk butter and Foyager Project unsweetened plain cashew yogurt in place of sour cream and it worked perfectly! This recipe has already been saved into our collection! Thank you!
What are the ingredients for making the chocolate cake from a 6 inch cake to a 9 inch pan size cake
Thanks,
Cynthia Walker
To make a 9″ cake you would double the recipe for a 6″ cake.