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Lemon Cupcakes
Updated Oct. 12, 2023
![Lemon Cupcakes](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2023/09/13/multimedia/SSE-lemon-cupcakes-fbhm/SSE-lemon-cupcakes-fbhm-articleLarge.jpg?width=1280&quality=75&auto=webp)
- Total Time
- 40 minutes, plus cooling
- Prep Time
- 20 minutes
- Cook Time
- 20 minutes, plus cooling
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- ½cup/113 grams unsalted butter (1 stick), at room temperature
- 1cup/200 grams granulated sugar
- 3tablespoons finely grated lemon zest plus ¼ cup lemon juice (from 2 to 3 lemons)
- 2large eggs, at room temperature
- ¼cup whole milk, at room temperature
- 2teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1½cups/192 grams all-purpose flour
- 1½teaspoons baking powder
- ½teaspoon kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)
- 8ounces/230 grams cream cheese, at room temperature
- ½cup/113 grams unsalted butter (1 stick), at room temperature
- 2tablespoons finely grated lemon zest (from 2 lemons)
- ½teaspoon kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)
- 2cups/246 grams confectioners’ sugar
For the Cupcakes
For the Frosting
Preparation
- Step 1
Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a standard 12-cup muffin tin with liners.
- Step 2
Prepare the cupcakes: In a large bowl, with an electric mixer on medium, beat the butter and granulated sugar until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the lemon zest and juice. Beat in the eggs. Beat in the milk and vanilla, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
- Step 3
Add the flour, baking powder and salt to the butter mixture. Beat until just combined. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups. Bake until the tops of the cupcakes spring back when lightly touched, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
- Step 4
Meanwhile, prepare the frosting: In a large bowl, with an electric mixer on medium, beat the cream cheese until smooth and creamy. Add the butter, lemon zest and kosher salt; beat to combine. Beat in the confectioners’ sugar on low speed.
- Step 5
Top the cooled cupcakes with the frosting. (The frosted cupcakes are best the day they’re made, but you can make the cakes in advance and freeze them for up to 1 month in an airtight container. Thaw at room temperature to serve.)
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
I made these exactly as written, and I thought they were quite lovely. Very light, nice lemon flavor, but I didn't care too much for the frosting. I found it to be overly sweet for my taste. The cupcakes were nice enough on their own that I think you could omit the frosting without missing anything. Maybe a nice lemon syrup soak to punch up the citrus flavor a bit? One fun trick I discovered by mistake: Freeze them and then allow them to thaw ever so slightly. Really nice treat on a hot day.
WAY to much sugar…I cut it more than half for the cupcakes and by a quarter in the frosting. And don’t need so much butter in the frosting. We want it tart as it’s lemon after all!! Made only 6 and that was perfect. Less sugar makes all the difference!!!!
I add a few drops (a little goes a loooong way) of lemon oil (by Boyajjan) to increase the lemon flavor and scent. Scrumptious!
Super great! You can cut the frosting measurements a bit because the written directions make too much frosting. You can also avoid zesting the lemons if you want less of a punchy lemon flavor. This may be an issue with my oven, but I found they were undercooked at 20 minutes, so I popped them in for another 5. Keep toothpicks on hand to test!
Very flavorful and forgiving recipe. I added a bit of cardamom just because. Delicious and moist.
So flavorful, everyone loved it! The only criticism is that the icing comes out more like a thick glaze. It’s delicious but nothing to do with the picture or what you usually expect for cupcakes. I’ve made 4 batches already, and each one is better than the last.
Delightful. Lovely. Delectable. I need all of the good words to describe how delicious these lemony cupcakes are. I made them as written and they are now one of my favorite cupcakes. I weighed the 10X sugar and the frosting was not at all too sweet.
Very nice - mine rather sunk in the middle - not sure why but still tasted good!
These were delicious! I made mini-versions of the cupcakes, which yielded about 30 cupcakes. If doing mini-cupcakes, I recommend shortening the bake time by 2-3 minutes. Such a yummy treat! I also just used store-bought cream cheese frosting, and mixed lemon zest into that container before spreading on the cupcakes. Worked like a charm!
Absolutely fabulous! I made them exactly as described and wouldn’t change a thing. I love cream cheese frosting but have never had it with lemon. It’s different! It gives the flavor of the lemon cake more depth (sweet but also tangy) and that’s something that doesn’t happen much with cupcakes (usually just sweet). I’m definitely gonna make these again and try that wonderful suggestion of freezing them! Perfect for a hot summer day.
I needed a plain vanilla cupcake so used this as the base and omitted the lemon juice and zest (I know, what’s the point then?) But, if anyone else is in my shoes, they did produce a nice, perfectly serviceable (if slightly dry) vanilla cupcake for a kid’s birthday party.
Lemon, check! Light and fluffy, check! Keeper, check!
These were okay. I did halve the frosting and I thought that was plenty for 12 cupcakes so you do you. Also had the same issue with the cream cheese not fully incorporating into the frosting - still pretty tasty though. I thought these were decently good and pretty easy to put together.
WAY to much sugar…I cut it more than half for the cupcakes and by a quarter in the frosting. And don’t need so much butter in the frosting. We want it tart as it’s lemon after all!! Made only 6 and that was perfect. Less sugar makes all the difference!!!!
I made this with key limes instead of lemon and sprinkled some zest on top of the icing. A delicious treat!
make only half the frosting, use about 2/3 of the sugar
I zested 4 and juiced 6 lemons and really got only about 1/2 the zest called for in the recipe. They did still taste pretty lemony so I look forward to trying with the full amount. Since I had a ton of extra lemon juice I made a lemon ginger syrup to soak the cupcakes right when they came out of the oven. Added a nice flavor and moisture element. I thought the icing was delicious and a nice sweet addition to the cake which isn’t that sweet.
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