Raspberry Lemon Cupcakes
Hi guys!
It’s pretty much spring now, and we can all shift our baking towards lighter, brighter things. Wait, is that not how you identify seasons? Just me? Cool.
We’re just over here trying to finish up a nursery space for this baby that seems to keep getting bigger, and I’m gonna keep on baking along as long as I can!
That includes these pretty cupcakes that are fresh and flavorful and just the right texture. I know I say this a lot, but these are definitely one of my favorite cupcakes- they taste AMAZING you guys. And as usual, I’ve kept the recipe simple and easy.
The cupcake base has lemon three ways, and the result is a tart, truly lemon-tasting cake. Using cake flour and all purpose flour gives us a soft, tender crumb, plus a cupcake that is sturdy enough to hold a mountain of frosting.
The frosting uses mainly raspberry preserves to flavor it- the texture holds up better this way, and your grocery store will always have jam, even when fresh raspberries aren’t in season. I tossed in a handful of fresh raspberries to give it a richer, brighter color also.
Can I just say, recipes that make just 12 cupcakes are the best. When you make them from a box, you get 24, and sometimes that is just too much for a random Wednesday night. And on the other hand, sometimes you’re feeding a crowd, and recipes of 12 are easy to multiply.
Well anyways, happy Spring, and happy cupcake baking to all of you!
Raspberry Lemon Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the cupcakes:
- 1/2 cup softened butter
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tbs. lemon zest
- 1 tsp. lemon extract
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 1 cup cake flour
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
For the frosting:
- 1 1/2 cups softened butter
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/2 cup raspberry preserves
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 1 tbs. lemon zest
- 5-6 fresh raspberries (optional)
Instructions
For the cupcakes:
-
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, and line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners of your choice.
-
In a large bowl, beat together the softened butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in the eggs, lemon extract, lemon zest, and sour cream until combined.
-
Add in the cake flour, all purpose flour, baking powder, and salt. Beat together until a thick batter just starts to come together, and then add the lemon juice. Beat until smooth.
-
Scoop your batter evenly into your 12 muffin tins, or into 11 cups if you want a fuller cupcake.
-
Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick tester comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting!
For the frosting:
-
In a large bowl, beat together the butter and powdered sugar until smooth.
-
Add in the salt, raspberry preserves, cream, lemon zest, and fresh raspberries, and beat until smooth. Add more powdered sugar or cream to achieve your desired consistency.
-
Frost cupcakes as desired. Enjoy!
Peanut Butter & Chocolate Cupcakes
It’s classic, it’s totally been done before, I know it. But peanut butter and chocolate belong together in all forms, not just candy you guys. So today I’m comin’ atcha with these sweet chocolate cupcakes piled high with a pillowy peanut butter frosting.
Speaking of the frosting, yes, there’s a lot of it on these. If you’re not that into frosting, I accept our differences and also you might want to cut the frosting recipe in half. OR, even better, double the cake recipe.
Ok, so it’s Valentine’s Day week, and I know everyone is all about the pink and red desserts for this holiday, but let’s also not forget about the chocolate love. And if you love a little pb on your chocolate, why not switch things up this year and enjoy these with your friends or loved ones?
I’m telling ya, they’re gonna be hit. Who doesn’t love peanut butter and chocolate? Don’t answer that, I’m not prepared to meet those people.
So this frosting is a Swiss meringue buttercream, which I think is my new fav when it comes to frosting. It’s much lighter than an American buttercream. Think of it this way- American buttercream is all butter, while Swiss meringue buttercream is like half butter and half egg whites. Egg whites you guys, it’s practically health food. I mean it’s not, also I’m not a professional so don’t listen to me when I call things health food, but it’s lighter for sure. I think.
I’m throwing a giant amount of the good stuff on top of these simple dark chocolate cupcakes. They’ve got a strong chocolate flavor, and they’re a simple recipe to whip up. I did the whole thing, start to frosted and finished, in under an hour. I mean, I was hurrying, I wanted the cupcakes, but still.
Anyways so happy Valentine’s Day, or happy day if you aren’t a big celebrator, and let’s get on these ones guys. Enjoy!
Ingredients
- For the cupcakes:
- 1/4 cup boiling water
- 1/4 cup dark chocolate cocoa powder
- 1/2 cup softened butter
- 1/2 cup (heaping) sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 1 cup flour
- 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 2 tbs. milk
- For the frosting:
- 5 egg whites
- 1 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 1/4 cup softened butter
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
Instructions
- For the cupcakes:
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, and line a 12 cup muffin tin with cupcake liners.
- In a small bowl, stir together the boiling water and the cocoa powder until smooth. Set aside to cool.
- In a large bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until fluffy.
- Beat in the eggs, vanilla, and sour cream.
- Add in the flour, baking powder, salt, and milk, and beat until smooth.
- Last, beat in the cocoa mixture until completely combined.
- Scoop the batter evenly between your 12 muffin cups.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.
- For the frosting:
- In a double-broiler, cook the egg whites and sugar until they reach 155 degrees, or until the sugar has dissolved completely.
- Beat the hot egg mixture either by hand or in your stand mixer for about 10 minutes, until the mixture is completely cool and has formed stiff peaks.
- Slowly add in the butter, mixing well while adding. Beat for several minutes until the frosting becomes light and fluffy. This can take some time, and the frosting might look broken along the way- just keep going.
- Add in the vanilla and peanut butter and beat until smooth. Frost your cupcakes as desired.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Cupcakes
Let’s talk about combining desserts today guys. Why the heck not?
Basically one day I wanted a cupcake, but also a cookie. I’m pregnant, it’s normal I promise. So for the sake of my unborn child, let’s have both.
I took one of my basic vanilla cupcake recipes and switched it up to include brown sugar and chocolate chips. That’ll make this cake taste like cookie, and seriously it’s still so simple. You’ve probably got everything you need already- I did.
They bake up to a pretty golden brown, and you’ll cool them before piling on some of this milk-flour frosting. You read that right.
I’ve never made this before now, and it’s a really interesting frosting. I wanted something that actually had milk in it, and that still offered a light, fluffy, milk-resembling end result.
So it’s kind of odd- you start by making a milk and flour paste. And then after that cools, you beat butter and sugar, and then add in the flour paste. Somehow, and I’m convinced it’s magic, this eventually becomes this fluffy, beautiful frosting that you’ll love.
I topped mine with mini chocolate chips, mostly for the whimsy tbh, but also because I love them.
The end result is pretty, satisfying, and it tastes like a dang cookie! Another thing- this brown sugar cake base would be GREAT with cinnamon and nutmeg as a spice cake, I’m sure of it. Or just cinnamon, and we’ll call it a snickerdoodle cupcake. Whatever you want guys, I’m in.
Whether you’re also in pregnancy craving mode, or if you just want a cupcake that tastes like a cookie, this is the one. Enjoy!
Ingredients
- For the cupcakes:
- 1/2 cup softened butter
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 1 cup flour
- 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 cup chocolate chips
- 1/4 cup flour
- For the frosting:
- 3 tbs. flour
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 cup cream
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup butter
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips
Instructions
- For the cupcakes:
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, and line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners.
- In a large bowl, beat together the butter, sugar, and brown sugar until fluffy. Stir in the eggs, vanilla, and sour cream until smooth.
- Add in the 1 cup flour, baking powder, and salt. The mixture will be thick.
- In a small bowl, toss the chocolate chips and 1/4 cup additional flour until the chips are coated. Stir the floured chips into the batter (including excess flour).
- Evenly distribute the batter between 12 muffin cups.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.
- For the frosting:
- In a small saucepan, cook the flour, milk, and cream over medium heat until it becomes very thick.
- Remove from the heat, and let the mixture cool completely.
- In a large bowl, beat together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Then add in the cooled flour mixture.
- Beat together for several minutes, until the mixture becomes light and fluffy. Then beat in the vanilla extract and salt.
- Frost your cupcakes as desired, and top with the mini chocolate chips. Enjoy!
Classic Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting
I love living in Colorado, really. As some of you know, I used to live in Boston when I was in college, and I’m so happy to be back in home state, even though its been a few years since coming home. That being said, I really wish I could just pluck any recipe off Pinterest and bake it up perfect. Like, altitude really screws things up sometimes. (By sometimes, I mean nearly all the time).
Baking cakes in a high altitude is tough. I can’t tell you how many cupcakes I have baked that have tasted really eggy, or been duper dense, almost like bread somehow.
That being said, it was my goal for many years to find the perfect vanilla cupcake recipe, and I found it! Actually, if I’m being honest, I found it like 4 years ago, and I’m just now sharing it. Whoops.
Anyways, I think the key for vanilla cake in a Denver altitude is finding the right balance between adding the flour that you need for structure, and still keeping the cakes moist. I’m using two different kinds of flour here- self rising and cake. The self rising flour just offers a good ratio of baking powder built right in, and the cake flour makes the crumb very tender and pretty fantastic.
P.S.- did you see this epic baking dish my brother got me for my birthday???
On the other end of the spectrum, I use sour cream to add moistness to the cake. It’s thick enough that it doesn’t mess with the structure too much, but it gives us the texture that we’re looking for in a great, simple cupcake.
Vanilla cake is my favorite. I know chocolate is probably the main winner for most people, but I’ve never been a huge fan of chocolate cake. I still make it for lots of family and friends, like this chocolate bundt cake I made for my dad last year. But vanilla is my jam.
Usually I actually prefer vanilla frosting as well, but this chocolate buttercream is too good to pass up on a perfect vanilla cupcake. It’s fluffy, super chocolatey, and not too sweet.
I hope you enjoy this one!
Ingredients
- For the cupcakes:
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup self-rising flour
- 1/4 cup cake flour
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 2 tbs. milk
- For the frosting:
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 3 tbs. cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup dark chocolate, melted and cooled
- 3 tbs. heavy cream
Instructions
- For the cupcakes:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and line a 12-cup muffin tin
- In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add in the eggs, sour cream, and vanilla.
- The mixture will be slightly lumpy.
- Add in the self-rising flour, cake flour, and salt. Mix until combined, it will be a thick batter.
- Mix in the milk until combined.
- Scoop the batter evenly into your 12 muffin cups.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 16-18 minutes, or until a tooth pick comes out clean.
- Cool completely before frosting.
- For the frosting:
- Beat together the butter, powdered sugar, and cocoa powder until thick and smooth.
- Beat in the melted and cooled chocolate and mix until combined
- Add in the heavy cream, and beat until fluffy.
- Frost the cupcakes liberally.
Triple Lemon Cupcakes
Summer just gets me in the mood for lemon. I want lemonade, lemon desserts, everything lemon is on my craving list right now. There’s just something about the sweet, sour, freshness of lemons that always gets me.
Lemons + Cupcakes = LOVE.
We’ve had some family in town the last few weeks, and everyone always wants something sweet at a get-together, so I put together these triple lemon cupcakes! The cake is lightly flavored with lemon, and it’s filled with a beautiful lemon mousse. Top it off with a fluffy lemon buttercream, and you’ve got a perfect cupcake in my book.
For this recipe, the batter is very dense, so it’s important to separate the eggs. Folding in the whipped egg whites lightens the batter, and helps lift up the cakes while they bake. So, when you’re mixing up the batter initially, you’ll notice it’s very thick. After folding in the egg whites, you’ll still have a relatively heavy batter, but it should be smooth and silky, and much lighter.
Once the cupcakes are baked off, remove some of the cake from the middle to make room for the filling. If you’ve got a handy-dandy cupcake corer, it’ll be perfect. Otherwise, you can just use a knife. As for filling the cupcakes, I recommend using a piping bag, or simply cutting off the tip of a plastic bag with the filling inside- it’s much easier to use this method to actually get the filling inside.
The frosting is whipped up with a little heavy cream for a super light, fluffy frosting that still holds a lot of sweetness. The flavors and textures really work for this cupcake- the cake itself is dense, and with sweet, light filling and frosting, it’s a perfect bite. This recipe calls for lemon curd in every piece of the cupcake- make your own lemon curd here!
Enjoy!
Triple Lemon Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the cupcakes
- 2 sticks softened butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 4 eggs separated
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup lemon curd
- 1 tsp. lemon extract
- Zest and juice of 1 lemon
- 1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
For the filling
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
- 1/2 cup lemon curd
For the frosting
- 2 sticks softened butter
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 lemon juice
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 1/4 cup lemon curd
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
Instructions
For the cupcakes
-
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and line your muffin tin.
-
Beat together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add in the egg yolks.
-
Add in the sour cream, lemon curd, lemon extract, lemon juice and lemon zest. Mix until fully combined.
-
Add in the self-rising flour and the all purpose flour, and mix until combined.
-
In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form.
-
Gently fold the egg whites into the batter until incorporated. The batter will be thick, but very smooth.
-
Scoop into the lined muffin tin, and bake for 15-18 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean, and the cakes are slightly browned. Allow to cool completely before filling or frosting.
For the filling
-
Beat the heavy cream until soft peaks form. Then, add in the lemon curd, and whip until incorporated.
-
Cut out a hole in the center of the cooled cupcakes, and pipe in the filling.
For the frosting
-
Beat together the butter and powdered sugar until light and fluffy.
-
Add the lemon juice, zest, and lemon curd. Mix until incorporated.
-
Add in the heavy cream, and beat until the frosting is light and fluffy. Frost your cupcakes!
