Lemon cupcakes with a raspberry frosting for a refreshingly light and fruity dessert.
It might seem out of season for these cupcakes, but they are so good that I would eat them any time of the year. I made these 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. After searching for some recipes, I settled on this lemon cupcake recipe paired with a delectable raspberry frosting.
These cupcakes were very different than I expected, but in a positive way. The batter is mixed with egg whites, creating a more spongy texture than I’m used to in cake. But, it was quite welcoming with the light lemon and raspberry flavors. I baked them in miniature cupcake pans, and Ben kept popping them into his mouth when my back was turned. Thankfully, I still had enough for the party.
I will warn you that the cupcake liners did separate from the cake after cooling. Not sure if this was from the type of cupcake liners I used, or if it will happen no matter what type you use. Luckily, I had extras on hand and was able to completely remove the originals and set the cupcakes in clean new liners. They looked beautiful!
A little note… This recipe calls for 4 egg whites. Don’t discard the yolks! Save them to make ice cream.
A lemon cupcake topped with a delectable raspberry frosting.
- 2 1/4 cups cake flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/4 cups buttermilk
- 4 large egg whites
- 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
- 1/2 to 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
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1-3 tablespoons milk if needed
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Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Position the rack to the center of the oven. Line cupcake pans with paper liners.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
Source: My Baking Addiction, originally from Dorie Greenspan
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These are so pretty! The berry garnish takes them over the top!
These look wonderful, and the combination of lemon and raspberry sounds just delightful and refreshing!
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.
What precious little cupcakes! I cannot wait to try them. I love lemon and raspberry together.
Those look so fresh and bright. Beautiful!
This looks like an amazing new recipe to try! Where did you get your cake stand? I am in love with it! 🙂
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. 🙂
Thanks!
Nikki
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.
Oh I wish it was summer time! These look mighty tasty!
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.
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!
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! 🙂
What cute cupcakes! They definitely remind me of spring.
These are the prettiest cupcakes!!
These cupcakes are so pretty for spring. Love the lightness with the egg whites.
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!
These look so sweet!
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!
Those look so great! Love the colors… and the icing, oh my!!!
Great blog; happy I found you!
Mary xo
Delightful Bitefuls
gorgeous! they look like the perfect little bite! and i LOVE your cake stand…
thank you for sharing! 🙂
Love how that looks and lemon and raspberry together so yummy 🙂
I love the idea of raspberry and lemon together, and your cupcakes look adorable! Thank you for the recipe!
I’ve been looking for a good raspberry frosting, yay!
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!!
Great cupcakes. Just loved the combo of raspberry and lemons, it tastes divine. Saving your recipe to try out shortly. congrats on top 9 !
These are simply beautiful! What lovely pictures too!! Congrats on TOP 9!!!! ♥- Katrina
Very pretty cupcakes and I love the combo of raspberry and lemon. Nice post. Congrats on the Top 9!
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!
What beautiful little cupcakes! Congrats on the top 9!
These are some gorgeous cupcakes! I love the combination of raspberry and lemon, so I don’t mind that they’re out of season!
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)!
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!