So while we were in Seattle, we went to the wedding of my husband’s younger brother. My mother-in-law and sister-in-law did all the flowers and they were absolutely gorgeous. See?
Now…at the wedding reception, the limes and lemons in the tall vases were fun and whimsical and colorful, but after the bride and groom drove away, those of us who WEREN’T going on a fun, relaxing honeymoon had to figure out what to do with literally hundreds of limes and lemons. My mother-in-law tried VERY hard to get me to throw some into my suitcase, which I adamantly refused to do because a) I didn’t want unsweetened lemonade all over my clothes when we got home and b) now that the airlines so graciously allow us to pay for checked baggage, I figured I could buy my own dang lemons for another $25. Well, being the mother of seven boys that she is, she was not about to let me go home citrus-free, which led to quite a bit of back-and-forth banter. Finally, I remembered that I had this recipe scheduled for today and told her I would take home a carry-on bag full of lemons and limes, which she was delighted to hear. I was half-expecting someone in security to ask, “Hey, lady, what’s with all the citrus?”, but then I realized that a bag full of limes and lemons was probably not even close to the strangest thing they’d ever seen.ANYWAY. Enough story time. Now…I have a little confession to make. I’m not super crazy about cake. I like it okay, and if I’m at a party, I’m not going to say no. But if it’s nothing special, then I’d just rather have a piece of pie or a tart or a pastry or something like that.
Well, I stumbled across this recipe in a dark, dusty corner of Martha Stewart’s website last year when I was getting ready for my daughter’s first birthday. I wasn’t looking for a lemon cake, and I wasn’t looking for a recipe that was so incredibly poorly constructed and hard-to-follow (seriously, whoever edited that recipe should be fired, or at least flogged aa little), but it sounded delish and I was after the flower cake tutorial.
Well…once I figured out what in the WORLD was going on (the baking time for a 9×13 cake is incredibly off, for starters), it ended up being quite possibly the most delicious cake I’d ever eaten in my entire life. Somehow, it’s a little dense (kind of like pound cake) and yet incredibly light and airy at the same time. I used the lemon buttercream recipe from my Southern Living cookbook and seriously…there are no words.
Since it calls for 3 sticks of butter and 5 eggs in the cake alone, I don’t make it too much, but I figured this time around, I’d give cupcakes a whirl. I think they were even better–the cake can almost be too much, but the cupcakes are perfectly portioned snippets of lemony goodness. And they’re so rich that I only need too eat one and then I’m done, which, when I have a million of these suckers lying around, is definitely a good thing.
Lemon Cupcakes
Our Best Bites
Ingredients:
3 c. cake flour (no substitutions here–you really need the lightness of cake flour)
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 c. sugar
5 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
4 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
Zest of 2 lemons (just zest the other lemons before you squeeze them)
1 c. buttermilk
Preheat oven to 325. Line 2 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake liners (I used yellow, although white would also be cute).
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, 4-5 minutes. Don’t go skimping here–you want the mixture to be almost white and super fluffy. This is absolutely essential to the outcome of the cake.
While butter and sugar are mixing, sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl. Set aside. After butter and sugar have mixed sufficiently, With the mixer running, add eggs, one at a time, beating to incorporate after each addition. Beat in vanilla, lemon juice, and lemon zest.
With mixer on low speed, alternate adding flour mixture and buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture and beating until fully incorporated.
Using a standard cookie scoop, place about 2 scoops of batter into each muffin cup. Fill these almost to the top–due to the final texture (again, think super-moist and light pound cake), these cupcakes won’t have a nice, curvy crown, but that’s okay–no one will ever know or care.
Bake about 20-25 minutes or just until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the cupcakes comes out clean. You don’t want to overbake these even a bit, or they’ll start to lose their delicious moisture. Remove from oven and cool completely. Frost with lemon buttercream and garnish with strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, or fresh mint leaves.
Lemon Buttercream
1 1/4 c. butter (2 1/2 sticks)
2 tsp. grated lemon rind
3 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
3 c. powdered sugar
Beat butter, lemon rind, and lemon juice in an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating to spreading consistency. Makes 2 3/4 c.
Have we got you in the mood for lemons?
Fresh Squeezed Lemonade
Garlic-Herb Sandwich Spread
Lemon Zucchini Fettuccine
Strawberry-Lemon Face Mask
Lemon Cupcakes
Our Best Bites
Ingredients:
3 c. cake flour (no substitutions here–you really need the lightness of cake flour)
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 c. sugar
5 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
4 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
Zest of 2 lemons (just zest the other lemons before you squeeze them)
1 c. buttermilk
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 325. Line 2 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake liners (I used yellow, although white would also be cute).
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, 4-5 minutes. Don’t go skimping here–you want the mixture to be almost white and super fluffy. This is absolutely essential to the outcome of the cake.
While butter and sugar are mixing, sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl. Set aside. After butter and sugar have mixed sufficiently, With the mixer running, add eggs, one at a time, beating to incorporate after each addition. Beat in vanilla, lemon juice, and lemon zest.
With mixer on low speed, alternate adding flour mixture and buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture and beating until fully incorporated.
Using a standard cookie scoop, place about 2 scoops of batter into each muffin cup. Fill these almost to the top–due to the final texture (again, think super-moist and light pound cake), these cupcakes won’t have a nice, curvy crown, but that’s okay–no one will ever know or care.
Bake about 20-25 minutes or just until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the cupcakes comes out clean. You don’t want to overbake these even a bit, or they’ll start to lose their delicious moisture. Remove from oven and cool completely. Frost with lemon buttercream and garnish with strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, or fresh mint leaves.
Lemon Buttercream
1 1/4 c. butter (2 1/2 sticks)
2 tsp. grated lemon rind
3 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
3 c. powdered sugar
Questions & Reviews
We’re travelling for Easter. Do you think if I made these on Friday and frosted them on Sunday they would still be fabulous?
Just made these tonight – and they are yummy! I used a bit more lemon juice (and decreased the Buttermilk) and doubled the lemon zest to make a very tart cupcake base. It’s not too sweet and I have your recipe to thank. Thank you for the post and the great recipe =)
Thanks, Kate. Wonder if I beat the sugar, cream and eggs a little too long therefore adding too much lightness. Either way, kudos on a wonderfully flavored and textured cupcake. Will definitely make again!
These cupcakes have an amazing texture and flavor (as I added a little bit of lemon oil) but they shrank like crazy! So much so that the paper liner just falls off. Would love to make again but I need to understand how come they shrank so much? Thanks.
Honestly, I’m not sure why they shrank–they’ve never done that to me. I’m sorry I don’t have a better answer!
Your lemon cupcakes are awesome! I made them over the weekend and they were moist and deeeelicious! Thanks for the recipe! The frosting tasted a bit too butter-y to me (my personal taste) so I added a tsp or so of vanilla and loved the final result.
These are wonderful! I made them for our book club this week! I had a bit of a frosting fail, but still delicious.
Okay, confession: I'm not a fan of lemon. I don't like citrus. However…I made these for a friends' birthday, and I have been converted. These are seriously stupendously amazing. Ah-maz-ing. Yum. I'm not sure if they'll last long enough to make it to work in the morning.
Okay, confession: I'm not a fan of lemon. I don't like citrus. However…I made these for a friends' birthday, and I have been converted. These are seriously stupendously amazing. Ah-maz-ing. Yum. I'm not sure if they'll last long enough to make it to work in the morning.
I made these the other day and they were a HUGE hit at work! I tossed a handful of raspberries in the icing and it was so good. Thanks for the recipe help, I always come to your site when I need inspiration!
Delicious! I made them in mini-cupcake form, and I am still not done putting them in the oven: I will probably get 10-12 dozen! Yikes! For anyone making them in mini format, I found 14-15 minutes is about the right baking time.
These sound so delicious! I'm looking for a great lemon cupcake recipe for a bridal shower. Bonus, I found a lemon butter cream recipe as well. Thanks so much.
Those were fantastic. Thank you! Best cupcakes I've ever made. I added just a little more lemon than it called for and frosted them to look like yellow roses on top. They were some of the best cupcakes I've ever eaten.
Also, I should add that I'm an inexperienced baker. If I can make em so can you.
These are truly mouthwatering. Follow the recipe carefully. In my oven they needed a hotter temp setting and/or little longer cook time or else they came out a little pasty on top. I also added more lemon to the cake and doubled the lemon in the frosting . My friends flipped-out they were so delicious!
My mouth is watering already. My husband always says lemon desserts are for old people… Well phooey on him I say! I'll make em and he'll eat'em!
Wow- these have nice flavor and everything, but are just too DOGGONE RICH and FATTENING!! I followed the recipe to a T, continuing despite the skeptical looks from my grandmother, who wondered why I needed a total of over five sticks of butter and five eggs. And, gosh, this frosting is super rich..it's just butter and sugar!
Guess I was looking for a much lighter, creamy cupcake. These were dense and almost gave me a sugar attack. I guess I'm just a wuss, even at 17.
Oh my gosh, these look so good. I will have to try them! I am glad I found your blog!
Hi There!! I made these today after having numerous left over lemons from Christmas.
Fabulous!! I had no buttermilk (which is a rare event in this house) but used skim milk and mixed the lemon juice with the milk to curdle it a bit. Worked like a charm.
Like you I'm a recipe blogger. Would you mind if I posted this recipe on my blog. More than happy to link to your blog to give credit.
Oh..btw…instead of lemon juice in the buttercream I used Limoncella liquor…excellent!!
Sara, my guess is that it's the altitude. I'd try adding 2-3 Tbsp. of additional flour and see if that helps! Good luck! 🙂
We made these yummy cupcakes twice,(two different cooks) tasted fantastic, but both times they flopped! Couldnt get out of pan (crusty around openings) and then fell out of the paper liners!! Do we need to add more flour in Utah for high altitude?
Thanks,
sticks&stones
These are perfect! Yum!
These are SOOOO good, but I'm halving the recipe next time. It makes 3 dozen cupcakes!!!
*swoon* They look wonderful!
I shall just have to try them.
Hi, it's Cheryl Ann's sister again…just thought I'd tell ya my daughter and I made these cupcakes yesterday and WOW…they were killer good.
By the way my daughter is named Shanna, after her aunt Cheryl Ann.
http://damselindisdress.wordpress.com
I love all things lemon. I just pulled a recipe for lemon glaze cookies from Everyday Food that was to die for. Literally. I made the cookies twice in 36 hours and ate almost all of them by myself.
I just posted an almost identical recipe on my blog that uses coconut instead of lemon. Can't wait to try it this way! I bet you could add just about anything with this batter and it would taste fabulous!
Oooo… citrus dessert is a weakness of mine. Have you tried to make these with lime juice and lime zest?
My sister just told me about your blog…she says she knows you guys (Cheryl Ann Jensen from Bellevue). Wow. and Yum. Can't wait to try the lemony goodness.
http://damselindisdress.wordpress.com
I can't say I am with you about the cake =) but these cupcakes look so good! I love lemon frosting!
Oh! So pretty and delicious. What a great idea. I once got flowers with cranberries in the water..such a nice touch!
These cupcakes look really yummy! I'll definitely have to try this recipe. I LOVE lemon cake, but like you, only if it's REALLY good. BTW, your pictures look very appetizing! ;o)