Lemon Drizzle Cupcakes!
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Easy, sweet and sour lemon drizzle cupcakes!
Lemon drizzle cupcakes
Sometimes, going quite simple and classic is the way to success. In this case, it’s all things lemon because it is DELICIOUS. To be fair as well, lemon drizzle cupcakes has been one of the most highly requested bakes on my blog in a long time, and I was in a lemony mood.
I realise that a recipe like this is really so simple, but my god it’s a good bake. I haven’t made anything lemon flavoured in a while, so I felt like it was time to rectify that atrocity and go slightly lemon overboard. Like, these are so lemony, that would probably won’t forget the flavour for a while!
Morph of recipes
Anyway, for these I decided to take influence from a couple of recipes on my website – my lemon & lime drizzle cake, and my lemon & poppyseed cupcakes. It basically morphs the two recipes together into a wonderful, light and refreshing bake. You can add poppyseeds into this bake if you want as well, but I just wanted something lemon through and through.
The thing that I love about anything ‘drizzle’ themed, is that they always taste fresh and delicious. I hate to use the word, but they are the most ‘moist’ of bakes as well, so it’s rare that they ever dry out. I always think the sugar in a drizzle is important, and it also forms a lovely sugary crust on the cake which is delicious to bite into.
They taste even better then they look!
I always want to be able to post a recipe such as this, and have you guys be able to taste and smell them fresh out of the oven because it is honestly incredible, so I just try my best with the photos instead. If you look at my older posts, such as my lemon & lime drizzle cake, and my lemon & poppyseed cupcakes, you will see how ropey my photography skills used to be. Slightly embarrassing to be honest.
Either way, I have had so much more practice with my decorating skills, my piping skills and everything in general so hopefully the images sell these cupcakes well enough! I like to think they do, but baking them yourselves is definitely the best option. They taste so light and just delightful. Perfect for Spring, or Summer or any time!
Optional chocolate
I wasn’t sure how well this recipe would float considering it has no chocolate in, but every now and again it is appreciated. Not every person in the world likes chocolate (personally, I love it), but now and again you find someone who likes it fruity and sweet. You can add chocolate chips into the cupcakes themselves if you wish to make them even sweeter though!
Adaptable recipe
Either way, these beauties are the best for someone who loves lemon, who loves cupcakes, and wants a bake that is a general crowd pleaser for everyone. The buttercream can be easily coloured to suit a theme, or you can use lemon extract in place of the lemon juice/zest if you wanted to make it easier! Enjoy! x
Lemon Drizzle Cupcakes!
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 175 g unsalted butter
- 175 g caster sugar
- 175 g self raising flour
- 3 medium eggs
- Zest of 1 lemons
Drizzle
- Juice of 2 lemons
- 75 g caster sugar
Buttercream
- 150 g unsalted butter (not stork - room temperature)
- 300 g icing sugar
- Juice of 1/2 lemon
- Sprinkles
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180C/160C Fan, and get 12 cupcake/muffin/baking cups ready! I use 12 Iced Jems baking cups on a flat tray!
- Beat together your butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add in the flour, eggs and lemon zest and beat until smooth!
- Split evenly between the 12 cupcake cases, and bake in the oven for 18-22 minutes, or until baked through.
- Once out of the oven, whisk together the lemon juice and caster sugar for the drizzle, and spoon evenly over the 12 cupcakes.
- Leave the cupcakes to cool fully.
- Once the cupcakes are cool - beat your room temperature butter for a couple of minutes so its smooth and supple - don't use a spread like stork.
- Add in the icing sugar 1/2 at a time, and beat fully each time.
- Once the icing sugar is in, beat for 3-5 minutes so its nice and fluffy, and add in the lemon and beat again.
- Pipe your buttercream onto your cupcakes with your favourite piping tip - I used a medium 2D closed star!
- Sprinkle with your favourite sprinkles!
Notes
- These beauties are inspired by my lemon & lime drizzle cake and my lemon & poppyseed cupcakes!
- These will last for 3-4 days at room temperature in a container!
- I used the beautiful baking cups from Iced Jems!
- And I used the gorgeous medium 2D closed star piping tip from Iced Jems!
- I also used these cute lemon meringue sprinkles from Iced Jems!
- The lemon drizzle is optional, it's just delicious!
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J x
© Jane’s Patisserie. All images & content are copyright protected. Do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words and credit me, or link back to this post for the recipe.
Absolutely delicious! I’d like to try making these without eggs. Can I just substitute with a flaxseed and water mix (3tbs flaxseed and 9tbs water)?
Thanks
Hiya! I sadly have not tested this before – but it is definitely worth a go! Let me know the outcome! x
Hi can I use plain flour for these muffins? Many thanks.
Hi Jane, I have made these 3 times for my wife using your recipe and they have all turned out great, she cant get enough of them lol. 5 stars from me all the way.
Hi Jane, these look fab..! If I was going to freeze these (undecorated), would I add the drizzle before, or after, once defrosted…
Hiya! I would add the drizzle before – I tend to add mine when the cakes are warm out of the oven! Hope this helps! x
Hi, I made these cupcakes instead of a full sized lemon drizzle cake and really pleased with how they came out.
I’ve frozen half…. So I’m not tempted to eat them all,
When I made the buttercream I only made a third, as way too much icing for me, so a slightly less fattening treat😊
Will definitely make again, thanks.
HI, can I use 3 medium eggs instead thanks 1
Hi Jane, Lovely recipe they are very lemony. A couple of questions though, I am sure I weighed everything correctly but my cupcakes leaked onto the tray out of their cases, it did look like a lot of mixture when I was spooning it in but I didn’t want to add extra cases just incase, do you know why this would be? I would attach a picture if I could.
I loved these but my partner didn’t, he felt they were a bit crunchy, the only thing I can think is he didn’t like the lemon zest mixed in? Any advice would be welcome.
Thanks for making these simple and tasty recipes! Practice makes perfect <3
I haven’t seen any other comments on it here, but I had the same issue with my cases overspilling! Luckily I used a muffin tray so it’s held together okay but definitely a messier look than I was going for. The only thing I can think is I beat together the butter and sugar mix with the flour before adding the eggs and zest, but I’m not sure if this would have an effect? Otherwise I’m sure I used the recipe to a tee?
Some cases are smaller than others, so they may have just been overfilled. It’s best to only fill to 2/3 full and then they should be fine! x
Hi Jane,
I’ve only been baking cakes for 1.5 years (since lockdown started). I use your Lemon and Raspberry cake very often (minus the raspberries) and have just realised I have used plain flour instead of SF. The cake is in the freezer for making cake for Sunday – should I start again – oddly enough they rose like normal hence not realising until now my error. Gutted, to say the least – advice, please?
Everytime I mix the ingredients to make the buttercream it seems like it is splitting when I put the lemon juice in does anyone no why this is happening
Hiya! What exact type of butter are you using? x
Love this recipe!
Would doubling the ingredients work okay for 24 cakes?
Do you need to alter cooking times?
Hiya, I would just make two batches and keep cooking times the same x
I’ve made these a couple of times and they have turned out amazing, one thing is I never know whether I should add drizzle and cool in cake tin or take them out of tin add drizzle and cool?
I usually find in the tin or on the tray is easier in case I spill a little – but fresh out the oven cupcakes are better so it soaks in properly! x
Hi Jane can I make this as a 3 tier layer cake instead? what additional ingredients would I need?
Hello Jane,
I’m wanting to make these as thank you gifts for the teachers at my children’s school.
I have a bottle of lemon juice from concentrate that I need to use.
How much of this would I use for the drizzle and the buttercream please?
Hi Jane,
I made these this evening and usually they come out perfectly but this time round the drizzle taste just isn’t there. The cake tastes really dry and you can barely taste the lemon. I can only think that when I put the batter into the cases it was really thick which it never has been before. What do you think I might have done wrong? The butter was room temperature but I didn’t sieve the flour which is the only difference I can think of… thank you!
It may be the eggs or one of the ingredients was ‘off’ if its been fine before as the recipe is the same – it could also be the cupcakes are over baked as thats the only way they’d be dry! x
I’m 39+6 weeks pregnant (due date tomorrow) and massively craved lemon cupcakes today. Came across this recipe and it’s just the best lemon cupcake recipe I’ve ever made! The lemon drizzle is such a game changer! So moist and beautifully tangy and super lemony and just perfect for what I was craving lol so thanks so much for this recipe – the whole family loved them
Hey!! Oh my gosh that is so exciting, congratulations!! This is such a lovely message thank you so much xx
Hi Jane,
I have made these a few times and they turned out great. However this time I was not happy with the bake. Sometimes I do add some milk into my cupcake batter but did not on this occasion.
Would you suggest adding a 1-2 tablespoons of whole milk if batter is thick?
Hi,
Would this recipe be ok to put white chocolate chips in the mix too, so they become more of a lemon and white chocolate cupcake?
Hello! I don’t see why not, it is definitely worth a try!x
I’m fairly new to baking and have been wanting to give cupcakes a go for a while. This recipe was nice and straightforward and the results were lovely, yummy and lemony! Thank you 😊 I’m off to find you on Instagram now x