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
Any one else have them ‘dip’ or ‘fall’ in the middle? Trying to figure out what happened. They are super delish, and I filled the dip with lemon curd before frosting them.
Absolutely phenomenal recipe! Thanks for sharing.
We loved them so much – after the first batch was finished, I made another one right the next morning. Thanks for this yummy recipe!
http://to-does.blogspot.de/2012/10/lemon-cupcakes.html
One word FABULOUS!!! I did a cupcake bakoff and hands down this one was delicious! So moist and not all overbearing with the lemon taste which I loved loved loved. Thanks so much for sharing this recipe. If you have a chocolate cake recipe I would love to have that bcuz every chocolate cake recipe I have attempted has been dry. Thanks again for sharing this awesome recipe. Tootles….Nikki 😉
Would like to make some
These are so good! I’m pregnant and my baby will not let me eat chocolate so I was looking for a non-chocolate recipe. I am so glad I found this one. They are my husband and my favorite. We will be serving these at my baby shower as well.
Don’t fill too full mine crowned!
These cupcakes are SO delicious. They are not very forgiving with the baking time and they do make more that 2 dozen. I made 14 regular sized cupcakes and 48 minis…recipe was not hard to foolow, batter was as light as air, frosting could use less sugar and more lemon juice which I added for more of a tart flavor.
Can I just say AMAZING!!! Light and fluffy. Not only the cupcake but the frosting. REALLY nice lemon flavor! I made half a batch in mini size and I could have eaten every last one!!! Thank you Our Best Bites…they truly are the BEST!!!
No worries! I went out and bought some! Wish me luck!
Hi! I was wondering if you can use regular all-purpose flour instead of cake flour? Thats all I have around the house at the moment
Hey, Amy! I definitely wouldn’t use all-purpose flour; I know others have in the past and it hasn’t been pretty. I’m sorry! 🙁
HI, I just made the lemon cupcakes and they were fabulous.. I did not have cake flour but made my own.. For every cup of flour the cake calls for you take 2 tabl. of flour out and add 2 tbl. of cornstarch. Then you sift the flour and cornstarch through a sifter 5 times. Not hard to do.. Love all you two do. Thanks!
Hi Kate! LOVE all of your guys stuff! I have a quick question about the butter cream. Everytime I’ve made butter cream with butter (I’ve started using some butter and some shortening) it ends up tasting like I’m eating a big stick of butter. Do you ever get that feeling or is it just my preference. I’ve heard some bakeries just use shortening. Thanks!
Hmmmm. I think sometimes it can be like that, but it doesn’t really bother me. Have you tried our perfect cupcake frosting and filling? It’s definitely not your typical butter-based frosting.
I’m making these for a birthday party on Friday. I believe I will half the recipe though, since I really don’t need 2 dozen!
I made these last year for my baby shower and they were the BEST lemon cupcakes I have ever had! I bookmarked your website and I’m going to make these again!
I have a question Kate if you see this. I have made these several times in Belgium with no problem. I am in Georgia right now and I am making them and I am not sure if its because of humidity or what it is but the cupcakes are pulling from the liners and they are bubbling. I don’t understand? I put in almost 1/2 cup of more cake flour and they did not bubble as much this time but still did. Do you have any idea what is going on?
What is the baking time for a 9 X 13 pan?
I honestly don’t know–the Martha Stewart directions were WAAAAAAY off (like by 30+ minutes), so when I baked it as a 9×13, I just baked it until it was done. Every other time, I’ve made cupcakes. Sorry I can’t be of more help!
Okay.. In case it’s helpful for anyone else, two 9″ rounds took 35-40 minutes to bake to perfection in my oven.
Help! My Sis-in-law wants this in cake form for her birthday tomorrow. What would the correct baking time be? Anything else I need to know?
Alyssa, just check the link in the post for the original cake 🙂
I thought Kate said that the baking time for the cake was off. Oh well. I will just keep an eye on it after 25 minutes.