These lemon cupcakes with raspberry frosting are a refreshingly light and fruity dessert!
Click here to PIN these raspberry lemon cupcakes!
I love a lemon dessert any time of year. These lemon cupcakes with raspberry frosting are of no exception! They are easy to make and refreshingly light. The lemon raspberry combination goes together so beautifully.
I originally made this recipe years ago for our neighbors' daughter's Evening of Elegance event at school. Her mom actually gave me the idea of lemon cupcakes, to offset her contribution of something chocolaty. These cupcakes are perfect for any dainty occasion, like bridal showers, Mother's Day, Valentine's Day, and Easter!
🍋 Lemon Cupcakes
The cake part to these divine lemon cupcakes is the best you'll have! Light and fluffy in texture with a burst of lemon flavor. It will take a little more time to whip these up than your typical cake mix, but well worth the extra effort for being from scratch!
The batter is mixed with egg whites, creating a more spongy texture. But, it's very welcoming with the light lemon and raspberry flavors. I like to bake them in miniature cupcake pans, but regular sized works well too! Expect 24 regular sized cupcakes or 48 miniature cupcakes.
🍓 Raspberry Frosting
The raspberry frosting is so soft and velvety thanks to the use of shortening. The texture is smooth and not grainy allowing to be easily piped onto the lemon cupcakes. Use a large round decorating tip, like the Wilton 1A, to create the pretty swirls from my photos.
Combining the raspberry frosting with the lemon cupcake is a match made in heaven! The perfect duo for such a delightful dessert!
🧾 Grocery List
There is nothing out of the ordinary when shopping for this recipe, unless you haven't heard of cake flour. You should be able to find this in the baking aisle of any grocery store. I typically buy Swans Down cake flour in a red box.
Ingredients for Lemon Cupcakes with Raspberry Frosting:
- Cake flour (2 1/4 cups)
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Buttermilk (see recipe note)
- Egg whites (4 large)
- Granulated sugar (1 1/2 cups)
- Lemons (2 large)
- Unsalted butter (1 cup)
- Salted butter (1/2 cup)
- Shortening (1/2 cup)
- Vanilla extract
- Lemon extract (or sub with lemon juice)
- Raspberries (2/3 cup)
- Powdered sugar (3 cups)
- Milk (if necessary)
Click here for full recipe ingredients and instructions.
🧁 How to Make Lemon Cupcakes
- Preheat oven and line cupcake tin.
- Sift flour, baking powder and salt.
- Whisk milk and egg whites in another bowl.
- Rub together lemon zest and sugar.
- Beat butter until fluffy, then slowly add rest of the ingredients.
- Evenly distribute batter into cupcake liners.
- Bake 20 minutes.
- Let cool.
This recipe calls for 4 egg whites. Don't discard the yolks! Save them to make ice cream.
👩🏻🍳 How to Make Raspberry Frosting
- Puree raspberries in blender and strain.
- Cream butter and shortening, then mix in vanilla and raspberry puree.
- Gradually stir in powdered sugar until consistency reached.
🍰 More Lemon Dessert Recipes
- Slow Cooker Lemon Poppy Seed Cake
- Lemon Cupcakes with Candied Lemon Chips
- Oatmeal Lemon Cream Bars
- Lemon Scones
- Freezable Lemon Bars
- Lemonade Cheesecake
PRINT this recipe or PIN IT for later. Made this recipe? Leave a star rating and tag me on Instagram @seededtable so I can see. I love hearing from you!
This recipe was originally published in February 2011 and updated February 2021.
โญRecipe Card
Lemon Cupcakes with Raspberry Frosting
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 2 1/4 cups cake flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/4 cups buttermilk (see note)
- 4 large egg whites (see note)
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- lemon zest from two large lemons
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter , at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
For the Frosting:
- 2/3 cup fresh raspberries , frozen or thawed
- 1/2 cup salted butter , at room temperature
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter , at room temperature
- 1/2 cup shortening
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1-3 tablespoons milk , if needed
Instructions
To Make the Cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350หF. Position the rack to the center of the oven. Line cupcake pans with paper liners.
- In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. In another medium bowl, whisk together the milk and egg whites until well blended.
- Place the sugar and lemon zest in a large mixer bowl and rub together with your fingers until the zest has moistened all the sugar. Use the paddle attachment to beat the butter in at medium speed for 3 minutes, until very light. Add in the extracts and then one third of the flour mixture, while continuing to beat on medium speed. Mix in half of the milk-egg mixture, then half of the remaining dry ingredients. Beat in the rest of the milk and eggs until fully incorporated, then mix in the remaining of the dry ingredients. Beat at medium speed for a full 2 minutes to aerate. Evenly distribute the batter into the cupcake pans.
- Bake for 18-22 minutes (for regular cupcakes) or 10-12 minutes (for miniature cupcakes). The cupcakes are done when they pass the toothpick test and are springy to the touch. Cool completely on a wire rack.
To Make the frosting:
- Puree the raspberries in a blender and then push through a fine mesh strainer to discard the seeds; set aside. Cream together the butter and shortening in a large mixing bowl, with the paddle attachment. Beat in the vanilla and most of the raspberry puree, until fully combined.
- Stir in the sugar 1/2 cup at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition, until reaching desired consistency. Use more or less sugar as needed, and add more raspberry puree to taste. If the frosting is too thick, beat in milk one tablespoon at a time.
- Pipe frosting onto cupcakes or spread evenly with knife or spatula. Garnish with additional fresh raspberries if desired.
Notes
- If you do not have buttermilk on hand, you can substitute with mixing 1 tablespoon vinegar into 1 cup of milk and let stand 5 minutes. Top off with additional milk to create 1 and 1/4 cup.
- Do not discard your egg yolks. Save them to make ice cream instead!
Nutrition
Kelly Jean says
I just finished baking and icing these. I had to eat a few of the ugly ones, and had to stop myself from eating all of them. I can't lie, this is the first time I've made cupcakes from scratch, and I'm really, really, really excited with how they turned out! The cake is nice and fluffy, reminiscent of angel food cake...and my frosting is light and fluffy too. There's no graininess in the texture, which I think makes the perfect consistency! It took me forever to make these(could have been the screaming baby), but they're well worth the effort spent! Thanks for posting this recipe Nikki! It's definitely going in my ever growing recipe box!
JO says
These cupcakes are absolutely amazing! I made them last night for a get together with some really great friends. Everyone loved them! The combination of lemon and raspberry is delightful! Thanks for the great recipe! (Definitely going in my recipe box)!
Peggy says
These are some gorgeous cupcakes! I love the combination of raspberry and lemon, so I don't mind that they're out of season!
Amy says
What beautiful little cupcakes! Congrats on the top 9!
Julie says
Hello there! I love making mini cupcakes and tarts myself and these look AMAZING! I love that the smaller bites make you satisfied without all the extra calories.
GREAT JOB!
Margaret Murphy Tripp says
Very pretty cupcakes and I love the combo of raspberry and lemon. Nice post. Congrats on the Top 9!
Katrina @ In Katrina's Kitchen says
These are simply beautiful! What lovely pictures too!! Congrats on TOP 9!!!! โฅ- Katrina
sonia says
Great cupcakes. Just loved the combo of raspberry and lemons, it tastes divine. Saving your recipe to try out shortly. congrats on top 9 !
Kim - Liv Life says
These are just the cutest little things I've seen today! I really like that you used the new liners, so handy that the old liner wasn't there and you can just pop it in your mouth without having to peel it off. Looks really elegant too.
Love these spring flavors! My roses are starting to grow... I'm feeling spring today!!
Christina says
I've been looking for a good raspberry frosting, yay!
Sherry @ JustAPinch says
I love the idea of raspberry and lemon together, and your cupcakes look adorable! Thank you for the recipe!
Firefly says
Love how that looks and lemon and raspberry together so yummy ๐
The Harried Cook says
gorgeous! they look like the perfect little bite! and i LOVE your cake stand...
thank you for sharing! ๐
Mary @ Delightful Bitefuls says
Those look so great! Love the colors... and the icing, oh my!!!
Great blog; happy I found you!
Mary xo
Delightful Bitefuls
Amy Kelly says
I made these last summer and had the same problem with the cupcakes separating from the liner after they baked! I never figured out what caused it. These were the first and only true white cake that I've made and I wonder if it has to do with the lack of yolks in the batter. I really have no idea, but I'd love to find out why the separate from the liners!
Kristen says
These look so sweet!
Shawnda says
These are going to be perfect in just a couple of weeks. Local(er) berries are just starting to hit the shelves down here - blackberries were even on sale last week!
marla says
These cupcakes are so pretty for spring. Love the lightness with the egg whites.
Lauren at Keep It Sweet says
These are the prettiest cupcakes!!
Jen @ BeantownBaker.com says
What cute cupcakes! They definitely remind me of spring.
Katelyn says
As a follow up, I made these and my frosting was way too thick even after I added milk. It still tasted great but unfortunately my piping skills aren't all that great! Should I have just kept adding milk or should I have added more powdered sugar or something?
Thanks,
Katelyn
P.S. My leftover overly thick frosting is going to taste AMAZING on a biscuit in the morning!
Nikki says
Hi Katelyn,
If the frosting is too thick, keep adding liquid to it (whether it's milk or more raspberry puree) until you reach your desired consistency. However, I just noticed a typo in my ingredient list. It said "3 cups lb powdered sugar" whatever that means. Yikes! Did you use 3 cups or 3 lb? It should say 3 cups and I made the correction. I'm so sorry if that was the problem!
Sounds like you might be able to lessen the amount of powdered sugar, as well...
Thank you for being kind in your comment. I'm laughing that you are looking forward to having the frosting on a biscuit in the morning. lol! ๐
Ammie R. says
These remind me of our wedding cake! It was lemon cake, lemon mouse and fresh raspberries. And our wedding colors included the aqua color of your ribbon.
I think these would be a nice anniversary treat for my husband.
Jess says
Oh I wish it was summer time! These look mighty tasty!
Katelyn says
Thank you for posting! One of my best friends has a birthday on Thursday so I will be making some to send her way this week.
Lisa says
This looks like an amazing new recipe to try! Where did you get your cake stand? I am in love with it! ๐
Nikki says
Hi Lisa,
I got this cake stand at Home Goods. I'm in love with that store, but unfortunately now the closest one in about 45 minutes away so I don't get there often. They have quite a few different cake stands and continuously rotate their stock. ๐
Thanks!
Nikki
Christy Denney says
Those look so fresh and bright. Beautiful!
katie says
What precious little cupcakes! I cannot wait to try them. I love lemon and raspberry together.
'Chelle Welker says
How can you go wrong with lemon and raspberry at any time of year? It's my favorite combo. We even picked it for our wedding cake.
Thanks for the delicious looking recipe, Nikki! Can't wait to try it.
Lisa (Dishes of Mrs. Fish) says
These look wonderful, and the combination of lemon and raspberry sounds just delightful and refreshing!
Blog is the New Black says
These are so pretty! The berry garnish takes them over the top!