Petite Lemon Cupcakes

"Mini lemon cupcake in a pink and orange tulip lined paper on a glass plate"

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.

"Three mini lemon cupcakes, one behind the other sitting on an orange and pink flowered fabric"

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.

"Mini lemon cupcake with a bite taken out of it sitting on an opened white cupcake liner"

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.

"Mini lemon cupcake sitting on a cut glass plate, shot from above"

Source:  Cupcake Adapted from BakeWise.  Frosting – My Own




16 thoughts on “Petite Lemon Cupcakes

  1. 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!

    • 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. Yummy! just posted my version of this @tortamore on insta. It’s so light, refreshing and summery. Love this recipe!

  5. 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!

    • 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.

  6. 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!

  7. 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.

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