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These perfect lemon cupcakes are pure sunshine on a plate. They are soft and tender and full of lemon goodness. The lemon buttercream on top is out of this world.
Be sure and check out some of my other favorite lemon desserts which include Lemon Angel Pie, Lemon Oatmeal Cookies and Lemon Ice Cream.
I am helping a friend with her son’s wedding reception next week and they wanted to have a cupcake bar. She has put me in charge of selecting and planning the cupcake menu. Here is what we have planned.
Cupcake Bar Menu
- Margarita Cupcakes
- Banana Cupcakes
- Brown Sugar Cupcakes
- Lemon Cupcakes
Best Lemon Cupcakes
These easy lemon cupcakes were indeed perfect – lemon through and through. Lemon cake, lemon frosting – it doesn’t get any better! The cupcake starts with a boxed lemon cake mix but then is enhanced with some sour cream and pudding which makes for a very moist cupcake. The frosting, and it is all about the frosting, was super lemony too with fresh lemon juice and lemon zest.
I originally found the recipe over at my friend Mel’s amazing blog.
How to Make Lemon Cupcakes
The base of this cupcake is a cake mix but then we doctor it up a bit with some sour cream and lemon pudding to make them tender and soft.
- Mix together the cake mix, the ingredients listed on the back along with the sour cream and dry lemon pudding mix.
- Fill each cupcake lined muffin tin 2/3 of the way full. I use this scoop for evenly sized cupcakes
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 25-30 mins.
Don’t be surprised when you open the oven and the cupcakes have sunk in the middle, they just do that. I don’t see this as a problem, I see this as a place for more frosting!
I like to use a piping bag and a large round tip to frost my cupcakes with. If you prefer less frosting, just use a knife.
The recipe makes a lot of frosting so if you are not going to pipe on your frosting you could half the frosting recipe.
After they are frosted and right before serving, add half of a sliced strawberry so the juices don’t bleed into the frosting.
Topped off with half a strawberry these lemon cupcakes were indeed perfect. They were the perfect addition to our wedding cupcake bar.
How to Store Cupcakes
These cupcakes do not need to be refrigerated. Keep them stored in an airtight container on the counter until ready to serve. They will last for 2-3 days. Garnish before serving.
When you make these cupcakes you are going to want two of my favorite tools for working lemons: Microplaner and a Lemon Juicer
Easy Lemon Cupcakes
Perfect Lemon Cupcakes
Ingredients
Cake:
- 1 15.25 oz lemon cake mix I prefer Duncan Hines
- 1 cup sour cream
- 3/4 cup water
- 3/4 cup oil
- 4 eggs
- 1 3.4 oz lemon instant pudding small box
Lemon Buttercream Frosting:
- 1 cup butter very soft
- 8 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
Instructions
Cake:
- Mix dry ingredients
- Add wet ingredients
- Mix with electric mixer on medium speed for about two minutes. Batter will be thick
- For cupcakes, bake them at 350 degrees for 20 minutes (I was able to get 24 very full cupcakes from the recipe).
- For regular cake, pour into a greased 9×11 pan or two round pans
- Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes
- Don’t over bake or the cake will be too dry!
- The toothpick test works to check to see if they’re done
- The original recipe said that the cupcakes will fall after they come out of the oven, but this is normal and to just fill up the indentation with more frosting
Lemon Buttercream Frosting:
- Place the butter in a large mixing bowl
- Add 4 cups of sugar, then the juice and the zest
- Beat until smooth and creamy
- Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, until icing is thick enough to be of good spreading consistency (I added 6 cups total).
- Use and store at room temperature. (Don’t refrigerate and it will last in a covered container for about three days.)
- Garnish with berries, if desired right before serving
Nutrition Facts:
Jackie says
Do you make the pudding or just add dry mixture of the pudding mix?
Leigh Anne Wilkes says
It is used as the dry mixture
KAYLA DOTSON says
This is hands down the best lemon cupcake recipe I’ve seen! Love the texture and the taste! 🙂
Leigh Anne says
Kayla, It is a good one! So glad you love it too
Olivia says
What can you use instead of the zest?
Leigh Anne says
You can replace it with some additional lemon juice. 1 tsp of zest to 2 tsp of juice.
Stephanie says
I tried this recipe tonight and really was NOT a fan…..the cake was extremely dense and the “frosting” was sooooooo sweet and sugary and not fluffy at all. Very sad! 🙁
Sinea Pies says
Mmmm. These look SO good and SO pretty, Leigh Anne.
They will be featured in this Friday’s Cupcakes on Parade on Ducks ‘n a Row!
My readers will LOVE them.
(oh, just pinned ’em too!)
Blessings,
Sinea
Ducks ‘n a Row