Lemon Raspberry Cupcakes

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Delicious lemon and vanilla flavored cupcakes studded with fresh raspberries and topped off with a fluffy lemon buttercream frosting.

Welcome to #LemonWeek 2022 hosted by Lynn from Fresh April Flours and Rebecca from Devour Dinner.  This week is sponsored by Rodelle and La Tourangelle. I may have received product samples from these sponsors to help in the creation of my recipes. All opinions are my own. Come join me and my fellow Lemon Week bloggers as we bring you recipes from appetizers to drinks to entrées and desserts!

Lemon cupcakes are one of my favorite things to make.  I love the bright, tart flavor of the lemons against a sweet, delicate cupcake.

One of the reasons I find lemon cupcakes so delicious is that the lemon flavor isn’t overpowering.   In some flavored cupcakes the flavor overtakes the actual cupcake and that’s all you can taste.  That isn’t the case with these cupcakes.

I only use a bit of lemon extract because I find that too much causes it to taste fake.  Then I add lemon juice and lemon zest to give it that real citrus flavor.

Ingredients:

• butter
• granulated sugar
• eggs
• Rodelle vanilla extract
• lemon extract
• sour cream
• milk
• lemons
• flour
• baking powder
• salt
• raspberries
• powdered sugar

To Make the Cupcakes:  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugar.  Add in the eggs and mix well.  Stir in the vanilla extract and lemon extract.  Add the sour cream, milk, lemon juice, and lemon zest and mix well until combined.  Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt and mix until just combined.  Fold in the raspberries.   Divide the batter between 12 muffin cups and bake for 22-25 minutes.

To Make the Frosting:  Place the butter in a large bowl and mix on medium high speed with a mixer until smooth.  Add in the powdered sugar and beat on medium high speed until fluffy.   Add in the lemon extract, lemon juice, vanilla extract, and milk and beat on high speed for 2 minutes or until fluffy.

These cupcakes just smell amazing when they come out of the oven.  The tartness of the lemon works so well with the sweetness of the raspberries.

While you can choose to simply make a vanilla buttercream frosting I wanted to give my cupcakes a bit of extra lemon flavor.   I added lemon juice and lemon extract to the buttercream frosting to give it extra flavor.

Can I use something besides raspberries?

You can substitute blueberries or blackberries in this recipe with great results.  You can also leave out the raspberries and just make lemon cupcakes if you would prefer.

Can I use a box cake mix in this recipe?

Can you?   Yes.  Should you? No.  If you do decide to go ahead and use a box cake mix instead of making your own cake there are a few adjustments you should make.  Buy a lemon cake mix.   Replace the water with half milk and half sour cream.   Replace the oil with melted butter.   Add in the vanilla extract and the fresh lemon juice.  This will give your cake mix a homemade taste without actually making a cake from scratch. 

Do I have to use fresh berries?

No you don’t.   While I prefer fresh berries because you can judge their size and they don’t add in any additional moisture you can use frozen berries.  I find it best to add the berries still frozen so that they don’t get smashed in the batter.  They will cook and thaw in the oven.

Do I have to use lemon extract, lemon juice, and lemon zest?

The easy answer is yes.   Each one of them add a different lemon flavor to the batter and you really need all three to have the bright, lemon flavor of these cupcakes.   If you have a lemon but no lemon extract you can just add in additional zest and juice.  If you only have extract and lemon juice add in additional lemon juice in place of the zest. 

You can choose to pipe on the frosting to make it fancy or simply spread it on top if you want a more rustic look.  Then either choose bright sprinkles or coarse sugar and sprinkle it on top of the cupcakes.

For decoration you can put a wedge of lemon or some lemon zest on top of the cupcakes.  I chose to go with coarse sugar and lemon zest for an elegant look that goes perfectly with these cupcakes.

More Lemon Recipes:

• Meyer Lemon Bundt Cake
• Meyer Lemon Scones
• Lemon Mermaid Cupcakes
• Lemon Chiffon Pie
• Copycat Starbucks Lemon Loaf
• Meyer Lemon Margarita

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Lemon Raspberry Cupcakes

Lemon and vanilla flavored cupcakes studded with fresh raspberries and topped off with a fluffy lemon buttercream frosting.

5 from 3 votes

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Servings: 12 cupcakes

Author: Hezzi-D

Ingredients

For the cupcakes:

• 1 stick 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 c. sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
• 1/2 c. sour cream
• 1/3 c. milk
• 1 lemon juiced and zested
• 1 2/3 c. flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 c. raspberries

For the frosting:

• 1 stick 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 2 c. powdered sugar
• 1 lemon juiced
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 Tablespoon milk

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Line 12 muffin cups with cupcake liners and set aside.
• In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugar. Add in the eggs and mix well.
• Stir in the vanilla extract and lemon extract and mix well.
• Add the sour cream, milk, lemon juice, and lemon zest and mix well until combined. 
• In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to the bowl with the butter and sugar mixture and mix until just combined.
• Gently fold in the raspberries.
• Divide the batter between 12 muffin cups, filling each one 3/4 of the way full.
• Bake for 22-25 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely.
• In a large bowl beat the butter with a mixer on medium high speed. Add in the powdered sugar and beat until incorporated.
• Add in the lemon extract, lemon juice, vanilla extract, and milk and beat on high speed for 2 minutes or until fluffy.
• Pipe the frosting on top of the cupcakes. Top with sprinkles, coarse sugar, or lemon zest.

Notes

Recipe adapted from Baker by Nature

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