Vanilla Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
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Homemade Vanilla Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting are so full of bright sunny flavors! Whip up this easy recipe to add a little sunshine to your day. Deliciously tender vanilla cupcakes pair perfectly with the lemon cream cheese frosting.
Vanilla Cupcakes
One thing is for sure, I love fruity desserts. I will always choose the fruit-laden treat over the double chocolate one. Don’t get me wrong, I do love all sweets but I can never pass up sweet ripened fruit-filled desserts.
One of my most adored is the lemon. It’s already made an appearance on the blog this winter in this pull-apart bread. I am making sunshine filled treats to entice spring to hurry up!
These cupcakes were an offering to the weather gods. The cupcake itself is soft and full of vanilla flavor. I topped them with a sweet lemon cream cheese frosting. The vanilla and lemon complement each other perfectly.
The vanilla cupcake recipe is incredibly easy. It contains simple ingredients that you should already have on hand. Butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, buttermilk, flour, baking powder, and salt.
I always use butter in my cupcake recipes because I love the buttery flavor. I think all cake should be buttery!
How to make vanilla cupcake with lemon cream cheese frosting
The process is simple. Mix the wet ingredients, then mix the dry ingredients, and combine the two. You really can’t mess this up. Bake them for about 20 minutes and that’s it. Easy-peasy.
The frosting is just as simple. And it tastes amazing! Cream cheese, butter, lemon curd, and powdered sugar are all blended together to make a light, lemony, and creamy frosting. It’s good enough to eat with a spoon. Or as a dip for fruit. Trust me, it’s amazing.
Frost the cupcakes after they have cooled completely. You can choose your own method for frosting. I used a piping bag fitted with a large round tip. This allowed me to pipe large swirls of frosting onto the cupcakes.
The cupcakes and frosting take around an hour to make and I’m certain it will take you less than that to eat them all. They are wonderful.
Vanilla Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
For the cupcakes
- ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter, softened
- ¾ cup (150 g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 ⅓ cups (173 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup (120 ml) buttermilk
For the frosting
- 8 ounces (226 g) cream cheese, softened
- ¼ cup (56 g) unsalted butter, softened
- 3 cups (360 g) confectioners’ sugar, sifted
- ¼ cup (56 g) lemon curd, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
Instructions
Make the cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners; set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or with a handheld electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy.
- Beat in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Then, beat in the vanilla.
- In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture alternating with the buttermilk. Begin and end with flour mixture. Mix until well blended.
- Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups and bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with only a few moist crumbs.
- Cool the cupcakes in the pan for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.
Make the frosting
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or with a handheld electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter together until smooth and creamy.
- Add the sugar, lemon curd, vanilla, and salt. Beat on low until just incorporated then turn the mixer to high speed and beat for 2 minutes.
Nutrition
The nutrition information provided is for convenience and as a courtesy only. It is not guaranteed to be accurate because nutrition information can vary for a variety of reasons. For precise nutritional data use your preferred nutrition calculator and input the exact ingredients and brands you used in the recipe.
Last few days I am all over lemon. I just made lemon crepes the other day and now these cupcakes are just the thing I want to eat right now!! I can just smell the refreshing flavors! 🙂
Lemon crepes sounds wonderful, Ami!
These cupcakes are beautiful Jen! I am right there with you on the fruity desserts, I can NEVER pass them up! Pinned!
Thanks, Mariah!
I definitely agree that all cakes should be buttery! I’ve been loving lemon desserts lately, they definitely help to forget about the cold weather and snow. Your cupcakes look so incredible, and that candy peel on top is such a great touch. Pinned 🙂
Thank you for the kind compliments, Danielle! 🙂
Your photos are gorgeous! These look perfectly moist and remind me of spring which I seriously need right now!
Thank you for the compliments, Rachel!
YES I totally need spring to get here ASAP. I’m with you! And these look like an delicious way to will it in! Pinning 🙂
Thanks, Andrea!
I can see from the pictures how soft and fluffy these vanilla cupcakes are! I loveeeeee fruity desserts, they are irresistible! The cupcakes look gorgeous Jen, I love the candied lemon on top!
Thanks, Manali. Fruity desserts just seem lighter and less filling. Maybe it’s a sick mind trick to make us eat more!
These cupcakes are beautiful! My wife is a HUGE lemon fan so I know she would absolutely love it if her amazing husband whipped her up some of these!
Yes, you must make these for your lovely wife. She will be so grateful and so will baby 😉
I’m a huge fan of lemon desserts too. These cupcakes are so pretty and look amazing! I might need to whip up a batch of these tonight and pretend it isn’t snowing! Bring on Spring!
Jen!!! I love these cupcakes!!! I love fruity desserts too and will be offering up more citrus inspired desserts to the weather gods this weekend. . I am so over winter!!! LOVE the candied lemon peels!!! so pretty!!!
Thanks, Alice. I love your sweet comments! Hopefully the weather gods are more accepting of your treats than they were of mine. We are supposed to get more snow today.
Vanilla cupcakes with lemon -cheese frosting is such a clean and delicious combination! I love the touch of candid lemon peel on top! so perfect for spring!
Thanks, Savita. The candied lemon was my favorite part.