This post may contain affiliate sales links. Please read my disclosure policy.
These light and fluffy Lemon Cupcakes are made with a creamy lemon frosting for the best lemon cupcakes! They are easy to make and perfect for spring and summer!
Moist Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Frosting
Lemon desserts are always something special, and these cupcakes are certainly no exception. Both the buttercream and the cupcakes are naturally flavored with fresh lemon juice and zest. The results are decadent lemon cupcakes with just the right amount of lemon!
The cupcakes are decorated with a half of a lemon slice, which makes them bright and cheerful. Such a refreshing flavor and presentation that’s sure to be a hit! Grab your lemons and let’s get baking.
What You’ll Need
These cupcakes keep it simple when it comes to ingredients, and so does the frosting! Here’s the lineup for both:
For the Lemon Cupcakes
- All-Purpose Flour
- Baking Powder: To help the cupcakes rise.
- Baking Soda: A little bit of baking soda supplements the baking powder in this recipe and is ideal in an acidic cupcake, like lemon.
- Salt: You’ll need 1/4 teaspoon.
- Unsalted Butter: Bring the butter to room temperature.
- Vegetable Oil: For extra moist cupcakes!
- Sugar
- Vanilla Extract: To compliment out the lovely lemon flavor.
- Eggs: You’ll need 2 large eggs.
- Milk
- Fresh Lemon Juice: About 1/4 cup.
- Fresh Lemon Zest: You’ll need 1 tablespoon.
For the Lemon Buttercream
- Unsalted Butter: Room temperature.
- Powdered Sugar: Confectioner’s sugar gives the frosting its volume and consistency.
- Vanilla Extract
- Fresh Lemon Juice
- Fresh Lemon Zest
How to Make Lemon Cupcakes
If you’ve made cupcakes before, this recipe won’t be unfamiliar at all! The process is super simple and uses the creaming method.
- Prep for Baking: Preheat the oven to 350°F and prepare a pan with cupcake liners.
- Combine Dry Ingredients: Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium-sized bowl and set aside.
- Cream Butter, Oil, Sugar & Vanilla: Add the butter, oil, sugar and vanilla extract to a large mixer bowl and beat together until light in color and fluffy, about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes.
- Add Eggs: Add the eggs one at a time, mixing until mostly combined after each. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to be sure all ingredients are well incorporated.
- Start Adding Dry Ingredients: Add half of the dry ingredients to the batter and mix until mostly combined.
- Add Milk & Lemon: Combine the milk and lemon juice, then slowly add the mixture to the batter along with the lemon zest and mix until well combined.
- Finish Adding Dry Ingredients: Add the remaining dry ingredients and mix just until well combined and smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to be sure all ingredients are well incorporated. Do not overmix the batter.
- Bake: Fill the cupcake liners about 3/4 of the way full and bake for 15-18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Let Cool: Remove the cupcakes from the oven and place them on a wire rack to cool completely.
How to Make the Lemon Buttercream Frosting
This 5-ingredient frosting comes together in no time. And it’s easy to adjust for flavor and consistency!
- Beat Butter: Add the butter to a large mixer bowl and beat until smooth.
- Start Adding Powdered Sugar: Add about half of the powdered sugar and mix until smooth and well combined.
- Add Vanilla & Lemon: Add the vanilla extract, 3-4 tablespoons of lemon juice and the lemon zest to the frosting and mix until well combined.
- Finish Adding Powdered Sugar: Add the remaining powdered sugar and mix until well combined and smooth. Add additional lemon juice as needed to get the right consistency and flavor.
Frosting Your Cupcakes
The last step is simply putting everything together! Feel free to use your favorite piping tip for the frosting, however you should make sure that it’s not too small. You don’t want any lemon zest getting caught up in small openings. I used Ateco tip 844.
Tips for Success
Want to make sure your cupcakes come out perfect? Just follow these quick tips and suggestions!
- Use Fresh Lemon Juice: Fresh lemon juice will give your cupcakes and frosting much better flavor than a bottled version would.
- Cream Butter Mixture Completely: Make sure you cream the butter, oil, sugar and vanilla for the full 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. It should become light, fluffy and also lighter in color.
- Adjust Frosting Consistency: You may need to adjust the amount of lemon juice you use to get the buttercream just right. If you’re not sure what consistency to go for, check out my tutorial for How to Get the Right Frosting Consistency.
How to Store Frosted Cupcakes
Leftover lemon cupcakes can be stored at room temperature for about 24 hours, then refrigerated after that. Keep them in an airtight container and enjoy them within 2-3 days. They are best served at room temperature.
Watch How To Make Them
Print
Lemon Cupcakes
- Prep Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Yield: 14
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
These light and fluffy Lemon Cupcakes are made with a creamy lemon frosting for the tastiest citrus dessert ever! You’ll love how easily they come together.
Ingredients
For the Lemon Cupcakes
- 1 1/4 cups (163g) all purpose flour
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup (56g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/4 cup (60ml) vegetable oil
- 3/4 cups (155g) sugar
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 6 tbsp (90ml) milk
- 1/4 cup (60ml) fresh lemon juice
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon zest
For the Lemon Buttercream
- 1 cup (224g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 4 cups (460g) powdered sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 4–5 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- Salt, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (176°C) and prepare a pan with cupcake liners.
- Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium sized bowl and set aside.
- Add the butter, oil, sugar and vanilla extract to a large mixer bowl and beat together until light in color and fluffy, about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Do not skimp on the creaming time.
- Add the eggs one at a time, mixing until mostly combined after each. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to be sure all ingredients are well incorporated.
- Add half of the dry ingredients to the batter and mix until mostly combined.
- Combine the milk and lemon juice, then slowly add the mixture to the batter along with the lemon zest and mix until well combined.
- Add the remaining dry ingredients and mix just until well combined and smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to be sure all ingredients are well incorporated. Do not over mix the batter.
- Fill the cupcake liners about 3/4 full and bake for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Remove cupcakes from the oven and place on a cooling rack to cool.
- When the cupcakes have cooled, make the buttercream. Add the butter to a large mixer bowl and beat until smooth.
- Add about half of the powdered sugar and mix until smooth and well combined.
- Add the vanilla extract, 3-4 tablespoons of lemon juice and the lemon zest to the frosting and mix until well combined.
- Add the remaining powdered sugar and salt and mix until well combined and smooth. Add additional lemon juice as needed to get the right consistency and flavor.
- Pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes. I used Ateco tip 844.
- Cupcakes are best when stored well covered and eaten within 2-3 days. They can be left at room temperature for about 24 hours, then refrigerated. Serve at room temperature.
Notes
Makes 12-14 cupcakes.
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 410
- Sugar: 44.9 g
- Sodium: 80.8 mg
- Fat: 21.2 g
- Carbohydrates: 54.8 g
- Protein: 2.5 g
- Cholesterol: 70.3 mg
More Cupcake Recipes
I have so many more yummy cupcake recipes that you have to try! Here are a few of my favorite ones:
- Strawberries and Cream Cupcakes
- Yellow Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream
- Apple Butter Cupcakes
- Best Homemade Chocolate Cupcakes
- Cookies and Cream Cupcakes
- Easy Homemade Vanilla Cupcakes
- Caramel Macchiato Chocolate Nutella Cupcakes
- Fresh Strawberry Cupcakes
OMG this recipe is next level they came out so light and fluffy. Thankyou for sharing
So glad you enjoyed them!
Easy recipe and rave reviews.
The cupcakes were a big hit with the family.
I baked these for my coworkers for Associate Appreciation Week a month ago since a lot of them love lemon. Huge hit! Coworkers loved them! The main issues were that I had trouble zesting the lemon and my buttercream didn’t have much lemon flavor even though one of the managers, who’s a baker herself told me that there was lemon flavor. What should I do if I was to do lemon cream cheese frosting instead?
Glad you enjoyed them! I used a lemon cream cheese frosting on this cake. You could probably cut it in half or so for the cupcakes. https://www.lifeloveandsugar.com/lemon-poppyseed-cake/#tasty-recipes-36735
Thank you for this recipe! I have made them as cupcakes in the past and now I’m going to try to make a “pink lemonade” cake for my birthday! I’m planning on using egg whites and then adding electric pink food coloring but I was curious about cake pan size. Any thoughts on how much batter this recipe makes and if I should use 6 in. Or 9 in. pans? Thanks again!
I wouldn’t recommend using egg whites. You should still be able to dye it pink using whole eggs. As for the size and baking time, if you leave the recipe as is you could do 6 inch pans. Or you could double it and use 8 inch pans, like I did in this cake. https://www.lifeloveandsugar.com/lemon-poppyseed-cake/
I just made these they came out yummy. Easy to make
Made them for a friend hosting a wedding. I tried one without frosting (not a frosting fan) and they were really good. The tops sunk in after baking though. Not real important since she will frost them, but does anyone know a trick to keep that from happening?
I’m planning on making these for my coworkers for Associate Appreciation Week since a lot of them love lemon, myself included, but a few are complaining that the store-bought frosting is too sweet. Is buttercream frosting sweeter than cream cheese frosting? If so, what could I do to make it less sweet?
My niece made these on the East Coast and loved them! So now that she’s visiting me, she wanted me to try! Making this recipe in high altitude! Any idea the adjustments needed? Thanks!
I’m not sure about high altitude, I’m sorry!
I was just making your cupcakes and went to check on my butter, oil, sugar and vanilla to see if it was fluffy and I was very watery. Double checked the recipe to see if I added too much oil. I always weigh my ingredients and saw that you had 120ml of oil but then I missed you wrote 1/4 cup… so I’m assuming the recipe should have read 60ml?
Oh no, I’m sorry! Yes, 60 ml. I’ve updated the recipe.
Can you freeze these? I accidentally made them earlier than needed! SOS!
You can. I do think they’re better when fresh, but you can freeze them. Just be sure to wrap them well and thaw them in the fridge.
Love, love, love! I’m not big on lemon desserts but my niece requested lemon cupcakes for her graduation party. Yep, I had to test these out on a crowd. Fortunately, they were a huge hit, gone in a snap! People asking me for the recipe. My recommendation is to slightly increase the lemon juice in the cupcakes, maybe an extra teaspoon. And keep the lemon juice in the frosting to 4 TBSP. Obviously this depends on personal taste as well as the kind of lemons you use. I will be making these again…and again…and again.
Can I use my mini muffin pans. If so, what about the cooking time? My guests think a whole cupcake it too much but two mini cupcakes are perfect! Thank you
I decided to make these since my whole family love lemon. OMG they are so good! I had one the first night I made them and thought “oh no, these are really rich!!”. The next day I had one with a cup of hot tea and they were amazing!!! I will definitely make these again!!!!!
So glad you enjoyed them!
I cannot wait to try these perfectly puckering cupcakes! Could I swap coconut oil w veg?
I haven’t tried it, so I’m not sure.
I haven’t tried these cupcakes yet, but they look DELICIOUS!
Hello, would coconut flour work? How much coconut flour would I use? Thank you!
I haven’t tried it, so I’m not sure.