Moist lemon cupcakes topped with smooth lemon buttercream and filled with a hidden lemon curd centre.
As promised when I shared my recipe for lemon buttercream a couple of weeks ago, here’s my recipe for lemon cupcakes with a hidden lemon curd centre (although you don’t have to include the lemon curd if you don’t feel like it).
They’re a variation of my easy vanilla cupcakes, but I’ve flavoured them with fresh lemon zest instead of vanilla extract. Just like the vanilla cupcakes, they’re extremely easy to make. I use an all-in-one sponge, so everything gets chucked in one bowl and mixed up, and as it’s all in one bowl there’s hardly any washing up 🙂
Can these cupcakes be made with lemon extract instead of lemon zest
Yes.
I think they taste best made with fresh lemon zest, but you can switch the lemon zest for 1 tsp of lemon extract if you prefer.
How do you remove the middle of the cupcake for the hidden lemon curd centre?
My favourite way to remove the middle of the cupcake is to use my piping nozzle (I use a JEM1B nozzle but any large nozzle would work). Push the wide end of the nozzle about 1cm into the cupcake – this will create a circular cut at the top. Then use a teaspoon to scoop out the middle (you can then nibble on these as a little treat for the cook).
If you don’t have a suitable piping nozzle, then you can simply push a teaspoon into the middle and scoop it out, but you won’t end up with as neat a circle.
You can also buy cupcake corers just for this purpose, but I really don’t think it’s necessary as you can achieve results that are just as good using the piping nozzle.
What icing goes with lemon cupcakes?
I’ve decorated my cupcakes with a choice of either buttercream made with fresh lemon zest and juice, or buttercream made with lemon extract.
Fresh Lemon Buttercream
Buttercream made with lemon extract
If you head on over to my lemon buttercream recipe, you can find out how to make each type as well as the advantages of each version over the others. You can also find lots of ideas for using up any leftover lemon juice as these cupcakes only use the zest.
If you’d prefer to make lemon cupcakes without buttercream, then you can try my recipe for lemon drizzle cupcakes.
Other recipes for lemon lovers
If you’re a fan of recipes bursting with lemon flavour, then make sure you take a look at all of my delicious lemon recipes including these lemon drizzle cupcakes, lemon amaretti biscuits and gin & lemon scones.
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Lemon Cupcakes
INGREDIENTS
- Zest of 1½ lemons
- 165 g self-raising flour
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- 3 medium eggs
- 165 g soft margarine or butter
- 165 g caster sugar
- 1½ tsp milk
To decorate
- 1 batch lemon buttercream
Optional
- 4 tbsp lemon curd
Extras
- 12 cupcake cases
INSTRUCTIONS
- Pre-heat your oven to 160ºC/140ºC fan. Line a muffin tin with 12 cupcakes cases.
- Finely grate the zest of one and a half lemons.
- Put all of the cake ingredients into a large bowl (grated lemon zest, 165g self-raising flour, 1½ tsp baking powder, 3 medium eggs, 165g soft margarine, 165g caster sugar, 1½ tsp milk). Beat on a low speed (either using an electric mixer or by hand) until all of the ingredients are fully combined.
- Divide the mixture equally between the 12 cupcake cases.
- Bake your cakes for 20 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Once baked, leave the cakes to cool in the tin for about 10 minutes before moving them to a wire rack to cool completely.
- If you're adding the hidden lemon curd centre - Scoop out the centre of the cupcakes (take a look at my tips above the recipe for the best way to do this). Add 1 tsp of lemon curd to the centre of each cupcake.
- Make your lemon buttercream.
- Pipe your buttercream onto the cupcakes and serve.
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION
Any nutritional information provided is the estimated nutritional information per serving. Please refer to my guide to Charlotte’s Lively Kitchen nutritional information if you would like to learn more about how this is calculated.
Nutritional Information – Including Lemon Curd & Buttercream
Calories: 548kcal | Carbohydrates: 69.6g | Protein: 3.4g | Fat 28.7g | Saturated Fat: 14.2g | Sodium: 216mg | Fiber: 0.8g | Sugar: 58.7g
FREE FROM/SUITABLE FOR
The ingredients I used to make this recipe are all free from the following allergens. However, please check any labels carefully for allergens you need to avoid as brands can vary, and product recipes can change over time.
- Suitable for Vegetarians
- Tree Nut-Free
- Peanut-Free
- Sesame-Free
- Soya-Free
- Sulphur Dioxide & Sulphite-Free
- Lupin-Free
Some brands of lemon curd include sulphites. If you need your cupcakes to be sulphite-free, then please choose carefully, or make your own at home.
Christine says
Can I use large eggs instead of medium
Charlotte Oates says
That will more than likely be fine in this recipe but you can read more about egg sizes in my Eggs: Does Size Matter? post.
Denise says
can you put lemon curd into the middle of the uncooked batter?
Charlotte Oates says
yes!
Liz says
Hi can i bake these cupcakes in a ninja airfryer if so what temp and for how long. Thank you love your recipe.
Charlotte Oates says
Unfortunately I have not tested any of the recipes on this site in an air fryer so I’m unable to give you any advice in this recipe. Please do come back and let me know if you experiment and it does work!
Lou says
Can you make this as one cake instead of cupcakes? What size round tin would be best
Thanks!
Charlotte Oates says
I have the recipe on my site as a full-sized cake:
Easy Lemon Cake (All-In-One Lemon Sponge)
Karen says
So easy, all in one bowl ! They were delicious!
Only problem I have is that they get eaten far too quickly
Rebecca Davies says
Another fabulous recipe. Made these lemon cupcakes for Mother’s Day and both my mum and mother in law loved them. Thank you!
Claire Josef says
I have made these lemon cupcakes a few times now; and also the lemon cake – the sponge is the BEST recipe I have found and believe me, I’ve tried them all! So glad I found this website. I will be trying them all out – one by one. xx
Suzanna says
Hello! Do you think the baked cupcakes would freeze well? I’d like to make in advance but add the lemon curd and frosting when I actually need the cupcakes. Thank you – love your recipes!
Charlotte Oates says
The cupcakes freeze well, but sometimes the moisture can make it more likely that the cases will peel away. I’ve never had a problem with white muffin cases from Tesco or Dr. Oetker, but I have with some others I’ve tried.
Sophie says
I love this recipe! My daughter would now like to try orange cupcakes – will the recipe work out just fine if I make a simple swap to orange zest? Lemon cupcakes get all the glory so quite keen to see what an orange version is like!
Charlotte Oates says
I haven’t tested it with orange, but I would expect it to be absolutely fine.
Harriet Kaczmarczuk says
Hi, please could I ask what cupcake tin and cupcake liners you use? Thanks 🙂
Charlotte Oates says
The cupcake tin is a Le Crueset one. I’ve had it for ages so can’t quite remember which it is, but I think it’s this one:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Creuset-Toughened-Non-Stick-Bakeware-Muffin/dp/B00DQAFN6W/ref=asc_df_B00DQAFN6W/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=231959665160&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=15790683511618274943&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006933&hvtargid=pla-495299176020&psc=1&th=1&psc=1#ace-0979249316
For the cupcake cases I usually use either Dr. Oetker or Tesco own brand white muffin cases.
Becky Dawson says
I’m a novice when it comes to buttercream so now have enough for an army as made more than enough using the buttercream recipe. Was too runny but put it in the freezer for a little wiggle. Not the priest cupcakes But family verdict is “the best” possibly because I did the lemon drizzle on then as well!
Gabrielle Harwood says
I have made cupcakes for years and have always cooked them at 180C. I decided to try a different recipe and saw this one had a good rating so tried it. After 20 mins at 160C the mixture was uncooked! I whacked up the fast track oven heating to 180C and cooked the cakes until done – a skewer came out dry. They are slightly sunk in the middle but otherwise are edible, which was a surprise. With a dollop of lemon butter cream I think the grandchildren will still like them. I will stick to the usual temperature of 180C in future.
Charlotte Oates says
I’m sorry to hear the cupcakes didn’t turn out as expected.
Unfortunately all makes and models of ovens cook slightly differently and it sounds as though your may need to be set to a slightly higher temperature than some others to achieve the same results.
I’m glad to hear that you managed to get them baked through in the end. I hope your grandchildren enjoy them.
Carrie says
The lemon cupcakes were so enjoyable, I loved the idea of throwing all the ingredients in to a bowl, for the butter icing instead of using lemon zest I used orange, and omgoodness amazing.
Sam says
Hi! Can you make these with butter rather than margarine? If so, would you make cream the butter and sugar then add eggs, flour, etc as you would “traditionally” or would you do still use this all-in-one method?
Charlotte Oates says
Yes, it’s fine to use butter instead of marg. Make sure you take it out of the fridge nice and early so that it’s soft.
Kimberley Pereda says
New flavor of cupcake – Lemon. Awesome idea of recipe. The instruction is very vivid from preparing the ingredients, making the cake and icing. I will make some for my kids. Worth to share this foodie.
Louise says
Hi Charlotte,
I have used this recipe a few times now and love it. However the last couple of times I have made them they have risen way more than usual then completely spill over. I am deviding them into 12 large cupcake cases ( 3/4 full) and baking at 140 on fan. Do you have any idea what could be going wrong? Thanks!
Charlotte Oates says
How strange! It’s always easier to help when something has never worked than when something used to work and stopped even though nothing changed.
My guesses on what it could be are:
* Different brands of ingredients
* Different cupcake cases (if they’re a little smaller they might spill over)
* Different cake tin (the material/colour of a cake tin can impact how things bake.
Camilla Hawkins says
What perfect looking cupcakes and love that that they’re lemon flavoured. Thank you for linking to my Lemon Curd:-)
Charlotte Oates says
No problem, it’s a really good recipe.