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Hi Bold Bakers!
WHAT YOU GET: Soft, lemony — almost puckery — cupcakes with a nice, fine crumb and come together in just one bowl!
This recipe will be a game-changer for those of us who love lemon desserts! While I love going all out and my Lemon Cake With Lemon Buttercream Frosting, sometimes I want something a bit easier (and a bit less cleanup!), and it doesn’t get easier than these homemade lemon cupcakes.
I love a lot of aspects when it comes to this cupcake recipe. One, these make an incredibly zingy, moist, lemony cupcake — no dry cupcakes in my house — with a beautiful, delicate crumb. Two, they’re easy to share. And three, it only takes one large bowl to mix these up and only takes about 15 to 18 minutes to bake!
Top these cupcakes off with my fluffy, bright Lemon Ermine Frosting, or balance out the tartness with my classic Best Ever Cream Cheese Frosting!
Do I Have To Zest The Lemon?
Lemon zest provides a lot of lemony flavor to this cupcake without adding the sourness of using just the juice of the fruit. It also really brightens up a recipe! I recommend investing in a microplane or citrus zester — you’ll find plenty of excuses to use one!
The Best Way To Juice A Lemon
While the lemon zest boosts the flavor, I do like to add some freshly squeezed lemon juice to my cupcakes. I love the extra zing from the tart juice. My trick to getting the most juice out of a lemon is to microwave it for about 20 seconds to 1 minute, depending on how ripe your lemon is.
Tools You Need To Make One-Bowl Lemon Cupcakes
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Large bowl
- Microplane or citrus zester
- 12-cup cupcake pan
- Cupcake liners
Gemma’s Pro Chef Tips For Making Lemon Cupcakes
- This recipe yields 9 cupcakes, but you can easily double the recipe if you want more!
- If you don’t have sour cream on hand, you can use Greek yogurt as a substitute.
- As always with cakes and cupcakes, make sure all of your ingredients are at room temperature for the best results!
- My Best Ever Cream Cheese Frosting is also delicious on these cupcakes! Cupcakes frosted with Cream Cheese Frosting will need to stay refrigerated in an airtight container.
- For an extra lemony treat, scoop out the centers of these cupcakes, fill them with my Homemade Lemon Curd, place the tops back on, and frost. Lemon curd-filled cupcakes will need to stay refrigerated in an airtight container.
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Try These Recipes!
One-Bowl Lemon Cupcakes Recipe
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoons (3 oz/85 g) butter (melted)
- ¼ cup (2 oz/57 g) sour cream (at room temperature)
- 1 large egg (at room temperature)
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- ½ cup (4 oz/115 g) granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- ⅛ teaspoon baking soda
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup ( 3¾ oz/105 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 recipe Lemon Ermine Frosting (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and line a 12-cup cupcake pan with 9 paper liners. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter, sour cream, egg, milk, and lemon juice until combined.
- Add in the sugar, lemon zest, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and whisk to blend.
- Fold in the flour until fully mixed, then divide evenly among the prepared baking cups (about ¾ of the way up).
- Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center, comes out clean.
- Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- When cooled, frost with Lemon Ermine Frosting or frosting of your choice!
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 day. For longer storage, refrigerate for up to 2 days.
I love this recipe! It’s the perfect amount of cupcakes for our family and they are so fresh-tasting! Perfect for spring and summer.
I mixed everything in the 4-cup microwave safe measuring cup I used to melt my butter. It made dividing the batter into the cupcakes super easy and it was so nice not to have to wash 2 bowls.
Can oil be used instead of butter
Do you have the recipe to make the frosting?
Can I use this recipe and bake it in a 9×13 pan instead of cupcakes?
Amazing cupcake great amount fast make,I have
both cookbooks I’m an Irish lassi you make me
Want to bake. I ordered special flour from Ireland for brown bread❤️🌹
I found the answer to using greek yougurt.
Could we use a gluten-free flour instead? Do you have a preference for this recipe?
Loved these lemon cupcakes. I often find that lemon recipes are not very lemony but this cake was very good. Unfortunately, I also tried the Lemon Ermine frosting and none of us cared for that at all. While it did have a nice lemon flavor, 1 1/2 cups of butter was way too much fat and we didn’t care for the texture. Will definitely make the cupcakes again though. Am enjoying baking my way through your cookbooks Gemma, they are beautiful!
Hello.. may i use normal yogurt instead of greek yogurt?
Hi is all purpose flour in uk plain flour ? Love all yr recipes especially the microwave ones