Refreshing, light, and almost whimsical, these lemon cupcakes with fresh raspberry curd filling are PERFECT for any spring or summer party!
I love it when an idea comes together. When what I’ve been dreaming up in my head turns out just how I pictured it. That was these lemon cupcakes with fresh raspberry curd filling.
I had made this recipe as full-on lemon poppy cake a few years back for a girlfriend’s baby shower and have since wanted to remake the recipe not only to share with all of you (because it’s pretty awesome), but also because I’ve always thought a cupcake version would be perfectly delightful.
And I was right. The lemon cupcakes are soft-crumbed clouds with a dollop of fresh raspberry curd running through the center, topped with a billowy mound of the fluffiest lemon buttercream I’ve ever eaten.
The cupcakes themselves are sturdy and soft at the same time, a cupcake trait not always easy to achieve, and they were able to withstand a hollowed-out the center for the curd and the frosting on top without falling into pieces after the first couple of bites.
Flavor-wise, berries and citrus are a match made in heaven see also. These blackberry lime crumb bars are another perfect example of that heavenly match!
And even though you might think that these cupcakes would be too lemony and tart between the lemon cake and the lemon frosting, the bright raspberry curd keeps perfect balance.
Of course, some sugar helps with this balance as well. 😉
You’ll cone-out the center of each cupcake and add some of your very own, homemade raspberry curd, a treat worth licking the spoon for in and of itself.
Don’t cut corners and buy it! Raspberry curd is SO easy to make!
How to Make Raspberry Curd
You might be surprised that it’s quite a simple process to make raspberry curd. Raspberry curd is made with fresh raspberries that have been cooked with butter, egg yolks, sugar, and salt.
The butter adds flavor and gives the curd a silky texture. The egg yolks help to thicken the curd. And the sugar sweetens the curd, since raspberries can be quite tart.
After the mixture starts to thicken in the sauce pan, you’ll press the curd through a strainer or sieve to pull all of the raspberry seeds. What you’re left with is a thick and silky sweet sauce that, once cooled, can be spread onto biscuits or scones, drizzled over ice cream, or used however else you can dream up.
It’s a lovely and necessary component to these cupcakes and I wouldn’t skip making it.
Other Filling Ideas
If you’re not keen on raspberry curd, definitely go for lemon curd instead!
Or, you can go with a fluffy vanilla buttercream or homemade whipped cream for the filling instead of fruit curd.
The verdict from Kyle, the non-lemon-loving heathen that he is, was clearly indicated by the random wrappers I’ve found strewn around the kitchen.
One or two before I get home from work. Another one while I was making dinner. Two more after dinner.
You get the point. We both adore these lemon cupcakes with fresh raspberry curd filling and I know you will too!
In fact, I love them so much that I’m contributing them to Celebrations.com Memorial Day Virtual Blogger Potluck Party that I’ve been invited to. Have a look on Celebrations (link below) to see the party as a whole and be sure to stop by the other awesome bloggers’ blogs to see what they brought to the party as well.
- Elle of Elle’s New England Kitchen: Boneless Pork Ribs with Woodchuck Summer Cider Blueberry BBQ Sauce
- Valerie of Une Gamine dans la Cuisine: White Out Cake
- Rowena of Aprons and Sneakers: Speck Skewers with Herb Mayonnaise and Grilled Mediterranean Aubergine Bundles with Provola
- Erin of Dinners, Dishes, and Desserts: Quinoa Salad with Veggies and Lime, Garlic, Cilantro Dressing
- Beth of Hungry Happenings: Patriotic Biscuits
- Katrina of In Katrina’s Kitchen: Picnic Tablecloth Cookies
- Jaclyn of Celebrations.com: Buffalo Chicken Dip
Lemon Cupcakes with Fresh Raspberry Curd Filling
These lemon cupcakes with fresh raspberry curd filling are refreshing, light, and almost whimsical. They are PERFECT for wedding or baby showers, tea parties, birthday parties, or backyard bbqs. Or basically any other spring or summer party!
Ingredients
For the raspberry curd:
- 8 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 pint ripe raspberries or 1 12-oz. package frozen raspberries, thawed
- 5 large egg yolks, lightly beaten
- ¾ cup sugar
- Pinch of salt
- 2-3 tsp fresh lemon juice
For the lemon cupcakes:
- 2 ⅓ cups cake flour
- 2 ¾ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 5 large egg whites, at room temperature
- ¼ tsp cream of tartar
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- 2 tbsp finely grated lemon zest
- 12 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup whole milk
For the lemon buttercream frosting:
- 16 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2 tbsp finely grated lemon zest
- 3 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
- 2 tbsp heavy cream
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
For garnish:
- 1 pint fresh raspberries
Instructions
- To make the raspberry curd: Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the raspberries, egg yolks, sugar and salt, and cook, mashing the berries. Stir frequently at first and then constantly at the end, until thickened, about 10 minutes. Pour the mixture through a coarse strainer set over a bowl, pressing hard on the solids to extract as much liquid as possible. Cool to room temperature; the curd will continue to thicken as it cools. Stir in lemon juice to taste. Cover and refrigerate until fully chilled, about 6 hours. The curd can be made 2-3 days in advance.
- To make the cupcakes: Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 350° F. Line two 12-cup cupcake pans with cupcake liners.
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl; set aside. In the clean, dry bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on medium speed until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and increase the speed to medium-high. Beat just until stiff peaks form when the whisk is lifted. Transfer the egg whites to a separate bowl (not plastic), clean and dry the mixer bowl and reattach it with the paddle attachment.
- Add the butter to the mixer bowl and beat on medium speed until smooth. Gradually add the sugar and beat until incorporated. Mix in the lemon zest. Beat the mixture on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Beat in ¼ cup of the milk until just blended. Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture alternately with the remaining milk in three batches, beginning and ending with the flour; scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Beat until just blended. Using a rubber spatula, fold one quarter of the egg whites into the batter, being careful not to deflate the mixture. Once incorporated, add in the rest of the whites (including any liquid that may have accumulated on the bottom of the bowl) and gently fold in until well combined; no white should remain.
- Using a large cookie/ice cream scoop, divide the batter between the cupcake liners, filling each liner about ⅔ full.
- Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 18-22 minutes, turning the pans around halfway through the baking time. Cool the cupcakes in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes then remove them from the pans and cool completely on a wire rack. Allow the cupcakes to cool completely.
- To make the frosting: In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and zest on medium speed until light and fluffy. Gradually add the sugar and beat until smooth. Add the heavy cream and lemon juice and beat for one minute longer; the frosting should be light and fluffy.
- To assemble: Once the cupcakes have cooled, hollow out the center of each cupcake using the cone method and spoon about 1 tsp of raspberry curd in to each hollowed-out cupcake. The filling should sit just shy of the top of the cupcake. Frost as desired, taking care not to push the curd out of the cupcake with the weight of the frosting. Garnish with fresh raspberries.
Storage: These cupcakes can be kept at room temperature, though the frosting will soften significantly at temperatures above 75° F. I recommend keeping them in fridge and then leaving them at room temperature for about 30 minutes before serving.
In the fridge, the assembled cupcakes will keep well for 1-2 days.
Notes
You'll want the raspberry curd for these cupcakes to be REALLY cold when you go to fill them - it will be too runny otherwise - so be sure to give the curd at least 6 hours in fridge to chill properly.
adapted from Annie’s Eats
Recommended Products
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All-Clad 1-quart Stainless Steel Tri-Ply Bonded Dishwasher Safe Saucier Pan / Cookware -
King Arthur Cake Flour, Unbleached, 2 lb
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Microplane Premium Classic Series Zester Grater, Green
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OXO Good Grips Mixing Bowl Set with Black Handles, 3-Piece
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KitchenAid 6 Qt. Professional 600 Series Bowl-Lift Stand Mixer
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OXO Good Grips Non-Stick Pro Muffin Pan
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Wilton Bright Standard Cupcake Liners, 300-Count
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Solula 18/8 Stainless Steel Large Ice Cream Scoop - 4 Tablespoons
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Wilton Deluxe Cake Decorating Kit with Piping Tips and Pastry Bags, 46-Piece
These are so beautiful! Love this idea!
These are beautiful! I am going to have to try and make raspberry curd, because these sound delicious!
These are so beautiful and delicious! Wishing I can grab one from the computer. I’m glad to have worked with you on this potluck!
I’m a total sucker for anything with raspberry and citrus. I’ve made curd before, but not raspberry, so you know i have to make these. They’re so beautiful, and I can imagine, addictive. What a great contribution to the potluck–happy to be a part of it with you!
Your cupcakes are adorable! I’m a lemon addict, so these look absolutely dreamy. 🙂 (Beautiful photos too!)
These sound and look delicious!
My husband loves lemon and would have a hard time keeping his hands off of these. Your pictures make me want to run into the kitchen and get baking!
Cupcakes look amazing! They sound perfect for a summer get together!
How cool! I participated in a virtual potluck today too! 🙂
These look truly incredible. I love lemon with fresh berries – especially in cupcake form! Definitely bookmarking this one! Hope you had fun with your potluck! Looks like you had a great combination of food stuffs from lots of fantastic + inspirational bloggers!
These are adorable and I bet they’re delicious! I love raspberries and the curd added to citrus sounds absolutely amazing.
These are absolutely gorgeous! Somewhere recently I saw someone make a blueberry curd too… would be great to switch out the flavors in this and try it that way too.
While I’m not a lemon fan, the raspberry curd is definitely calling my name. I definitely want to try these, I just might have to make them vanilla cupcakes instead of the lemon. 🙂 Such gorgeous pictures as well!
These cupcakes look amazing and I love raspberries… am sure that the sour lemon and bittersweet raspberries will be a wining combination. Coming over from Tastespotting. Great blog.
These look great! Could you tell me what tip you used? I haven’t been able to find the large round tips at any local stores so I can’t decide which one to order online. Thanks!
Amber: Thanks! The tip is Ateco #809 – my absolute favorite tip. 🙂
Thanks!
There are absolutely gorgeous, and I’d imagine – incredibly delicious. Great photos too, Tara! Have a great Memorial Day.
they are really gorgeous! the perfect combination for summer
These look so sweeet! I´ve been craving lemon cake for some time now, and I bought a big bag of raspberries last week – it´s meant to be! I can satisfy my cravings AND put my berries to use 🙂
These look so sweeet! I´ve been craving lemon cake for some time now, and I bought a big bag of raspberries last week – it´s meant to be! I can satisfy my cravings AND put my berries to use 🙂 (not to mention the idea of raspberry curd…mmm)
Great idea – they look luscious!
Raspberry curd…why have I never tried something like that before!! It must be absolutely delicious, what a gorgeous recipe entirely 🙂
I love the combination of lemon and raspberry. This looks like the perfect summer cupcake!
Really wanting to make these today but I just got back from the store and of course, I don’t have any cream of tartar…..is it crucial to have? Thanks in advance.
sokunn: Yes, the cream of tartar is necessary. It helps to whip up the egg whites and give them plenty of volume for the batter.
I love when desserts taste as great as they look. What cute cupcakes!
Does this recipe really fill up two 24-cup muffins tins, aka 48 cupcakes? Or two 12’s for a total of 24? Thanks!
Erica: Thanks for catching that – I changed it. It should read two 12-cup muffin tins.
Thank you! I’m making these for a shower this weekend so just needed to be sure of the amount – can’t wait!
Made the raspberry curd this weekend to fill chocolate cupcakes with white chocolate buttercream. So incredible. Then had it over chocolate ice cream last night. My eyes rolled back in my head it was so good. Tasted like Swensen’s Chocolate Raspberry Truffle…took me back in time! I will definitely try the whole recipe for our next BBQ.
How long will the curd last? It says to store at room temp but should I refrigerate it or will that not matter??
Also is it bad if it keeps going in & out of the fridge? I made some & a friend wants half of them so I had them out for a few hours (in a box) but then my friend would reschedule the pickup so I’d put them back in the fridge. this has happened about 4 times in the past 2 days (since I made them). Should I throw them out & make new ones or are they still good?
Well, my response is coming a few days late (sorry I didn’t see this earlier!) but…they can be left at room temp for a few days – probably up to 3. The curd is cooked and is nicely covered by the frosting so there isn’t anything to worry about. And going back and forth between the fridge and room temp is fine too, although the cake may get dry from being in the fridge. Hope this helps (probably after the fact now)!
These cupcakes got RAVE reviews from everyone that tried them . My only comment about the recipe is I thought it made way to much raspberry curd and not enough frosting. But I will definitely be making these again. Thanks!
Wow – these cupcakes look like absolute perfection! Now if only I can pipe like that – my piping skills are the worst!
Thank you! It’s a tough life practicing cupcake swirls, let me tell you. 😉
These cupcakes are AMAZING. I made them for a trial run, and I am now making them for my sister’s bridal shower! Words don’t describe how GOOD these treats truly are!
Love the look of these. How do you get your frosting to look like that??
I used a super large round pastry tip – I think it’s Ateco #809.
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Hi! These cupcakes are cute AND tasty! I made them for a friend’s surprise birthday party and they were a huge hit. I wouldn’t change a thing! I am featuring them in a roundup on my blog tomorrow. Thanks for posting it!
Hi Melissa! So happy to hear these cupcakes went over so well at your party! Thanks so much for coming back to let me know about them. 🙂
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I’m making these for Easter dessert and I’ve got all the components finished, ready to assemble in the morning. Everything is delicious so far, however, I ended up making the raspberry curd twice. It’s April in Minnesota, and the fresh raspberries are pretty sad right now, so I used frozen. The problem was that when making the first batch it didn’t occur to me to drain the thawed berries before I used them. The end result was a little too runny, which I could have dealt with, but it also had an odd, almost grainy texture to it. When I remade it with the drained berries it was silky smooth and delicious.
So tl;dr, it might be helpful if you specified that the frozen berries be drained for those of us who are sometimes at odds with the obvious. 😉
I can’t wait to serve these tomorrow; I’ll let you know how it goes!
Can you make this curd in advance and store it for future recipes? Either in fridge or freezer?? We have a bunch of ripe raspberries to be picked and I have a cupcake order I want to try this for in a month. But they need to be picked now!
Hi Morgan! You can absolutely make this curd in advance. I’ve never stored it but a quick google search told me that you can refrigerate it for a few weeks and freeze it for up to a year. Chill it thoroughly first and press a piece of plastic wrap over the top before freezing to prevent freezer burn. Let me know how it turns out!!
Took a leap of faith as I’m not a huge lemon fan and I’ve never made curd before. These came out great! As the lemon flavor is subtle and balanced by the raspberry curd, even I liked them. I do have quite a bit of curd leftover – such first world problems 😉 Thanks for the recipe.
Hi Shannon! I love to hear about successes like this one! My husband wasn’t much of a lemon or raspberry fan when I made these cupcakes but he liked them too. I hope you have some excellent ideas in store for that leftover curd. I love it on biscuits and scones. If you could spare a second and leave a star rating at the top of the recipe card, I would greatly appreciate it! This rating shows up on Google and Pinterest and shows others how great the recipe is. Have a great week!!
These we delicious (and so fluffy!) – but not quite as lemony as I would have liked. I will probably double the lemon zest next time.
Also – at 18 minutes the bottoms of my cupcakes were nearly burnt. Will definitely reduce the bake temp to 325 on my next go.
Hi Stephanie! So glad you enjoyed these cupcakes! And yes, I feel like lemon flavor is subjective to the preference of those who eat it. My husband isn’t a huge lemon fan so I went a little on the lighter side. Adding more lemon zest is a great idea for a lemon lover though. 18 minutes at 350 degrees F is a standard bake time for cupcakes (it’s actually on the lower end of the bake time range) so you may want to check your oven temperature with an oven thermometer and ensure you’re baking them on the middle rack of the oven. Baking on lower racks will cause the bottoms of the cupcakes to bake faster. Thanks so much for coming back to leave a review!!
Can I make this as a cake? Will the layers hold up well?
Oh yes, definitely! Use 2 9-inch round cake pans and bake at 350 degrees F for 30 to 35 minutes. For the filling, you can use just the raspberry curd or spread a layer of frosting and then the raspberry curd on top of the first cake layer and then top with the 2nd cake layer.
I was planning on doing a 4 layer 8 inch? Do you think it will be too heavy for do you think I will need to alter the recipe?
Hi Emily! It depends on what your filling is. Frosting will work between the 4 layers but a simple layer of raspberry curd will smoosh out from between the layers under the weight of the cake. I hope this helps! Happy baking!
I forgot to put the curd in the fridge. Its been sitting at room temp for 4 hours. Can I still use it?
I think it should be fine. There’s enough sugar in the curd to keep it from spoiling during that period of time. I hope you love the cupcakes!!
Could you substitute blackberries for the raspberries?
Absolutely!!
These were absolutely delicious without being overly sweet! They are my new favorite!
Fantastic to hear, Natalie!! I love these cupcakes so much and it makes me so happy that they’re still bringing joy to other people. 🙂
Do you think I could get away with freezing the fully assembled (filled and frosted) cupcakes for about a week? Or would this affect the integrity of the cupcakes?
Freezing would be fine for a couple of weeks! Don’t freeze the raspberries though or they will end up soggy when thawed.
I made and assembled cupcakes yesterday and didn’t put in fridge will they be ok to be eaten tomorrow?
I made and assembled cupcakes yesterday and left on counter will they be ok to be eaten tomorrow?