Lemon Raspberry Cupcakes
Soft and moist lemon cupcakes are topped with a swirl of raspberry buttercream in this easy lemon raspberry cupcake recipe that’s perfect for spring or summer!
I first shared this lemon raspberry cupcake recipe nearly a decade ago (seriously can’t believe it’s been that long!). While the original recipe was delicious, I’ve learned a lot over the last 10 years and I knew there was room for improvement.
I took reader feedback into mind when creating this new and improved recipe and adjusted the ingredients in the lemon cupcakes to make them even softer and fluffier. Instead of using jam in the raspberry frosting (which resulted in a softer consistency), I swapped it out for freeze-dried berries for a thicker consistency and bolder raspberry flavor.
I truly can’t get over how delicious these lemon raspberry cupcakes turned out! They would be the perfect addition to any dessert table or a fun birthday treat for someone who loves lemon and raspberries. I hope you enjoy this new and improved version as much as I do!
Recipe Video
Ingredient Notes & Substitutions
Cake Flour
My original recipe called for all-purpose flour, but I decided to swap it with cake flour to make these cupcakes lighter and fluffier. My personal favorite brands to use are Pillsbury Softasilk and Swans Down. If you don’t have cake flour on hand, you can make your own cake flour using regular flour and some cornstarch.
Lemons
You’ll need 2 to 3 medium lemons to have enough juice and zest for the cupcakes. For an even stronger lemon flavor, you’re welcome to add extra lemon zest, but don’t add more lemon juice (the cupcakes won’t rise as well if you do!).
Freeze-Dried Raspberries
This is what gives the frosting such a strong raspberry flavor. If you want to use fresh or frozen berries in the frosting, you can follow the instructions in my raspberry frosting recipe. You can also swap the raspberries with freeze-dried strawberries to make a strawberry frosting.
Tips For Making These Cupcakes
- Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. This will take several minutes, but don’t rush the creaming process because all that air in the butter is what makes the cupcakes so fluffy. I also recommend mixing the lemon zest with the butter and sugar! This releases more of the zest’s oil, giving the cupcakes a stronger lemon flavor.
- Use room temperature ingredients. This will ensure that everything mixes together more evenly and give you a smoother batter. If you forget to set your ingredients out on the counter, you can speed up the process by cutting the butter into smaller pieces, placing the eggs in warm tap water, and microwaving the buttermilk for 15 to 20 seconds.
- Avoid over mixing the dry ingredients. This is a surefire way to develop too much gluten, which translates to dense or rubbery cupcakes. You want to make sure to only mix in the dry ingredients until just combined.
- Only fill the cupcake liners ⅔ of the way full. The batter will rise quite a bit as the cupcakes bake! If you add too much batter to the liners, they will overflow and sink in the middle.
- Sift the seeds out of the freeze-dried raspberry powder. Freeze-dried raspberries have a LOT of seeds in them. Sifting out the seeds will give you a silky smooth frosting and prevent all those tiny seeds from getting stuck between your teeth.
How To Fill & Decorate The Cupcakes
I used my raspberry buttercream and a Wilton 1M piping tip to frost these cupcakes. The freeze-dried raspberries give the frosting a gorgeous pink hue, so there’s really no need to add any food coloring. For an even prettier presentation, I also love to top the cupcakes with a small lemon wedge and a fresh raspberry.
If you’ve got a little extra time, you can use a cupcake corer or a small knife to hollow out the center of each cupcake and fill it with either lemon curd or raspberry cake filling. This step is optional, and you’d want to fill the cupcakes before frosting them!
Can I Use This Recipe To Make Mini Cupcakes?
Yes, you’re welcome to bake the batter in mini muffin pans to make mini cupcakes. You will need to reduce the baking time to 9 to 14 minutes.
Can I Make A Full-Size Cake?
Absolutely! This recipe yields enough batter for one 9-inch cake pan. For a layered cake, I recommend doubling the cake batter (or you can use my lemon cake recipe) and increasing the frosting by half.
I can’t wait to hear what you think of these cupcakes! If you try them, don’t forget to leave a comment below to let me know how they turned out. Happy Baking!
Lemon Raspberry Cupcake Recipe
Ingredients
Lemon Cupcakes
- 1 ¾ cups cake flour spooned & leveled (195 grams)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter softened (113 grams; 1 stick)
- 1 cup granulated sugar (200 grams)
- 2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest (10 grams)
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (45 ml)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ cup buttermilk at room temperature (120 ml)
Raspberry Frosting
- 1 cup freeze-dried raspberries (1 ounce or 28 grams before removing the seeds)
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened (226 grams; 2 sticks)
- 3 cups powdered sugar (360 grams)
- 3 tablespoons heavy cream or milk (45 ml)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
Optional Filling
Instructions
- To make the lemon cupcakes: Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Line two regular 12-count muffin pans (or one 24-count muffin pan) with 16 cupcake liners and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.1 ¾ cups cake flour,2 teaspoons baking powder,¼ teaspoon salt
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large mixing bowl using a handheld mixer, beat the butter, granulated sugar and lemon zest together until light in color and fluffy (about 3 minutes).½ cup unsalted butter,1 cup granulated sugar,2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest
- Mix in the eggs, one at a time, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Then, mix in the lemon juice and vanilla extract until fully combined. The mixture may look curdled at this point, this is okay.2 large eggs,3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice,1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- Mix in half of the dry ingredients until just combined, then mix in the buttermilk, followed by the last half of the dry ingredients. Make sure to only mix in each addition until just combined, you don’t want to over mix the batter! If needed, you can use a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure that everything is thoroughly mixed together.½ cup buttermilk
- Distribute the batter evenly between all 16 cupcake liners, making sure to only fill each one about ⅔ of the way full.
- Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcakes comes out clean and the tops spring back when lightly touched.
- Remove from the oven, then carefully remove the cupcakes from the pan and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- To make the raspberry frosting: Add the freeze-dried raspberries to a blender or food processor and blend into a fine powder. Strain the powder through a fine-mesh strainer to remove the seeds. You should end up with a little under ⅓ cup or 16 grams of powder. Set aside.1 cup freeze-dried raspberries
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large mixing bowl using a handheld mixer, beat the butter on medium speed until smooth.1 cup unsalted butter
- Mix in the powdered sugar on low speed, one cup at a time, making sure to mix well after each addition.3 cups powdered sugar
- Add the raspberry powder, heavy whipping cream, vanilla extract, and salt. Mix on low-medium speed until fully combined, making sure to stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.3 tablespoons heavy cream or milk,1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract,⅛ teaspoon salt
- To assemble the cupcakes: (Note: If you don’t plan on filling the cupcakes, you can skip this step). Using a sharp knife, cut a hole in the center of each cupcake and make a small tunnel. Make sure not to cut all the way to the bottom of the cupcake! You should end up with a cone shaped piece once you remove it. Spoon 2 to 3 teaspoons of raspberry cake filling or lemon curd into the center of each cupcake. Cut the top off of the piece you removed earlier and place it back on top of the filling.
- Add the raspberry frosting to a piping bag fitted with your preferred piping tip and pipe it on top of the cupcakes.
I’ve become famous at my middle school with these cupcakes! They are requested for every bake sale and are always the first to go!
So happy to hear that, Amy!
Hi! For the buttercream I was planning on making homemade jam, my recipe is just sugar and raspberries, so I cut out some sugar, make it like normal OR could I just use puréed raspberries?
I wouldn’t recommend using just pureed raspberries, by themselves they tend to be too acidic and can cause the frosting to curdle. As long as your jam is thicker like regular jam, that should be fine to use.
Yoir recipe looks great. One quick question is if you used the preserves did you emove seeds? If so how? Thanks
I don’t remove the seeds, I just leave them.
I made these exactly as stated last month, and they were incredible!!! They are one of my favorite flavor combos for summer and these recipes are PERFECT! I just made the cupcakes again and used vanilla buttercream for a friend, and I tried a few (of course) and the lemon cupcakes are just sooooo moist and flavorful without being overbearing.
I want to make a strawberry buttercream, but maybe not use the freeze-dried strawberry recipe you have on your site. Could I just swap out the rasp preserves/jam for strawberry preserves/jam in this recipe?
Yes, you could swap out the raspberry jam for strawberry!
Excellent recipe! I didn’t try the frosting (this time) but used a simple lemon glaze since I made them in my fancy new baking mold – leaves/acorns/pumpkins. Looked too cute to cover up. Will keep this as my regular lemon cupcake recipe. Thank you!
Hi Danielle! I’m baking cupcakes for a dog themed charity bake sale. Will the icing hold enough to pipe out a poodle face?! I’m worried it’s too soft from the comments. These look delish, love the flavor combo.
Hi, Natalie! This one would be too soft for that. I have used my regular buttercream frosting to pipe grass on a cake before and it worked well. Here’s a link to that recipe, I would use 1-2 tablespoons of cream just so it’s a little stiffer too.
I was just looking at this recipe to make cupcakes for me and my family, but something kind of confused me. Why would you put lemon juice and milk in the cake. (Wouldn’t that just curtle the milk?)
The lemon juice adds more lemon flavor to the cupcakes. The batter may curdle a little, but it doesn’t affect the texture/taste of the baked cupcakes at all 🙂
I was thinking about adding the lemon curd to the cupcakes. Should this be done before or after they bake. This is my first time baking cupcakes from scratch and I tend to do best with exact instructions.
I wouldn’t recommend adding it to the cupcake batter. You can bake the cupcakes, cut a small hole in the center of each one, and fill them with lemon curd.
My wet ingredients also curdled, but after adding dry ingredients, the batter was fine. The cupcakes seemed really dense to me. I was afraid to leave cupcakes out overnight because of the frosting being so soft, so I stored in the refrigerator overnight (in container) and they were really dry and dense the next day. I was hoping for a very light and moist cupcake. I loved the lemon and raspberry flavors together. Will try this recipe again.
Hi, Cathy! I have a lemon blueberry cupcake recipe that uses buttermilk and is a little lighter, here’s a link to that recipe. You can just omit the blueberries.
I made these and followed the directions to a T but they didn’t come out. The cupcakes didn’t really rise and they were super “holey” with a weird texture. Not sure what happened ?. I’ll definitely try this recipe again to see if I can do it right!
Sorry to hear that, Jess. Did you make sure your butter was at room temperature first? Did you make any adjustments to the recipe?
My batter looked like it curdled after i added the lemon juice and zest, how do avoid this?
That’s normal and won’t affect the cupcakes.
Hi Danielle and fans,
I follow many bloggers when it comes to food and desserts and cakes but you are something else! I tried this recipe cos it’s different and I love lemon and it was just perfect! I did only use 1T pf rind though but it was amazing.
My piping was not so perfect but I’m no professional but I will learn one day. I halved the icing recipe and used raspberry jam. Should have definitely left it in the fridge longer though but will when I make them again.
This was the first attempt at one of your recipes and won’t be the last. Thank you so much for all your recipes and guidance <3
love from sunny Durban, South Africa xx
Thank you, Nafisa! I’m glad the cupcakes turned out great for you!
So I just made the frosting for a chocolate cake, and I CANNOT STOP licking the bowl. I added a bit extra of the jam, but it is PERFECT. Thank you for sharing!
I’ve been testing out many recipes for lemon cupcakes/cake with raspberry buttercream for the last week just to be ahead of the game for my daughters baby shower on Sunday June 9th… Its her first baby so I wanted everything to be perfect and let me say that this is by far is the yummiest lemon cake and I’ve ever had. The buttercream didn’t turn out like I thought it would. I gave it a taste and I was pleasantly surprised at how good it was. So thinking I was all done mixing it I realized I still had 1/2 cup of the powered sugar left to mix in, well now I think it’s too sweet and the consistency isn’t thick enough to pipe it…
I just put it in the fridge hoping it will thicken up, but if it doesn’t, do you have any suggestions as to how to make it less sweet and thicker for piping?
So regardless of how my buttercream turned out, ( I haven’t given up yet ) your recipe deserves 5+ stars…
I hope to hear from you soon, at least before Saturday evening so I can have everything done and ready to go for Sunday’s shower
Thank you
Katherine
Hi, Katherine! Glad you liked the cupcake recipe! This buttercream is a little softer since it has jam in it, but refrigerating it will help make it easier to pipe. I have a strawberry buttercream recipe in my post on how to make buttercream that uses freeze-dried strawberries. If you have time and want a thicker frosting, you can use that recipe but use freeze-dried raspberries instead.
I haven’t tried baking these yet but I’d like to know if anyone has tried doubling the cupcake recipe successfully. I have a group that wasn’t raspberry frosting and my dad would prefer lemon on lemon (so I will have to find a lemon frosting recipe!!)
I haven’t, but I do think it would be fine. Just be careful not to over mix the batter. I have a lemon cream cheese frosting recipe in my lemon blueberry cupcake post.
Did doubling the recipe work well?
I think it should be fine, just make sure not to over mix the batter and you should be good.
I was concerned about over mixing the batter so I actually made it in two separate batches (to make double the amount of cupcakes). If anyone else has tried doubling please share your experience as I am looking to turn this into a cake!
I think it would be fine to double it. Just make sure not to mix it too much and you should be good.
What size cake does this make (8in, 9in)?
Also, did you use seedless raspberry preserves/jam?
It will make either an 8 or 9-inch cake. I didn’t use a seedless preserve or jam, but it would be fine to use one.
Could I use raspberry emulsion for the frosting? A friend gave me the emulsion and I have no idea.
Is it an extract or something else?
If I fill the cupcakes with lemon curd and use blueberry frosting do you think the lemon would overpower the frosting or not.
I think it kind of depends on who you’re serving them to. I really love lemon, so I think it would be fine! You could always test a cupcake with it first and see what you think too.
I made these as mini cupcakes (and halved the recipe) and they turned out delicious. I made and frosted the cupcakes the night before. They turned out a bit dense (not sure if I served them too cold) but everyone commented on the great lemon flavor and raved about the raspberry icing.
I Love all of your recipes. Can u make a strawberry shortcake cupcake next?
Thank you, Ashley! I’ll definitely add it to my list of recipes to work on.
I would love to make this for my friend who’s turning 30! She loves anything lemon and this looks like a great recipe. I was wondering whether you have any experience with the giant cupcake pan by Wilton and whether you know if this recipe will be able to fill the giant cupcake pan? I think 10 cups of batter is usually enough but idk whether I should double this recipe (and/or frosting) or not. TIA!
Hi, Hilda! I am familiar with the pan you’re referring to, but I’m not sure exactly how many cups of batter this recipe makes. I would probably double the recipe and you can make cupcakes with any leftover batter and frosting. Hope that helps!
I made the cupcake cake and it turned out well! For anyone else interested, I doubled the cake batter but kept the same amount of frosting and that makes one giant cupcake with very little to spare. It’s pretty tasty!
Thanks for sharing, Hilda! Glad to hear that it turned out well!
Would you recommend turning these into a cake? If so, what would the new ratios have to be? I made the recipe as cupcakes and would now love to make it as a birthday cake!
You could turn it into a cake, this recipe would probably just make one cake layer. If you want a two layer cake, I would double the cupcake recipe and increase the frosting recipe by 1 and 1/2.
I just made these cupcakes for my son and I. This recipe was so easy to follow and the cupcakes and frosting taste amazing. I will definitely be making these again!!!!
I came across this recipe when looking for lemon cupcakes and I was sold on the pairing with the raspberry buttercream, along with the fresh lemon in the cake. I made them today and it was the perfect blend of lemon and raspberry. The recipe made plenty of frosting, so some of my cupcakes may have a little too much, but it tastes really good. Now to get them out of the house to keep me from eating them all!
So glad you liked the cupcakes, Tracy!
This recipe was great and didn’t take too much time. The only reason it’s 4 stars not 5 is that the cupcakes had an almost bitter after taste. We think it might be the zest, so next time we probably will only add half the amount of zest. Overall great texture and the frosting was absolutely delicious!
Sorry to hear that! Did you double check that you used the right amount of baking powder? Too much can sometimes give baked goods a bitter taste too.
Zesting too far into the white part will cause a lot of bitterness
I’m not sure what I did wrong but my wet ingredients mixture were very clumpy. Do buttermilk and eggs need to be in room temperature? If so, it’s not mentioned in the recipe. I ended up warming up my mixture in a microwave…. still haven’t tasted them yet but not very excited about the result.
It’s best to use room temperature ingredients if you’re using softened butter, but even if you don’t the mixture shouldn’t be super lumpy. Did you make sure to cream your butter and sugar together thoroughly before adding the other ingredients?
Would I be able to use either whole milk for the frosting? or heavy cream for the cupcakes? sounds like an awesome recipe but I dont want to waste either or.
You can use whole milk in place of the heavy cream for the frosting.
Do you know how much almond flour I could use instead of regular flour?
Almond flour is much different than all-purpose flour and it would change the texture of the cupcakes. I would stick with all-purpose flour for this recipe.
Just made these for my wife no reason. Came.out perfect. I would make half the icing next time which would.have been more than enough. Definitely would use the preserves. Thanks
So glad the cupcakes turned out great for you, Craig!
These look yummy! I usually have luck finding freeze dried fruit at Target. Though, they don’t always have a huge variety. Recently, I made these vegan cupcakes and I used freeze dried strawberries to make the frosting: https://www.bakesandblunders.com/vegan-chocolate-cupcakes/. The great thing about freeze dried fruit is you don’t have to use as much powdered sugar to get a stiff consistency. BUT raspberry jam also makes a super yummy frosting! Plus, why do raspberries and lemon just work? They are so good together. Anyways, I’m done yammering. Great recipe!
I’ll have to check at Target! I’ve been able to find quite a few options at my grocery store, but the raspberries are always hard to find. And great minds think alike on the cupcakes! I just recently took some new photos of my chocolate covered strawberry cupcakes and used freeze-dried strawberries for the frosting. 🙂
Try Trader Joe’s for freezes dried raspberries!