Lemon-Limoncello Cupcakes
These cupcakes have almost rendered me speechless. Trying to come up with the words to describe the incredible flavor experience that these provide is no small task. These lemon beauties topped off an Italian-themed meal (one that had begun with the Fontina-Stuffed Bacon-Wrapped Dates as an appetizer) and was the perfect clean-flavored dessert that I was looking for. There are three levels of lemon flavor in the cupcakes that combine to deliver the perfect balance of tart and sweet, and had people fighting over the last cupcake (seriously). The batter is flavored with lemon zest, lemon juice and a punch of limoncello; a tart lemon curd fills the inside of the cupcakes, and on top sits a sweet cream cheese frosting with the subtle tang of limoncello. These are simple and classy, a perfect dessert for a summer meal.
Although comprised of three separate steps, these cupcakes are simple to put together and not very time consuming. While the cupcakes are in the oven baking, the lemon curd can be made in less than 10 minutes. While the cupcakes and curd cool, make the frosting and then you are ready to assemble and serve! I tasted a spoonful of lemon curd before assembling the cupcakes and thought it might be a bit too tart, but was pleasantly surprised when I tasted the entire cupcake. The curd didn’t appear too tart at all, and was perfectly balanced by the cake and frosting. As you can see, I popped the finished cupcakes into an additional liner – Wilton Nut & Party Cups – for a prettier presentation.
Save This Recipe
Enter your email address, and we'll send it straight to your inbox!
If you want to make homemade limoncello, you can certainly do so, but plan ahead! Homemade recipes require 7 to 10 days of the lemon steeping in vodka before proceeding with the rest of the recipe. If you want to give it a go, you can find recipes here and here.
These cupcakes have been entered into Bake at 350's Flavor of the Month event for August: PUCKER UP! Lemon, Lime or a combination. Head on over to check out the event, see what everyone baked up, and find out next month's theme.
1 year ago: Strawberry Pretzel Jello Squares
2 years ago: Black Bean Burgers
Lemon-Limoncello Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the cupcakes:
- 1½ cups (187.5 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) salt
- 2 ounces (56.7 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature, (½ stick )
- 2 ounces (56.7 g) cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 2 tablespoons limoncello
- ½ cup (120 ml) buttermilk
- ¼ cup (61 g) lemon juice
- Zest of one lemon
For the lemon curd:
- Zest of 2 lemons
- ½ cup (122 g) lemon juice
- ¼ cup (50 g) granulated sugar
- 1 egg + 1 egg yolk
For the cream cheese limoncello frosting:
- 2 ounces (56.7 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature, (½ stick)
- 4 ounces (113.4 g) cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1 tablespoon limoncello
- 2 cups (240 g) powdered sugar, sifted
Instructions
- 1. Prepare the cupcakes. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and position a rack in the center. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter, cream cheese and sugar on medium speed until light and creamy, 2-3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the limoncello and beat an additional minute. On low speed, add flour mixture and buttermilk alternatively, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Add the lemon juice and zest and mix on low speed just until incorporated. Divide the batter between 12 muffin tins. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the middle comes out clean. Let cool completely.
- 2. Prepare the lemon curd. In a heavy medium saucepan, stir together the lemon zest, juice and sugar and bring to a simmer over medium heat. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg and egg yolk. Whisk the lemon mixture into the eggs to temper them. Scrape the mixture back into the saucepan and place over medium heat, whisking constantly until it thickens, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat, and let cool completely.
- 3. Prepare the cream cheese limoncello frosting. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and cream cheese on medium speed until light and creamy, about 2-3 minutes. Add the limoncello and beat for an additional minute. Reduce the speed to low and gradually add the sifted powdered sugar and beat until fully incorporated and smooth.
- 4. Assemble the cupcakes. Cut a hole into each cupcake with the large end of a melon baller or the back end of a large pastry tip. Fill each cavity with the lemon curd. Fill a pastry bag with a star tip (I used Wilton 1M) with the cream cheese limoncello frosting and pipe onto each cupcake. Decorate with lemon and berries, if desired.
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @thebrowneyedbaker on Instagram so I can see it!
To make the lemon curd do i have to add butter? Because when i youtube how to make lemon curd they all show it with butter so im a bit confused lol
No, you do not need to add butter to this, but if you prefer to use a different lemon curd recipe, you absolutely could.
What is a good substitute for limoncello?
These cupcakes were delicious! I made them with homemade limoncello made from Meyer lemons. The balance of the sweet cake and frosting and tart custard is perfect—filled cupcakes never fail to impress. The cake itself is dense and moist. Excellent accompaniment to the spring beer tasting we held with our beer club. :)
I just made these, and YUMMMM!!. The curd was a little too tart for everyone else (but I liked the contrast to the sweet), so next time i will add more sugar.
These look so good. This will be my next project.
Can you freeze the cupcakes then fill ang frost later?
Hi Agnes, Yes, you can definitely do that.
I made these yesterday and followed the recipe to a T. I found that the cupcakes were a bit too heavy, not nice and fluffy as I had hoped. The flavor was very good though, I used fresh lemons from my lemon tree.Maybe the 3 eggs made it heavy?? Any suggestions for a lighter cupcake?
Your presentation is beautiful, they look very delicious.
I made these cupcakes and I can tell you that they are very good! definitely recommend! even my pictures came out really good :)
This might be a dumb question but should I leave out the lemonchello if serving these to children?
Hi Kimberly, I would definitely leave it out of the frosting. People are split in terms of how much alcohol cooks off in a baked good, so that’s really your call. I can’t say for sure what percentage of it bakes off.
The amount of limoncello in the frosting is small and divided among 12 cupcakes. 1/12 of a T of limoncello is more alcohol than you would get using vanilla extract (which is in an alcohol base) but not enough that I would personally worry about. My 7yo daughter ate these and loved them. I guess my advice would be to use your own discretion. I would feed them to my own kids but maybe not make them for a school birthday party.
I made these over the weekend and they were great! We had guests over and everyone was raving about how “fresh” they tasted. I too tasted the lemon curd after it cooled and thought it was way too tart, but as you said above in the recipe once it was in the cupcakes with the frosting it worked perfectly. One thing I noticed was that my curd had little white swirls/chunks in it which I do not see in yours from the pictures. I Googled it and they said that will happen if you don’t strain your lemon juice. This wasn’t mentioned in the recipe so I never thought to do it and next time around I definitely would because I would like a smooth yellow texture. I don’t think it changed the flavor at all but if you are a perfectionist with baking as I am, then the white swirls will bother you. Also one more thing to note – next time around I would double the frosting recipe. I also use the Wilton 1M tip and just barely had enough frosting to do all the cupcakes and that was with frosting them on the very light side.
Literally the best cupcakes I’ve ever had. Absolutely amazing. Added some limoncello to the lemon curd as well, turned out awesome. Only recommendation I have: make sure to refrigerate for at least a little bit before serving. They’re still 100% delicious fresh, but the lemon is really tart until chilled.
how should i store these?! i just made some for my birthday party tonight – but dont know how to store until then – THEY ARE SO GOOD!!! :D
Hi Hannah, They can be kept at room temperature for up to 12 hours or so, then refrigerate any leftovers in an airtight container.
Can these be topped off with buttercream frosting instead of cream cheese?
Sure!
Stunning!
We are limoncello addicts ( well, maybe not addicts) however, we make a LOT of homemade limoncello & lemon curd every winter, the second Meyer lemons show up in the stores!
No sooner did we put the finishing touches on your simply amazing Mocha Cupcakes to take to a friend’s birthday/football party…We found this! Well we laughed because we had everything to make these and so we were off & running!
Because we use Meyers, we always keep a couple “regular” lemons around for the tartness. We used those for the zest. We decorated them with fresh blackberries. OMG! we have, in one day, made our all time favorites! Thank You!
I use my work colleagues as my beta test group. I think lemon is a rather polarizing taste, either you like it or you don’t. Made the original recipe and as expected, those who like lemon LOVED them, those who don’t didn’t care for them. Everyone, though, loved the dense texture of the cake. So I tried substituting orange zest and OJ in the cupcakes, along with Grand Marnier, did not create a filling, and made frosting with the Grand Marnier. Nice subtle orange flavor, more accepted by my beta testers.
I made these today and they are phenomenal. Seriously. The best cupcakes I have ever eaten. Thank you for the recipe!
Hi! These are so cute! I am featuring these in a cupcake roundup tomorrow. Thought I would let you know. Thanks for posting them!
I made these and froze some in a ziplock bag then put the bag of cupcakes in an airtight container. They werestored in the freezer for 1 week then place in refrigerator to thaw. They were very dry! How do you recommend freezing?
Just tried these and they are fantastic! Thank you for sharing. My stepson said they are the best cupcakes he’s ever had.
These are by far some of the BEST cupcakes I have ever made! The lemon curd filling is delicious!
~Bryce
http://www.brycesweetsnsours.com/
Made these today, great flavor, but I really think that these need some baking soda due to all the acidic ingredients (buttermilk, lemon juice) I think that would help them rise better as there would be a better reaction between the leaveung agent and the acids. another note, one might try two eggs and then an egg white (or two) to substitue the third egg, that will definitely aerate the batter as well. I also added lemon juice to the frosting and doubled the limoncello, I’m a fan of bright, tangy lemon flavor and that was lacking in the frosting before I added the lemon juice. Definitely a good recipe to have on hand, but next time I will tweak to avoid such a dense cake.
I was really looking forward to making these, but after making two batches of them, I was really disappointed. I followed the directions to a “T” and the cakes were very dense, overly flour tasting, and even a little dry. And the lemon curd filling… Wow! Talk about sour! The frosting was great, but nothing else seemed to turn out tasty. If I’m doing something wrong, please let me know.
Made these cupcakes yesterday. Very delicious. Reminds me of
lemon meringue pie. Going to make the pumpkin cupcake today.
These are delicious! Tastes like summer in a cupcake. I made the Limoncello cupcakes and the Margarita ones and brought them both to work. Everyone liked both, but the Limoncello ones were definitely the winner. Now i have a giant bottle of Limoncello in my fridge and i’m not a fan of drinking it straight … guess i’ll just have to make these cupcakes a few more times. Sounds good to me! :)
Thank you so much. I’ve made your mocha-espresso cupcakes twice in two weeks (no fail!) and am now determined to try more of these. Can you confirm the amount of butter and cream cheese in the batter? I think mine could use more fat (tasty, but not fluffy). I may have mixed up the conversion of ‘sticks’ to cups… if you could provide the measurement in cups, that would be amazing!
Thank you!
Hi Erin, It’s a 1/4 cup butter in the cupcakes.
Just made these today for my daughter’s birthday tomorrow. In a word, EPIC!!
The only thing I could take exception to was was merely a trifle, a matter of taste in that the fine, moist crumb is a little denser than I’d like. I believe that could be obviated by using triple-sifted cake flour in place of the all-purpose flour the next time. But that represents a very tiny, very minor flaw and others might not be bothered by it at all. BTW, this made far more than just a dozen cupcakes. After filling 12 cups, I scraped the rest into a small loaf pan, which was just perfect (didn’t need anymore cupcakes. But the little loaf will be great with some tea in the morning!) It should be noted that these don’t rise a whole lot, so you can fill the cups fuller than with many recipes. 3/4 full will not overflow. I did something just a little different, in that in place of the lemon curd, I made a thick filling out of my daughter’s favorite fruit, fresh blueberries, spooning about a teaspoonful into the center of each. I am billing them as “Limoncello Surprise Cupcakes.” Next time, it’s lemon curd. Since I always keep a bottle of limoncello in the freezer, it was nice to use it for something other than a summer aperitif. The flavor of these little gems is a symphony for the taste buds, with just the right degree of tartness, enhanced by the perfect sweetness. The frosting is to DIE for. Clean, uncomplicated lemony, buttery ambrosia that melts lovingly into heavenly bliss on your tongue. Can’t speak highly enough for this recipe!
what on earth is a ‘stick’ of butter?
Butter is typically sold in stick form in the U.S. Each stick is 4 ounces, if you need to work out a conversion.
I don’t know what I did wrong but mine didn’t turn out at all… They didn’t rise and the middle was chewy, almost like bubble gum. I must have made a mistake with converting cups to centiliters (I’m European and I wasn’t quite sure if American cups are the same as European ones ;-) ). I already noticed something wasn’t right when I was adding the eggs… Also I needed 24 cupcakes instead of 12 so I doubled all the ingredients, or should I not have done that? It’s a shame cause yours look delicious!!
i was wondering i looked at this cupcakes and they look delicious but befor i cook them i want to ask if they are TO LEMONY i like lemon but not exstremly and if they are a bit rich thanks i love your site!
or two sweet
Hi Bella, Unfortunately, I find all of those things to be pretty subjective. What’s too lemony, too rich or too sweet to one person may not be to another person. I would recommend trying the recipe and if you find it to be any of those things, make adjustments as needed.
I made your cupcakes and they were a hit. My husband liked them so much that he’s asked that I bake his birthday cake using this recipe!!! I’m wondering if I could bake the cake and freeze it for a week before adding the lemon curd and frosting. Any thoughts on that? Thank you for the recipe.
Hi I am a bit confused about the directions to divide between 12 muffin tins. Does this recipe actually require twelve muffin tins or did you mean 2 muffin tins with twelve cups? Is there a way to make the recipe without buying ten more muffin tins?
Divide the batter between each of the 12 cups in the muffin tin. You only need one 12-cup muffin tin.