Easy Lemon Cupcakes are a lovely homemade treat, made with simple baking ingredients including flour, sugar, butter, eggs and lemon juice. They are soft, light and full of fresh lemon flavour, with just the right balance of sweetness and citrus.
I love how easy these are to make with ingredients you likely already have in the pantry. They are perfect for afternoon tea, sharing with friends or baking a batch for a special occasion.
How these lemon cupcakes came about
These lemon cupcakes are my youngest daughter’s favourite! So while I was making them for her 12th birthday afternoon tea I thought I would share the recipe with you.
These are an adaptation of my Grandmas Wonder Cake which I have turned into cupcakes. With the addition of lemon zest and lemon juice in the cupcakes and the lemon icing, they are just lovely.
Helpful baking tips for perfect cupcakes
If your cupcakes don’t always turn out quite as expected, I have a couple of handy guides that might help! My Cake Troubleshooting Guide covers common problems like cakes sinking or not rising properly, while my Common Baking Mistakes and How to Fix Them guide shares some useful tips to help you get better results with your baking. Both are great to have on hand for the next time you’re in the kitchen.
Fresh lemons from our garden
I have been given a bucket of lemons from my Dad, who grows the best lemons! And for the first time ever, our own lemon tree has produced actual edible lemons too! So you can look forward to plenty more lemon recipes coming soon.
After 10 years, our lemon tree is finally doing well, most likely thanks to Dad tending to it when he stayed with us. It turns out my gardening approach of ‘only the strongest will survive’ doesn’t quite work for lemon trees! Apparently, they need a little extra love and the right fertiliser to thrive.
What ingredients are needed to make these easy lemon cupcakes?
This recipe is lovely and easy. It has a few interesting measurement techniques but results in such a lovely, light and fragrant cupcake. Using pantry basics as always, I hope you give these a try.
The ingredients you will need to make it are:
- Plain White Flour
- White Sugar
- Butter
- Eggs
- Lemon Juice
- Lemon Zest
- Milk
- Baking Powder
- Vanilla
- Salt
- Icing Sugar
How to make lemon cupcakes (video)
How to make lemon cupcakes (step-by-step)
You will need a stand mixer or an electric hand held beater for this one ideally.
To make the cupcakes you combine the flour, lemon zest and sugar together then the method for measuring the liquid ingredients is an interesting one.
In a one cup capacity jug or cup you add the eggs, melted butter and lemon juice, then you top this up to a full cup with milk.
Pour that into the flour, zest and sugar mixture then mix it on medium for 5 minutes until well combined, then you stir through the final ingredients.
Carefully spoon into the cupcake cases, ideally only half full so that when they rise they do not overflow as mine often do! Then bake until lightly golden brown and prepare the lemon icing.
This is just my basic vanilla icing with the addition of lemon juice and zest to give it a lovely lift in flavour. I have added some pretty yellow sprinkles as topping, or you could add a drop or two of yellow food colouring for a brighter result.
Can I use buttercream instead of lemon icing?
I hope you love these lovely lemon cupcakes as much as we do! I have kept the icing simple with a basic lemon icing, but if you prefer something a little more indulgent, a buttercream icing would be delicious too.
For a lovely, fluffy buttercream, be sure to check out my Vanilla Cupcake recipe. The vanilla buttercream would pair beautifully with the fresh lemon flavour of these cupcakes, and you can pipe it on for a more decorative finish if you wish.
Other cupcake recipes to try
If you love making cupcakes, I have plenty of other lovely recipes for you to try! Whether you are baking for a special occasion, afternoon tea or just because, here are a few more of my favourite cupcake recipes to choose from.
- Maple Syrup Surprise Inside Cupcakes
- Best Ever Chocolate Cupcakes
- Best Ever Vanilla Cupcakes
- Cupcake Fun for Kids
Easy lemon cupcakes recipe
Easy Lemon Cupcakes
These Easy Lemon Cupcakes are soft, light and full of lovely lemon flavour, made with simple ingredients for an easy homemade treat.
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 1 Cup Plain White Flour, 150 grams
- 1 Cup White Sugar, 205 grams
- 2 Tablespoons Lemon Zest
- 28 grams (2 Tablespoons) Butter, Melted
- 2 Medium Eggs
- 1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
- Milk (see method for amount)
- 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Essence
- ½ teaspoon Salt
Icing
- 1 1/2 Cups Icing Sugar, 135 grams
- 1 teaspoon Butter, melted
- 1 Tablespoon Lemon Zest
- 2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
- 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Essence
- Water
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 175C (350F) Bake
- Line muffin trays with cupcake cases
- In a large bowl or food mixer add the flour, lemon zest and sugar and stir to combine
- Use a One Cup capacity measuring cup or jug add the melted butter, lemon juice and 2 eggs, then fill the rest of the cup up with milk making a total measure of 1 cup of liquids, pour the liquids into the flour base and mix for 5 minutes on medium
- Add the baking powder and slowly stir, then add the vanilla and salt until just combined
- Pour into the prepared cupcake cases to half way and bake for 15-18 minutes until they spring back to a light touch and lightly golden brown.
- Leave to cool for at least 5 minutes then transfer the cupcakes to a wire rack to cool completely before icing.
- To prepare the icing, once the cupcakes have completely cooled, in a medium bowl add the sifted icing sugar, lemon zest, melted butter, lemon juice, vanilla and stir well to combine.
- If necessary add half a teaspoon of water at at time to reach the desired consistency, thick but spreadable.
- Spread this over the top of the cupcakes with a knife, add sprinkles as you ice each cupcake if using.
- Store in an airtight container when not serving.
- Enjoy!
Nutrition Information
Yield 12 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 236Total Fat 3gSaturated Fat 2gUnsaturated Fat 1gCholesterol 37mgSodium 211mgCarbohydrates 49gFiber 1gSugar 32gProtein 3g
JustAMumNZ.com, occasionally offers nutritional information for recipes contained on this site. This information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators. Although justamumnz.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates.
I really hope you love these Easy Lemon Cupcakes as much as we do. They are such a lovely treat for afternoon tea or special occasions, and one I’ll be making again and again.
If you give this recipe a go, I’d love to hear how it turned out for you in the comments. You can also leave a ⭐ rating in the recipe card above, it really helps others find and enjoy this recipe too.
You can also find me over on Facebook and Instagram for more baking and cooking inspiration, or join my newsletter to receive my latest recipes straight to your inbox.
Happy baking,
Anna x
Billie says
Would it still be spongy and soft if I used oil instead. The rest of the recipe I’ve have used of yours have never failed me when exchanging butter for oil
justamumnz says
Yes it should be fine as not a huge amount of butter to sub
Carol Taupo nz says
love this recipe cakes are soft and tasty, great wirh lemon icing freeze really well too, even when iced, microwave 20 secs!!
Carol
Pauline Edwards says
Brilliant easy recipe to make at short notice. Very tasty and low butter. I shall make again.
George Weir says
Made these dairy free turned out OK.