When you start craving sunny lemon desserts, you know spring is just around the corner! It’s time for bright colors and fluffy cupcakes! Plus they make really pretty sweets for Easter! These lemon cupcakes have the perfect crumb and are filled with tart lemon curd and then frosted with fresh lemon juice buttercream frosting. When life gives you beautiful lemons … make lemon cupcakes!
To fill the cupcakes with the lemon curd, just hollow out a little cavity using a grapefruit spoon or a core and seed removing device, (these work really well:), and then fill in the cavity with the lemon curd using a small spoon or even better, a pastry bag with a star tip. You can make all of the components of the cupcakes a day or two ahead and assemble them a few hours before serving, or you can assemble them a day or two before you plan to serve them. Just be sure to store them in the refrigerator in an airtight container. Take them out of the refrigerator 30 minutes before serving.
Lemon Curd Cupcakes
Equipment
- apple core and seed remover
- pastry bag with couplers and tips for the frosting
- pastry bag with couplers and small star tip for filling the cavities in the cupcakes
Ingredients
Lemon Cupcakes
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick)
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups cake flour, sifted after measuring
- 3/4 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 cup milk
- 2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
- 6 thin slices of lemon, cut in half
Lemon Curd
- 2 large eggs
- 6 tbsp. granluted sugar
- 6 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp. lemon zest
- 1/8 tsp. salt
- 1 tbsp. butter
Fresh Lemon Juice Buttercream Frosting
- 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temp 2 sticks or 8 oz.
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1/8 tsp. salt
- 4 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
- 2 tbsp. milk
Instructions
Lemon Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Prepare cupcake tin with paper liners. Lightly spray the bottoms of the cupcakes with cooking spray.
- Cream butter and sugar together in the bowl of your mixer (or in a large mixing bowl using a hand-held beater) until light and fluffy. Add beaten eggs and beat well for 2-3 minutes, until light yellow in color. Stir in vanilla and lemon juice until blended.
- Sift dries (cake flour, baking soda and salt) in a separate bowl.
- Stir flour into batter alternately with milk, beginning and ending with dry ingredients.
- Distribute batter evenly among the 12 cupcakes. Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until the center springs back when you gently touch it with your thumb.
- Remove from oven and cool completely.
Lemon Curd
- Whisk eggs and sugar together in a saucepan or in the top of a double boiler. Add lemon juice, lemon zest and salt.
- Heat over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wire whisk, until mixture thickens so it will coat the back of a spoon. Remove from heat and stir in the butter. Set aside until completely cool. If making ahead of time, cover the lemon curd with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use.
Fresh Lemon Juice Buttercream Frosting
- In a large bowl, cream together butter and salt until light and fluffy. Add 1 cup of the powdered sugar and beat into the butter. Add 1 tablespoon of the lemon juice and continue to beat. Continue this process, alternating powdered sugar and lemon juice. Beat until creamy and smooth. If you need a little more liquid, add a little bit of milk at a time. If the frosting is too runny, add more powdered sugar, a little bit at a time, until you arrive at a good spreading consistency.
Assembling Cupcakes
- Using a spoon or apple corer, create a cavity in the center of the cupcake. Reserve the cake “corks” to plug the top of the opening after you fill them with the lemon curd.
- Using a pastry bag or small spoon, fill the cavities in each cupcake with the lemon curd. Replace a small part of the “cork” you removed on top of the curd filling.
- Now using a pastry bag with a large open star tip (#824), create a beautiful swirl of frosting on top of each cupcake. Garnish with a half slice of lemon.
