Lemon Raspberry Cupcakes

My mum requested cupcakes for our Diamond Jubilee Big Lunch Party and of course, these were going to be made without saying!

I’ve got lots of fun and easy Cupcake Recipes for Parties for you to try out – right-click and open these other recipes in a new tab so that you can read them after this one!

I decided on making some lemon cupcakes, topped with lemon buttercream icing and a raspberry on top – lemon raspberry cupcakes! However, on looking at the recipe that I was going to use, I thought it looked a little unbalanced as far as the ingredients was concerned. Having already had several meltdowns on my party baking day, I decided to go to my favourite vanilla cupcake recipe and tweak that to make lemon cupcakes instead, substituting the normal vanilla extract for lemon juice. I didn’t colour my buttercream, but you can if you like.

Here’s my batch before they went in the oven – fingers crossed that these would work out…after the day I had, had, if these had failed I was going to hang up my bakers hat!

I was more than pleased when they came out just perfectly, and was chipper once more about my baking skills. I proceeded to make a lemon buttercream which I tweaked with lemon juice to taste (I always taste as I cook) so even though recipe says 2 – 4 tablespoons lemon juice, you may need more or less according to your taste.

I swirled the buttercream on top of each cupcake, and then added a raspberry to the centre. To finish off, I had some little ‘Queen’s Diamond Jubilee’ flags that came free with a magazine that got poked in, and they were then wrapped in some cardboard cases that also came free with the magazine. I’ve never used those sorts of wrap-around cases before and I LOVED them! Going to have a go at making my own some time!

With all the cupcakes made, they went into my vintage cupcake stand, and the sign was very apt ;)

They were lovely, light and fresh, the lemon cuts through the sweetness of the buttercream, and the raspberry gave it a nice tang too. Next time I make these I’m going to put a lemon curd in the centre :D

Lemon Cupcakes

Makes 18 cupcakes
Ingredients

• 225g unsalted butter, softened
• 225g caster sugar
• 225g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 4 medium eggs
• 4 tbps lemon juice

Method

1. Preheat oven to 175C (155C fan/350F/Gas 4).
2. Place 18 cupcake cases into a tin.
3. Place all the ingredients into a bowl and beat with an electric whisk until smooth and pale, about 2 to 3 minutes.
4. Spoon the mixture into the cases.
5. Bake for 20 mins until risen and golden.
6. Remove from the oven and cool for 5 minutes in the tin, before transferring to a cooling rack.
7. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days, or freeze for up to 3 months.

Lemon Buttercream

To cover 18 cupcakes
Ingredients

• 350g unsalted butter, softened
• 700g icing sugar
• 2-4 tbsps lemon juice
• yellow food colouring (optional)

Method

1. Slowly beat the the icing sugar into the butter until well incorporated.
2. Add the lemon juice to taste, it’s always hard to say how much you need.
3. An electric whisk makes this job a lot easier!
4. Add food colouring a drop at a time to get the desired hue.
5. Pipe or spoon onto cupcakes.

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