Lemon Cupcake Recipe

Here’s a Lemon Cupcake Recipe to satisfy your biggest lemon dessert cravings! These lemon flavored cupcakes, filled with a tart and creamy citrus curd and topped with a soft meringue frosting, make the most heavenly dessert. You won’t be able to stop yourself from reaching for just one more!

Seriously, if there was a competition for the most lemony lemon dessert, these lemon meringue cupcakes would win. If you have a lemon tree in your backyard, or know someone who does, this is a perfect way to use up some of that sunshine filled citrus!

Ingredient Notes and Substitutions

• Lemon Curd – The lemon curd you’ll use for the cupcake filling is SO good, it has its own blog post. Here’s the link to the lemon curd recipe that you will be using! I highly recommend making your lemon curd the day before you make this recipe. This will allow it proper time to cool and thicken.
• Egg Whites – The lemon curd recipe calls for 4 egg yolks, so save the 4 egg whites to make the meringue frosting! 
• Fresh Lemon Juice – Fresh lemon juice always comes out the best when baking with it, however, bottled will work fine if that is all you have. 
• Lemon Zest – To get lemon zest, take a lemon zester and scrape the peel of the lemon until little lemon peel shavings come off. 
• Eggs – Make sure the eggs are at room temperature before you use them. 

How To Make Lemon Cupcakes

Let’s discuss the steps you’ll take to make these lemon meringue cupcakes. If you want to skip my discussion, tips, information and answers to frequently asked questions, just scroll to the bottom of this post for the printable recipe.

Make And Bake The Cupcakes

1. Start by preheating the oven to 350° F and lining a cupcake tin with cupcake liners and spraying with nonstick spray. Then, in a medium mixing bowl, whisk in the flour, baking powder, and baking soda until fully combined. 
2. Next, using either a hand or a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until it is light and creamy.
3. Crack the room temperature eggs into the butter mixture one at a time, and beat together until smooth.
4. Stir in the vegetable oil, fresh lemon juice, milk and lemon zest to the butter mixture.
5. Slowly begin to pour in the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix it together. Mix this until it is only just combined, do not over mix.
6. Spoon the batter into the cupcake liners and fill the liners until they are a little over halfway full. Pop them in the oven and bake for about 15 to 20 minutes, or until the top of the cupcake bounces back when you press on it. 

Make the Lemon Curd, Meringue and Assemble

1. Allow the cupcakes to cool completely. Once cooled, use a cupcake scoop or spoon to remove the middle of the cupcake. 
2. Using either a spoon or a piping bag, fill the centers of the cupcake with the lemon curd. 
3. Allow the cupcakes to sit and start on the meringue frosting. 
4. In a medium sized bowl using a hand or stand mixer, beat together the egg whites and cream of tartar until you see soft peaks starting to form. 
5. Add the vanilla extract to the soft peaks and continue to beat this together until the peaks are stiff. This will take about 5 minutes. 
6. After that, gradually add the sugar until it’s all combined. Put the meringue in a piping bag and frost the tops of the cupcakes. This part is optional, but you can toast the meringue with a kitchen torch if you’d like. 

Recipe Tips and Advice

Storage – Keep the cupcakes in the fridge covered for up to 3 days. You can leave them out on the counter if you prefer, as long as they are left uncovered. If you choose not to frost them, the cupcakes can be frozen for up to two months. 

Materials – You’ll need quite a few materials for this recipe; a cupcake pan, non-stick spray, whisk or spatula, a hand mixer and mixing bowls or a stand mixer, cupcake liners, a lemon zester, and optional tools such as a kitchen torch, lemon juicer and a cupcake corer.

Working With Lemons – A nifty trick to getting the most juice out of your lemons is to actually microwave the fruit until it’s slightly warm, which is about 20 seconds. Then, roll the lemon on a hard surface using the palm of your hand. Once you’ve rolled it around a few times, cut it open, and use a lemon juicer to squeeze most of the juice out. 

Sinking Cupcakes – If you find your cupcakes falling through the center, this could be happening for a few different reasons. You may be over mixing the butter, over mixing the eggs, letting too much air get into the batter, or opening the oven door too much and letting a lot of the heat escape. For the most part, this won’t change the taste of the cupcakes, and you’ll core them, and frost the tops anyway, so it won’t be noticeable.

Marvelous Meringue – To master meringue making, make sure to do the following… use room temperature egg whites, make sure the bowl is squeaky clean and dry, add the sugar slowly and don’t overbeat the eggs. And definitely don’t leave out the cream of tartar, which helps to stabilize the meringue.

Not Too Tart – If you’re a lemon lover, and love your lemon desserts to be extra tart, you can add an extra tablespoon of lemon zest to the cupcake batter. However, the lemon curd is tart in itself, and will add that extra lemon flavor to these cupcakes. 

Recipe FAQs

More Recipes To Try!

Looking for more delicious lemony cakes, cupcakes and treats? I’ve got some great ones for you!

• Blueberry Lemon Poundcake
• Lemon Rolls
• Starbucks Lemon Loaf Copycat
• Lemon Blueberry Scones
• Lemon Poppyseed Muffins
• Easy Lemon Bundt Cake
• Mini Lemon Tarts
• Lemon Raspberry Cupcakes