These lemon cupcakes with raspberry filling are absolutely delicious and they are completely dairy-free! Now that it’s finally springtime, I feel super giddy about all the summer treats to be made this year, and what better way to kick off the sunny weather than these delicious cupcakes.
Lemon and raspberry go together like peanut butter and jelly. It is one of my favorite flavor combos, especially in cupcakes! The cake is so lemony and moist with a kick of fresh raspberry in the center and then topped with more lemon flavor in the frosting. How can it get any better than that? 😋
Kitchen Tool Must-Haves
To make these mouthwatering cupcakes there are some baking items you will need:
- Cupcake pan
- Apple corer (or cupcake corer)
- Cupcake liners
- Lemon zester
- Pastry bag & round piping tip (optional)
Ingredients Needed for Lemon Cupcakes with Raspberry Filling
My favorite thing about this recipe is that it is completely dairy-free and I can find all these ingredients at my local grocery store. To make these Raspberry-Filled Lemon Cupcakes you will need the following:
- Vegan butter (normal butter works great too!)
- Lemons
- Raspberries
- Almond milk (or milk of your choice)
- Eggs
- Flour
- Sugar
- Vanilla
- Baking powder
- Salt
How To Fill Lemon Cupcakes with Raspberry Filling
I know it can be intimidating, but I promise it can be super easy to fill cupcakes! I recommend an apple corer because I have found that works best (and with the least amount of cussing). Just insert it into the cupcake about ⅔ the way through, twist it around a little (gently!) to loosen up the cake core, and then pop it right out.
You can also use a cupcake corer which works similar to the apple corer. Insert it into the cupcake and wiggle it around a little so it can grab hold of the cupcake core and then take it out. The cupcake corer has an ejector you can push to get the cake out.
You can save your cupcake cores to put back on the cupcakes after filling, but I prefer to leave them off. More raspberry filling, the better in my opinion! Eat those cupcake cores! No one will know 😉 And the great thing is, if your cupcake centers turn out a little sloppy, the frosting will hide any mistakes.
How To Pipe Frosting
Since this delicious lemon frosting is not buttercream frosting it will not have those sharp edges and won’t hold up well for decorating. I recommend sticking with round piping tips or using a knife to spread the frosting onto the cupcake.
Should I Refrigerate Lemon Cupcakes with Raspberry Filling?
Yes! I recommend refrigerating the cupcakes because of the raspberry filling and the frosting if they don’t all get eaten right away. A couple of hours on the counter aren’t going to ruin them, but to preserve their freshness I like putting them in the fridge. Take them out an hour or so before serving and they will still be just as tasty.
More Tasty Recipes to Try!
- Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with Blackberry Buttercream
- Nutella Sugar Cookies
- Grandma’s Rolled Sugar Cookies
Lemon Cupcakes with Raspberry Filling
Ingredients
Lemon Cupcakes
- ½ cup vegan butter
- ¾ cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1½ tbsp lemon zest
- 1½ cups flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ cup almond milk
- 2 tsp lemon juice
Raspberry Filling
- 1 cup raspberries
- 1 tbsp flour
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- ¼ cup sugar
Lemon Frosting
- 1 cup sugar
- ⅔ cup water
- 3 egg whites
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1½ tbsp lemon zest
Instructions
Lemon Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350F and line cupcake pan.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add the eggs one at a time, mixing until just combined. Add the vanilla and lemon zest, mix, and set aside.
- In a small bowl, add the dry ingredients and mix with a whisk or fork.
- With the mixer on low speed, slowly add ⅓ of the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and then alternate with milk, adding the lemon juice, and ending with the rest of the dry ingredients. Mix on medium speed until thoroughly combined, about 3 minutes.
- With a large cookie scoop or spoon fill each cupcake liner ⅔ full with batter. Bake for 18-22 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the cupcake comes out clean. Let cool completely on a wire rack before filling and frosting.
Raspberry Filling
- Add raspberries, lemon juice, sugar, and flour to a large skillet and cook on medium-high heat until the mixture starts to bubble.
- Reduce to medium-low heat and continue cooking for 7-10 minutes until the mixture thickens, stirring frequently.
- Let mixture cool and then store in the fridge until the cupcakes are ready to be filled.
Lemon Frosting
- Add sugar and water to a small saucepan and cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally.
- While the syrup is cooking, add egg whites to a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat on high speed until stiff peaks form. If the syrup mixture isn’t done before the egg whites stiffen, DO NOT turn the mixer off; reduce speed to low.
- The syrup is ready when it pours off the spoon in a steady stream or reaches 235F. Another way to test the sugar (and also kinda fun) is by taking a bit of the syrup on a spoon and then dipping it into ice water. When it’s ready, it will form a little malleable ball.
- With the stand mixer on high speed, slowly pour the syrup into the egg whites, but DO NOT let the syrup hit the whisk. It should be a steady stream into the bowl.
- Continue whipping the frosting until it stiffens. Once the bowl cools down and feels barely warm, add in the vanilla and lemon zest and mix until combined.
Assembling Cupcakes
- Insert the apple corer or cupcake corer into the cupcake about ⅔ the way in, twist gently, and then remove the center core. Set aside for later use, or pop that cupcake core in your mouth and enjoy it now!
- Fill center with raspberry filling.
- Pipe or spread frosting as desired and garnish with more raspberries.