My BFF wanted something light and fresh for her birthday, this recipe looked fabulous and tasted even better. The combination of lemon and blueberries is very good not to mention biting into creamy lemon curd inside the cupcake. The recipe I used called for a lemon butter cream but I knew I wanted to use either a cream cheese or my favorite mascarpone frosting. After contemplating, I decided on the mascarpone, it really is delicious and so rich and creamy. I tweaked it a little bit to get a stiffer texture and it came out perfect. These cupcakes are as close to perfection as I have ever made.
If you can, take the time to make your own lemon curd it is really worth it. Filled cupcakes have really become my favorites and now I cannot imagine making cupcakes without.
Recipe:
Adapted from Sweetopolita
Lemon-Blueberry Cake
Ingredients
2 cups plus 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups fresh blueberries
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup whole milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon pure lemon extract
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups white sugar
4 large eggs
Method
Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare muffin tin with cupcake papers. Sift dry ingredients into medium bowl. Transfer 1 tablespoon flour mixture to larger bowl. Add fresh blueberries and toss to coat them with flour. Set remaining flour mixture and blueberries aside.
Stir whole milk, sour cream, vanilla extract, lemon extract and lemon zest in small bowl. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar, until pale yellow and very fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time, until well combined. Mix in flour mixture alternately with milk mixture, starting and ending with flour mixture. Stir until just combined. Gently fold in blueberries. Divide batter equally among cupcake cups.
Bake cakes until toothpick inserted into center of a couple cupcakes comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cool in pans on racks for about 10 minutes, then put onto racks until completely cool. Makes 24-26 cupcakes.
Adapted from: Not So Humble Pie
Update: If you would like your cupcakes generously filled double this recipe.
Lemon Curd
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup lemon juice
zest of one large lemon ( I used 2)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon cornstarch
pinch of salt
6 large egg yolks
Melt the butter in a medium sauce pan over medium-low heat. Remove from heat and add the lemon juice and zest.
Mix together the sugar, salt and cornstarch and add it to the pan. Whisk in the egg yolks until smooth and return to heat. Cook over medium-low heat for roughly 10 minutes until the mixture has thickened and coats the back of a spoon. Do not allow the mixture to boil.
Once thickened, strain the mixture though a fine mesh strainer into a large bowl. Allow to chill in the refrigerator completely before using.
Lemon Mascarpone Frosting:
adapted from: Not So Humble Pie
Lemon Mascarpone Cream Frosting
1 pound mascarpone cheese
2/3 cup lemon curd
2 cups heavy cream
7Tb sugar
Beat the sugar and cream to soft peaks in your mixer.
Combine the mascarpone and lemon curd in a separate bowl and mix. Add the cream to the mascarpone mixture. Gently fold to combine, take your time and be gentle. If the mixture is overworked it can separate or look grainy. To fix this add several tablespoons of heavy cream and mix with the spatula until smooth again.
Assembly: First measure out the 2/3 cup of lemon curd for the frosting and set aside. After the cupcakes are finished cooling, cut a cone shape out of the middle and remove the tops and put a tablespoon or so of lemon curd in the whole. Then place the tops back on (you may have to trim the cone a bit to get it to fit). I piped on the frosting with a large star tip but you could put it on however you like. Garnish with a washed and dried blueberry and yellow jimmys.
**Silly note: what you don’t see in all of these pictures, because I edited out the fingers, is Gattor, her face was about six inches from the cupcakes at all times. She came outside with me while I took the photos and was acting like a rabid beast trying to get her hand on the cupcakes. She kept playing with the blueberries, constantly asking me if I was done, she still doesn’t understand why mommy is always taking pictures of the food. I had promised her one and she almost fell apart when I cut one of them to show the inside. I assured her she could have the “un damaged” one and she was happy.
I was just about to make blueberry muffins, now I am inspired to make lemon blueberry. PS thats my mom’s method for filling cupcakes, its the best. Thank you!
Reblogged this on Raeannemuir's Blog and commented:
I encourage everyone to try these! YUM
These look amazing, do u think I can substitute the flour with gluten free flour?
You know, I have never actually make gluten free cupcakes but I would guess it would be very possible. I wish I could be more help, I am making my first batch of gluten free cupcakes next week, perhaps after that I can offer more advice. If you do try them gluten free, let me know how they turn out!
I didn’t make them GF this time but they were amazing, I’m going to double the lemon curd portion next time as I ran low on that. They were a nice, light and springy cupcake! Def making these again!!
Just an FYI, I used a Gluten Free Baking Mix that Costco carries and they came out scrumptious! 🙂
That is great, it nice to know alternatives will come out well as well! Thank you for sharing that.
I have had good results by using the Betty Crocker Gluten Free yellow cake mix. I like making the lemon cupcake recipe from their website. Just add blueberries.
I made these for my sister’s birthday party yesterday and they were AWESOME! There were only 2 left and hardly anyone ate the actual birthday cake. The only change I made was because I couldn’t find the yellow jimmys. I dyed some sugar yellow with food coloring and sprinkled that on top. My mom has already requested these for her birthday in April. Amazing recipe.
That is great! I am so glad they enjoyed them, they are still one of my favorites.
Does that make enough lemon curd for the frosting and to fill them?
It makes just enough without being too generous with the filling. That said, I measure out the curd for the frosting and set that aside before I fill the cupcakes. If you want your cupcakes filled a bit more generously, I would double the lemon curd recipe. Plus, its never a bad thing to have left over lemon curd.
I’m a little unclear about cutting off the top of the cupcake to insert the filling….re: the cone-shape you cut first ‘out of the middle”; the middle of the top? Why, if you’re cutting the whole top off? I wanna try making these for my wife’s birthday… they sound great! (oh, and I’ve never heard of Mascarpone cheese - hard to find?? Thanks!!
Check out my Chocolate X3 post, I have a picture of what the cupcakes look like with their cones put back on. You want to cut out the cones, place the lemon curd inside, trim the tip of the cone and place back on the cupcake. Chocolate X3
I am planning on making these, but what are yellow jimmys?
They are simply sprinkles, check here:
Do you beat the heavy cream before adding it to the mascarpone/curd mixture?
Yes, you want to beat the heavy cream and sugar to soft peaks first then fold it into the curd/mascarpone mixture. It is what lightens up your frosting.
Are frozen blueberries an option?
Yes, they work just fine. I have used them before without any problems, I toss them in the batter still frozen so they don’t bleed and make your batter blue.
I talked my friend/coworker who is an amazing baker to make these. I just have to say the best cupcakes I have ever had. Thanks for sharing:)
I am so glad you liked them! They are still one of my favorites.
These look delicious, I want to make them for tonight! For the mascarpone frosting, did you use granulated sugar or confectioner’s sugar? Thanks!
Granulated sugar. Have fun!
Can you store the icing in the fridge? Or will it not work due to the heavy cream?
I don’t see why not, you would have to let it warm up a bit before you stirred it but it should work just fine.
Im in charge of cake for a friends bday. I like the idea of having cupcakes surrounding a small cake. Do you think this batter would work if I baked it in say a small round cake pan?
Yes, it was origionally a cake recipe, if you check out the link to Sweetapolita she made a cake with it. In general, a cute 6 inch cake looks adorable surrounded by cupcakes. Make sure you double the lemon curd recipe if you plan to layer the cake. Have fun!
FYI… all the ladies at Pinterest love this recipe! That’s how I found it. I can’t WAIT to try it and I’m not even a baker.
I don’t even like lemon & I’m dying to eat one of these! 🙂 They are GORGEOUS!!
Lemon had never been been one of my favorites but after making these and making my own lemon curd, lemon is my go-to choice now.
I made these for a shower and was told by numerous ladies that they were the best cupcakes they had ever had in their lives, and these were older ladies. WOW. I feel like a winner!
That is awesome!
Made these tonight. Had to stop myself from eating the curd…then the frosting. Just to die for!
I agree, the lemon curd is dangerous, I have found myself returning to the fridge way too many times to just get one more spoonful. That curd makes a wonderful tart filling as well.
Mascarpone cheese is extremely expensive in my area, can I sub cream cheese instead or would I need an entirely different frosting in order to use cream cheese?
You can certainly use cream cheese, just note you may need more lemon curd because cream cheese has a stronger flavor, so double the recipe. I have a go to cream cheese recipe and I also found this one that looked good as well. As with any frosting you can adjust the stiffness by adding more or less powder sugar at the end. The use of heavy cream also helps lighten it up. Let me know how it tastes.
These cupcakes were fabulous!!!! I ended up having to switch to a swiss buttercream frosting because my mascarpone frosting failed twice :{
It seemed to separate, not sure what happened…any suggestions, advice, idea as to what I did wrong???
I have given a lot of thought to your question and the best answer I can come up with is possibly you handled the whip cream too much. It needs to be beaten to soft peaks only then very gently folded into the lemon curd mascarpone mixture. I have made this many times and never had that happen (I have ruined many a-whip-cream frostings) but this one has always been reliable for me. I am sorry that happened, in the original recipe, she suggested you could add a few tablespoons on heavy cream to smooth it back out- I don’t know if that works or not since I haven’t had to do it.
I really want to make these cupcakes, they look so amazing. Any suggestions for a lower calorie one?
Unfortunately or fortunately (depending on how you look at it) these cupcakes are the full Monty. You could substitute a lofat cream cheese frosting and skip the lemon curd filling but then are really not the same cupcakes. If lofat is more to your liking this recipe is not the best to convert. ~ sorry
This was the first time I made cupcakes that weren’t from a box. The recipe was easy and they came out really tasty. Though, I would recommend on the cupcake recipe to say to mix the first 3 dry ingredients together. I mixed the sugar in with this so my butter never really was creamed per say. I will be making another batch soon so maybe they will be even more tasty…if that is possible. 🙂
These look AMAZING so can’t wait to try them!!! Could you give a bit more detail on the part you said mix in flour mixture alternately with milk mixture?? I’m a beginner baker and this confused me a little. Than you so much for sharing!!! Yum
You simply mix some (about a third) of the flour mixture in the batter until incorporated and then mix in half the milk until incorporated, then repeat with dry, wet, dry. Check this out to understand the science: The Creaming Method.
Reblogged this on a simple photography blog by tamara hastie and commented:
Going to make these right now!!
Just want to clarify before I attempt this beautiful cupcake… In the cake recipe it calls for “white sugar” but in the curd recipe it calls for “granulated sugar”. Is the white sugar supposed to be confectioners sugar? Or is this just granulated sugar as well?
It is all granulated sugar, sorry for the confusion.
Do we need to refrigerate these?
Because of the frosting I always do. That said, I have had mine out for most of the day and they do just fine, refrigerating also helps the frosting set for transportation.
Do I have to use a stand mixer? I only have a hand held mixer? Sorry for the crazy question but I’m not much of a baker, just an instruction follower!!
To cream the wet ingredients you could use one but once you are adding in the dry items I would fold by hand to keep from over beating the flour. Let me know how it goes!
If I use a cream cheese frosting, would you recommend adding the lemon curd to it?
I think it would work great.
Hiya,
Does the Tb under the frosting ingredients stand for tablespoon?
Thanks! X
Yes.
Looks yummy
This cupcake is to die for! It even tastes amazing without the frosting. There were a few baking firsts for me making these. I’ve never filled a cupcake before, nor have I made (or ever tasted) mascarpone frosting. Both were a success!
This will be the perfect Father’s Day dessert.
I’m making these for Father’s Day. Question on the batter: says to mix the butter…. then alternate flour mixture and milk mixture, but what is the sugar/butter mixed to? First, the flour mix then alternate that with the milk mix? Thanks!
These are ridiculously tempting and delicious!
Wow, the topping and filling looks amazing! I need one of these right now!
Question? I plan on making these delish looking cupcakes tonight for a surprise 77th birthday dessert/coffee for my Grandmother tomorrow… I have invited some of her lady friends to join in the fun… Would you suggest to fill & frost them tonight or would it be better to do it in the morning? I want them to look marvelous being that my Grandmother and her lady friends have very exquisite taste… They like the presentation of things along with how palatable things are… I also am making raspberry coconut macaroons & cheesecake filled dark chocolate dipped strawberries… 🙂 Should be a lot of sweets for a sweet Grandmother and her even sweeter friends! 🙂
Sorry for the delay! You can frost them the night before without any problems.
I’m going to be making the frosting tomorrow. The one time I’ve added granulated sugar to frosting, it was crunchy.. Will this be the texture when I make this frosting. I keep seeing that you’ve used granulated sugar, and I say this to my self…”this must me a typo”. I just want to make 100% sure you really mean granulated and not powdered.. I’ve spent $10 on the cheese, and would hate for this to fail. I’ve made the cupcake part already, and they are very tasty!!
I promise it will not taste gritty! It is dissolves into the whip cream and you would never know.
Made these for 4th of July party & they were all the rage. Cheated on the lemon curd (less work; went for store bought) but make up for it by using blueberries I hand picked :). Everyone wanted the recipe so will be sharing w/ all the ladies @ Lakes of Lockwood in Supply, NC. Thanks!!!
Can you buy Lemon Curd already prepared at the grocery store? If so, what section of the store would it be located and how much do I need for this recipe?
Yes, you can buy Lemon Curd at the store, Trader Joe’s has a great one, usually in the jelly isle. I would buy two jars just to be safe.
when I made these, the cup cake was a bit dry… I looked through your comments and didn’t see that anyone else had that issue. I cooked them for 25 minutes instead of 20 because the tops didn’t look golden enough and I didn’t think my toothpick came out clean. The toothpick test was tough because of the blue berries, do you think I cooked them too long, do you have any suggestions? These are just too easy and pretty and yummy and fun to give up 🙂
Unfortunatly an additional 5 mintues is a lot for a cupcake. If I don’t feel mine are done at 20 I check them every minute after. The blueberries do make it more challenging to decide but once the top spring back a little when pushed they are done. I am sorry they came out dry!
delicious-looking! repinned!
Just made these cupcakes, used the recommended cream cheese frosting recipe (skipped the vanilla bean) and added 2/3 cup lemon pudding (also used lemon pudding for filling in cupcakes). So worth it!!! AMAZING DELICIOUS!!! Thanks for sharing!
This recipe is AMAZING! I have made these cupcakes 3 times in the last month and they get RAVE reviews!
These are perfection! The frosting is so light and the lemon flavor throughout is subtle and delicious. The blueberries simply put them over the top! There was not a single cupcake left. Thank you for such an amazing recipe!
Does the icing come out grainy when you use the granulated sugar? I have tried a similar recipe in the past and wasn’t pleased with the texture. Is there any trick to avoiding this?
It does not come out grainy.
Okay, I just noticed a similar question above, and now I am convinced I did something wrong the first time I used granulated sugar. 🙂 I know I used heavy cream and beat it to soft peaks, but I’m wondering if I added the sugar after beating the cream for that recipe. Would that explain the difference? If I beat the cream and sugar at the same time will I definitely avoid any grittiness?
My lemon curd is at a lukewarm temp and I do plan to let cool completely, but is is still extremely soupy. Should I trust that is will thicken, cook longer, or possibly ad more liquified cornstarch?
Does the lemon curd solidify once completely chilled? Mine is quite soupy at lukewarm
I used a melon baller to take the inside of the cupcake out instead of cutting it - much easier!
So can’t wait my son turns 14 soon - thanks for posting this blueberry and Lemon are a couple favorites!. Although I think i’m cheating and using Lemon pudding and of course my milk Kefir - it will make it at least a “little” on the healthy side. Shalom
That should work great. Another option is to buy lemon curd, Trader Joe’s has a great one that doesn’t cost much.
I have been meaning to message you to say how wonderful these are!! Without a doubt the best cupcakes I have ever had. Where is your source for the pale yellow jimmies?
I got mine at a local cake supply store but I am certain you could find them on Amazon or check Bake it Pretty.
Quem faz a tradução p português desta receita p mim…please !
I am pretty much drooling right now!! These look SOOOO good!!!!
I am a Mom of five and a grandmother of one. I am NOT somebody that particularly enjoys cooking/baking. My 23 year old daughter asked me to make these for her…I was initially overwhelmed at the steps and ingredients HOWEVER, your step by step and tips helped me SO much. I will say that we ALL enjoyed them very much and I will certainly make again. I might even make them my “signature dish” for parties and such…THANK YOU!
*Also, I substituted the sour cream with plain greek yogurt…fantastic!
I made these for my daughter’s birthday, per her request. They are amazing and the frosting is the best I have ever had. I will make these again and use the frosting for other cupcakes!! Sooooo good!
I have bags of frozen blueberries, you specifically say fresh. Do you think it would be all right to use the frozen ones?
Made these for a baby shower and they were a hit. I did raspberries instead of blueberries and they came out wonderful. I had many requests for the recipe. I’m making again for a bridal shower in May. Thanks for sharing.
Shoot me now, but I am making 400+ of these for my daughters wedding in June. I have 15 double batches of the lemon curd made and in the freezer. My plan is to make the cupcakes in a few weeks and wrap in plastic wrap and tinfoil to freeze until the day of the wedding to fill and frost that day. However, I am tempted to bake a week prior to the wedding, then fill and frost, place in containers wrapped with plastic wrap and thaw that morning. These cupcakes are so amazing and dense, that I can’t imagine them drying up enough to be noticeable to the palette. Just not sure how well the frosting will freeze. Any suggestions are welcomed for my sanity.
I want to make these for a bridal shower, but the bride isn’t a big fan of blueberries. Is there another berry that would work well with the lemon?
Raspberries would be wonderful as well as blackberries.
These look super!
I made these for a girl I work with for her birthday, I made 2 batches and still was not enough for everyone. These were by far the best cupcakes I have ever made. The only mistake I made was that I didn’t use a full lb of mascarpone i only bought half a lb and it was more than enough and had a very light flavor. Thank you for putting this out here for us to make. It was perfect!
Just found & tried this recipe - they were a HIT! We picked a few pounds of blueberries last week; I can’t imagine a better way to finish off our haul.
Totally amazing
Do these need to be refrigerated? I am making them for my girls’ getaway this weekend and I’m trying to decide if I can assemble them before we go or if it would be best to wait until I get there (less convenient) bc they will be riding in the car for a few hours.
Do you have a Facebook page? So I can share this lovely recipe????
Hi there! This looks like a great recipe to make with my home grown Meyer lemons. What are your suggestions for replacing the lemon extract with fresh lemon juice?
I am not sure you would get the same intensity of flavor but as long as you use the same measurements the recipe should turn out fine. If you try it out let me know how it goes!
These looked unbelievably delicious from the post, so I made them tonight for fun. Here’s my review:
Pros:
-Muffin is good (mine didn’t rise much at all so they were very dense)
-Frosting is PERFECT (I love mascarpone/whipped cream combo — amazing texture and not too sweet).
-Pretty inside and out 🙂
Cons:
-Lemon Curd filling is a bit of an overpowering flavor, so when eating the cupcake as a whole, it’s practically all you taste.
I filled half of my batch with lemon curd and frosted them per the recipe, then taste tested one. When I realized I didn’t love the lemon curd alone, I decided to try something different for the 2nd half of the batch. I took a few large spoonfuls of the frosting and mixed it into a few scoops of the lemon curd, to make a pale yellow, still super lemony, but not AS lemony cream filling. I then filled the 2nd half with this mixture, and frosted with the normal frosting. Personally, I enjoyed the latter option much more, both for the texture and the flavor.
Thanks for this recipe! These were my first filled cupcakes and a lot of fun to make!
That is great! Thank you for the additional ideas. I may have to try that filling idea next time, although I am someone who can sit with the bowl of lemon curd and eat it with a spoon.
I used your cake recipe, but followed my own icing and curd recipes. It was awesome! I forgot I made these so long ago and now I have the urge to make some again 🙂 I omitted some ingredients (found I did not have enough lemon zest for the cake and the icing/curd.) I guess I basically had a blueberry cake filled with lemon curd and topped with lemon buttercream, but you know what? The lemon balanced perfectly!
Made these this week and they are awesome, but the instructions led me to a couple of mistakes because they were out of order in some places.
First place I messed up… The first part says to mix all the dry ingredients together, but then the sugar is actually used in a separate step. So instructions should specify all dry ingredients EXCEPT the sugar.
Second place I messed up… the instructions for the frosting are a bit confusing because the Assembly step discusses separating out the 2/3 cup of lemon curd when this should be mentioned after the cream/sugar beating step. Seemed a little out of sync. I guess I should have read the instructions a few times before delving in and luckily my mistakes didn’t harm the results any.
I just made a trifle version of this for a family party this weekend. It came out awesome, everyone was raving about it! I made the cake in a 13×9 pan, cut it in half lengthwise to make two layers (it was thick), then cubed it. I layered cake cubes, curd, then frosting (three times). I’m so glad I tried this recipe, I’ll definitely be making this one again!
Can I use a hand mixer vs. a standing mixer?
Yes. Should be no problem.
Can this work for mini muffins ? How long to bake also how far in advance can lemon curd be put in ? Can you freeze!
Yes, you could do minis although they are so small it may not be worth the effort. And yes, lemon curd freezes wonderfully.
Absolutely the best cupcakes I have ever made! The flavors compliment each other beautifully, and the mascarpone cheese frosting is so tasty, I could just pipe it in my mouth and eat it alone. This is a winner recipe!
Thank you Penny! It is one of my favorites!
I’ve never used lemon extract before, is it sweeter than lemon juice? What would the difference be if I just used lemon juice instead?
HI Emily,
It is sweeter and much more potent. I’m not sure the substitution would be equal. But if you do use it and it works let me know.
I should have read ahead, but this said to add the dry ingredients in a large bowl and then LATER mentions creaming the butter with the sugar (which I mixed with my other dry ingredients ). I should have read ahead, but this could have been more step-by-step or specific.
Hi I’m trying your recipe but I’m confused about a couple things. For the frosting it says use 2/3 c. lemon curd (I’m just assuming I’m reserving it from batch I just made?) and it says combine with the marscipone, and cream. no problem. After everything is combined and your frosting is done and ready to be applied, why does it say (under assembly) reserve 2/3 cup for the frosting and set it aside? Didn’t I just do that? Is this 2/3 cup supposed to fill every cupcake? Isn’t all the lemon curd I made earlier (a double batch via your suggestion), going to fill all the cupcakes? In other words, first you say combine the 2/3 c. curd with the cheese, then under assembly you say measure out 2/3 c. curd for the frosting (?), which I already just did. It seems like I’m measuring out 2/3 c. twice? Confused 😦
Just one. Sorry for the confusion.
These are hands down the BEST cupcakes I have ever eaten or made! Thank you so much!
Thank you