Petite Lemon Cupcakes
The bright, perky and fragrant juice and zest of the ubiquitous lemon. What would we do without it? I shudder to think. As the workhorse of the citrus family, seafood comes alive with a mere mist of it’s liquid and at the same time it can pack a serious wallop of cheek puckering power in a lemon meringue pie. I sing its praises and give it star billing in these lemony perfumed bites of lighter than air sweetness.
I’ve had a bit of a lemon craving of late. Too busy over the past week with other recipes to answer it’s calling, I finally succumbed today in the form of these mini cupcakes. So delicate and refreshing – they are worthy of a place at an afternoon tea or perhaps a celebratory lunch. Then again – why save something so delicious for only special occasions.
As straight forward as this recipe is, it does require the additional step of whipping heavy cream to be folded into the batter during the final step. Don’t let that dissuade you. The bit of extra effort and one more bowl to clean is little price to pay for the resulting fine, moist crumb of these cakes.
Petite Lemon Cupcakes
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1 tablespoon pieces
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
Zest from 2 lemons
1/3 cup canola oil
3 large egg yolks
2 large eggs
1 3/4 cups spooned and leveled cake flour
1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup heavy cream
Arrange one shelf in the lower third of the oven and one shelf in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350˚F. Place mini cupcake liners into two 24 cup mini muffin tins. (If you don’t have two tins, bake one batch of cupcakes, cool slightly and remove from the pan. Quickly cool the tin in the refrigerator or freezer, reline, and proceed with the remaining batter.) Place a small mixing bowl and beaters in the freezer to chill.
In a mixing bowl on medium speed, beat the butter to soften. Beat until it is light in color, about 3 minutes. Add the sugar and continue to beat until very light, scraping down the sides and across the bottom of the bowl at least once.
Beat in the lemon juice and zest. On medium speed, blend in the oil.
On the lowest speed, blend in the yolks, one at a time, mixing just to blend. Blend in the whole eggs, one at a time, mixing just to blend.
In a medium bowl, thoroughly whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
On the lowest speed, blend over half of the flour mixture into the batter. Continue on the lowest speed and blend in half of the buttermilk. Continue adding the remainder of the flour until all is incorporated. Blend in the remaining buttermilk.
Remove the mixing bowl and beaters from the freezer. Whip the cream until soft peaks form when the beaters are lifted. Beat just a little beyond this soft-peak stage. Stir about one-quarter of the whipped cream into the batter to lighten. Then fold the rest of the whipped cream into the batter.
Spoon the batter into the cupcake liners using a small scoop or tablespoon. Fill slightly more than one half full. Gently tap the tins on the counter to release any air bubbles. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the middle of one of the center cupcakes comes out clean. Switch the tins half way through to insure even baking.
Remove the cupcakes from the oven to a rack and cool in the tin for 10 minutes. Remove from the tin and cool completely before frosting. Frost with Lemon Cream Cheese frosting and decorate as desired.
Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
Juice and zest from 2 lemons
Generous pinch of salt
4 1/2 to 5 cups of sifted confectioner’s sugar
In the bowl of an electric mixer on medium speed, thoroughly mix together the butter and cream cheese. Add the lemon juice, zest and salt and mix to combine. On low speed, add the confectioner’s sugar, one cup at a time until the desired spreading consistency has been reached.
Makes 48 mini or 24 regular sized cupcakes.
Source: Cupcake Adapted from BakeWise. Frosting – My Own
So I am having my (ahem, our) in-laws up this week and was wondering if I could either make this gluten free, or use a Passover friendly substitute? We have heavy cream in the house since Coco just made coffee ice cream….
I’m not sure this recipe would survive very well if substituting gluten free alternatives for the cake flour. As a matter of fact, in the original recipe from Bakewise, Shirley Corriher strongly suggests, actually she insists, that you only use cake flour in this recipe. Sorry! Save this one for less needy house guests. 🙂 Love you Dad!
Hmmm. I’m new to this but mine turned out REALLY dense. Any advice for next time?
Dan, I’m sorry to hear that the cupcakes turned out dense for you. These cupcakes require a light hand and no over-mixing. Also, adding the whipped cream should have assured a very light and delicate cupcake. Did you use “cake” flour? If you do try them again, please let me know how they turn out.
Thanks so much for posting these! I followed the recipe to the letter and they are the best cupcakes I’ve ever made, extremely light and fluffy with just the right amount of lemon. The only thing I did differently was make regular sized cupcakes and cook them for 20 minutes. I also added a few drops of yellow food coloring to the frosting.
So glad you liked them. They truly are a light and fluffy cupcake.
Love !love! these cupcakes an my homes smelled just wonderful while they baked. I’m not one to comment I rarely do but this recipe is PERFECTION . Very moist, light an the perfect amount of sweet . The lemon cream cheese frosting is just divine with this perfect lemon cupcake. Thank you for sharing this recipe I will definitely keep this one.
Glad you enjoyed the cupcakes. They are one of my favorites!
Yummy! just posted my version of this @tortamore on insta. It’s so light, refreshing and summery. Love this recipe!
Hi Mary!!
This is ANN! I sat next to you on the flight from Cincinnati to LAX. Your writing, recipes, and photography inspire me to get in the kitchen and bake! I love your site and plan to start with this lemon cupcake recipe! I’ll leave a comment when I make them, take care!!!
So nice to receive your comment Ann. It was so lovely talking with you on the plane. And thank you so much for checking out my blog. I took a short break over the summer and will be returning to posting very soon now. Be well, and happy baking!
Hello, I made the cupcakes, and everyone loved them. Can I make a cake using this recipe?
So sorry Adrianne for the late response. I took a short break from blogging this summer. Some cupcakes can be made into a cake but I’m not sure this recipe would work very well. Without testing it personally I couldn’t be sure. Thanks for visiting Sifting Focus and thanks for your comment.
Hi I love your lemon cupcake recipe I was wondering if this can be baked as a 3 layer cake if so how would you go about adjusting the recipes measurements? Thank you for posting all these incredible recipes!
Would it be possible to make this as a layer cake, or is the cake too tender for that? Love the idea–they sound fabulous! Thanks.
So sorry Ellen for the late response. This cupcakes are quite tender and since I haven’t tried making them as a layer cake, I really can’t advise. Thanks for stopping by Sifting Focus and I hope you will visit again.