Raspberry Lemon Cupcakes
Somehow, I find myself making cupcakes over the weekend and hence why I seem to be sharing cupcake recipes every Monday. There are just so many different flavors to try as we go into a new season and some old classics that need revival. Take these raspberry lemon cupcakes for example, they are nothing new (no new flavor combo) but they are a classic combination of fruity berries and tart lemon coming together in a sweet treat.
What’s different about these cupcakes is that I filled my favorite lemon cupcakes with a super sweet and tart raspberry lemon curd filling. Remember the raspberry lemon curd from this Raspberry Tart? Whatever was left over made it into these cupcakes and what a great idea. These sweet lemon cupcakes filled with a raspberry lemon curd and topped with a fluffy raspberry buttercream make for a summer spectacle. These are the cupcakes you want to party with this summer. Trust me!
Raspberry Lemon Cupcakes
Ingredients
For Curd:
- 2 large egg yolks
- zest of ½ a lemon
- juice of ½ a lemon
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold and cut into pieces
- a pinch of salt
- ½ cup raspberry puree/ preserve
For Cupcakes
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ tablespoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- zest of 1 lemon
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract
- ½ cup buttermilk, room temperature
For Raspberry Buttercream:
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 3-4 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2-3 tablespoons milk or heavy cream
- a pinch of salt
- ½ cup raspberry compote/ preserve
Instructions
To make Raspberry Lemon Curd Filling:
- In a medium saucepan, whisk the egg yolks, lemon zest and juice and sugar until well combined. Set saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring constantly with a spatula, cook mixture until it’s thick enough to coat the back of the spatula, about 8-10 minutes.
- Remove from heat and whisk in the butter, one piece at a time, stirring constantly until smooth. Once smooth, strain through a fine sieve into a small bowl. Combine the lemon curd with raspberry preserve/ puree. Press plastic wrap onto the surface of the curd and refrigerate until chilled, at least an hour or up to a day. This recipe makes about a cup of lemon curd. You wont use it all for the filling. Use leftovers to top pancakes, top ice cream etc.
To make Cupcakes:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin tins with cupcake liners.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
- In a large bowl, combine the sugar and lemon zest. Rub with your fingertips until fragrant and sugar is moist. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar mixture together until pale and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes on medium speed. Add eggs one at a time, beating until just combined after each addition. Beat in lemon juice, vanilla and almond extracts.
- Reduce mixer speed to low and slowly add half of the flour mixture to the batter. Add the buttermilk and beat until just combined. Add the rest of the flour and mix until just combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Do not over-mix.
- Divide batter into prepared tins. Fill each liner about ⅔ full. Bake cupcakes until lightly golden or a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 12-14 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan and cool completely on a wire rack.
For the Raspberry Frosting:
- Whip butter for 8 minutes on medium speed using the paddle attachment of an electric mixer. The butter will become pale and creamy.
- Add the rest of the ingredients and mix on low speed for 1 minute. Then increase speed to medium and mix for 6 minutes until the frosting is light, creamy and fluffy.
- Fill cupcakes with a teaspoon of raspberry lemon curd filling. Frost cooled cupcakes using your favorite decorating tip. I used Wilton Tip 2D for these cupcakes.
These look just incredible! That buttercream is gorgeous and wow! The filling. I wish I had one in front of me right now!
Thanks Allie!!!
Cupcakes are my favorite form of baked good, so if you want to keep baking them, I will keep staring and drooling!! Love that you stuffed these with the leftover curd. Way to not let it go to waste (or just eat it straight from the fridge…which I almost certainly would have done).
Hahha I will keep them coming 😉 And you know…I was eating it by the spoonful and had to stop myself by making these cupcakes.
Z, love love love these cupcakes!!! Absolutely love the flavor combo and these are soooo pretty!!!! Making me want to bake cupcakes at 7am!!!
Thanks Alice!!
OMG these look sooooo good!!!!!! I am in love with them!
Thanks girl!!
Oh my gosh I need. That pile of frosting on top speaks to me even though I am normally not a pile of frosting type of gal. Fruit frosting (and cream cheese) gets me.
hahha it speaks to me too 🙂
cupcakes make mondays better so don’t stop now! 🙂 we had raspberry lemon cupcakes at our wedding…they are so good! 🙂
I’ll take your advice and not stop 🙂
Soooo I have plans to make cupcakes this week already, but I might have to double up on my cupcake baking and make these, too — I can’t get enough of the raspberry-lemon flavor!
Great modifications to your plans if you ask me 🙂
Love them!
Thanks Nancy!
I am obsessed with filled cupcakes. The curd in these is the best surprise!
I don’t make filled cupcakes as much as I should.
Yum! I’m a huge fan of lemon curd and I think I will like raspberry lemon curd even better!
Thanks Bianca!
That raspberry lemon curd is such a sweet surprise inside these cupcakes. Pure perfection!
Well, then I officially declare Monday cupcake day forever and ever and ever. The end. Oh – P.S. these are gorgeous!
Forever and ever and ever!!!
These are the prettiest cupcakes! I’m a sucker for raspberry and lemon. Pinning for sure!
I’m a sucker for raspberry too!! Thanks Ashley for sharing!
These are like the prettiest cupcakes I have EVER SEEN! Love them so much, especially that gorgeous filling inside. WOW!
Thanks Jessica!
Lemon and raspberry is a dessert pairing I love, so I know I’d flip for these cupcakes! They look so fluffy and love that they’re filled with that homemade raspberry curd!
Thanks Hayley!!
I love this combination! Oh and they are so, so pretty too! I cannot wait to try raspberry curd, and to treat my family with these delicious cupcakes, we are definitely frequent cupcake consumers and fans!
Thanks Amy! I hope you are able to try these with your family 🙂
Your pics always make me want to run right to the kitchen!
These cupcakes are positively dreamy! I love that fluffy raspberry cupcakes!
Thanks Renee!
Your cupcakes are always so gorgeous!! Love the raspberry lemon combo!
Can you believe I’ve never filled cupcakes? How crazy is that? & I don’t have a problem with cupcakes every Monday- works for me 😉
What? Get on that!!
These look sooooo beautiful! I absolutely adore the combination of raspberry and lemon! These have to be the most perfect cupcakes for me. I seriously love that you created a filling too – what an amazing idea!!!
Thanks Harriet!!
Yay, Cupcake Mondays are now my favorite day of the week:) These are beyond gorgeous, Z!! I love the lemon and raspberry combo and that sweet tangy surprise filling is just heavenly! <3
Yay!! I am glad you love them!!
I love the color of these cupcakes, and raspberry curd sounds like the best thing ever! These are so bright and cheery. 🙂
Oh, yum! They look extra special with the filling 🙂
Aww, these cupcakes are so pretty. Love the raspberry curd centre, absolutely gorgeous.
I love this combo. That raspberry lemon curd is calling my name!
These cupcakes just scream summer! They are so pretty and I love the raspberry and lemon flavor! Your cupcakes look so pretty – I need an icing lesson from you!
So friggin pretty!!! I wouldn’t want to eatthem. Ha, wait, no. WHO AM I KIDDING – I would eat like 10!
What is your frosting secret?! I usually use a 2d tip too, but my frosting doesn’t look like that! It’s gorgeous!
Hahha Beth, I used 2d with these as well. I usually make my frosting stiffer than usual so it pies well! Thanks!
I am in the middle of making these now and they smell lovely! What is the measurement of the granulated sugar in the curd? In the list it says 1/4 cup granulated sugar, but in the directions, it says 3/4 cup. HELP!!
Tammy, it’s 1/4 cup sugar. Sorry about the typo. I hope you share how they turn out either here or on social media tagging me @blahnikbaker and #blahnikbaker!!
Hey!
Im making these today. I am just wondering what you mean by “puree/preserve”?
Am I supposed to boil the raspberries with sugar to make a puree, or is it just a way of saying “mashed” berries?
Thanks in advance!
Hi Amy, you can use raspberry puree (just mashed raspberries) or raspberry preserve (raspberries cooked down with sugar) for this recipe. Whatever is easiest for you!
Hi! My daughter and I are making these cupcakes for her birthday because they sound amazing! We made the curd yesterday but when we added the raspberry puree (we just blended up raspberries) the curd became runny. I put it in the fridge overnight hoping a miracle would happen but still runny this morning. When we made the lemon curd part it was beautifully thick. Any tips? We are going to try to remake it this morning because we really, really want it to turn out. By the way, it tastes amazing!!! Thanks!
Hi Ruby, I am sorry I am just seeing this now. I used raspberry cooked down and it was thicker than just the pureed raspberries.Raspberry preserve also works as that is thicker. I am sorry this caused the curd to be runny. Were you able to make it work the next try? I am glad it tasted good though 🙂
What raspberry did you use for the frosting? Mine came out so pale! And not as sweet
Hi Sam. I used regular organic raspberries but also added a drop of pink coloring to make the color more intense (for a shower!). The frosting was sweet enough for us but you can always add more powdered sugar as you whip it up!
I’ve made this frosting recipe many times and it’s always delicious. My problem every time is that the frosting is runny. Any thoughts on what I can do differently to make the frosting more firm? I have a request for these tomorrow so I will be attempting it again. I use raspberry preserves in a jar so I don’t make that homemade. Not sure if that is part of the problem? Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you 🙂
Hi Stacey, I think that could be part of the problem. The preserve could be more “watery”. How about you make the frosting first without the raspberries and after you whip it on high for 3-4 minutes until fluffy, you add in the preserves, a tablespoon at a time. This will help you determine if you are using too much. Also if your frosting is ever too runny, add a little bit more powdered sugar, whip, and then chill for 20-30 mins. I hope this helps!
I’ve never piped/filled in cupcakes before, do you have any tips about that?
Hi Katie, I am a fan of Wilton Tip 1M (a large open star tip) and that fitted in a pastry bag or even a large ziplock bag is always reliable. Easy for all levels. For the filling, I use a small teaspoon and core out the top and middle of cupcakes. You don’t have to go very deep.
Hi!
Do these need to be stored in the fridge?
Thanks 😃
Hi Alex, yes, they can be stored in the fridge.
I made these this past weekend for a baby shower and they turned out perfectly and got rave reviews. I think the recipe was spot on – the batter was beautiful and the cupcakes cooked up to be such a wonderful texture. I love the kick that the lemon-raspberry curd gave – it kept it from being over-sweet. Thank you for the great recipe!
So very happy to hear this!! Glad it was a hit 🙂