Spring has definitely arrived! I know this because my nose is itchy and also I have had to start taking my once daily loratadine – but the sunshine and mild weather more than make up for it.
These cupcakes are very much inspired by this new season. They are light and fresh, but with deliciously strong lemon and raspberry flavours. The cupcake itself is buttery and mild, with a great texture. It’s not dry at all, but nor is it very dense like the Cake of Death. I will be using this recipe again for all my future cupcake needs.
The lemon curd buttercream really steals the show. It is creamy and smooth but has an unexpectedly tart citrus flavour. The plainer cupcake perfectly balances out the strong, sweet flavours of the raspberry jam and lemon curd buttercream. I just made up the recipe below, so I ended up with a lot of left over icing. Â If “less is more” for you when it comes to icing, you could probably get away with halving the recipe. Or if you love icing, like me, make the whole recipe and just think of many creative ways to use up the leftovers. :)
Overall, these cupcakes would be perfect for a picnic in the sunshine, elegant afternoon tea or even to round off your upcoming Easter lunch. Enjoy and happy baking!
Lemon Raspberry Cupcakes with Lemon Curd Buttercream
Makes 10 cupcakes
Ingredients
- 175g unsalted butter
- 175g white sugar
- zest from 1 lemon
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 3 large eggs
- 175g self-raising flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 salt
- ~1/2 seedless raspberry jam
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 175C/350F. Place 10 paper liners in a 12 cup muffin tin. Set aside.
- In a medium sized mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- Rub together the white sugar and lemon zest with a rubber spatula. Add the butter and cream together with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, around 2-3 minutes.
- Add the eggs, one at a time. Mix well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract.
- Add the flour mixture and mix on medium-low for another minute or so, or until well mixed.
- Divide the batter equally between the 10 muffin liners. Bake in preheated oven 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.
- Cool on a wire rack completely before icing.
- Fill with seedless raspberry jam and frost with lemon curd buttercream (recipe below).
Optional: top with sprinkles and a fresh raspberry
Lemon Curd Buttercream
Ingredients
- 250g unsalted butter. softened
- 175g lemon curd
- juice from 1 lemon, strained
- 500g icing sugar
Instructions
- Cream together the butter and lemon curd with an electric mixer on high until smooth, around 1-2 minutes. Try to get them as emulsified as possible, with not large chunks of butter.
- Gradually add the icing sugar with the electric mixer on low speed, adding the lemon juice as needed.
- Once all the ingredients have been added, switch the mixer to high speed and beat until light and fluffy, around 30 seconds.
- Use immediately. Icing can either be spread on with a knife or piped on using a large star tip. e.g. 1M