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Fluffy Lemon Cupcakes are topped with BLACKBERRY Buttercream! These Lemon Blackberry Cupcakes are so pretty and always a showstopper. Their refreshing flavor makes them perfect for Spring and Summer celebrations!
Moist Lemon Cupcakes topped with Fluffy Blackberry Buttercream
Fact: I’m a little cupcake obsessed this Summer. Cannot get enough of them! Doesn’t matter if they’re Super Decadent Chocolate Cupcakes or of the Perfect “One Bowl” Vanilla variety – I WANT THEM ALL.
Question Tiiiiime: What’s your favorite cupcake flavor? Are you into crazy flavor combos? Or more of a classic chocolate/strawberry/vanilla kinda guy (or gal)?
Homemade cupcakes can seem like a lot of work to some people, but I’m here to tell you these lemon blackberry beauties are totally doable in just over an hour, and virtually impossible to screw up. They’re also just downright FUN to make! Cupcake baking is one of my favorite ways to spend an afternoon or evening, and the workload is even easier (and a lot more FUN) if you have a friend joining in on the action. I baked 3 different cupcake recipes down the beach with my nieces, and it was a BLAST! I definitely think we have some budding bloggers in the fam 😉
This simple but lovely flavor combo was inspired by the late Summer wave of (very fresh and affordable) berries we have at our fingertips. Cheap and juicy berries… such a luxury! I ate 2 cartons standing over the sink, and decided halfway through the third to regain some self-control and make a vibrantly flavored (and colored) buttercream with what was left. Thank goodness that self-control kicked in! This buttercream is killer 😉
These cupcakes are a little more work than the store-bought kind… but they’re also SO much more rewarding in the end. The base of this recipe features an easy-to-make lemon cupcake. These cupcakes are made with lemon sugar, butter, flour, baking soda, sour cream, milk, vanilla and egg whites. The method is very simple, and you can make them with or without a stand mixer.
Two things to be sure you do do:
1) Separate your eggs and use only the whites! This keeps the cupcakes light in color and nice and fluffy. If you add the whole egg it will mess with the consistency of the cupcake, since the whole egg is much more liquid.
2) Place the sugar and lemon zest in a small bowl and RUB the lemon zest into the sugar with your fingertips. This releases the oils in the lemon zest. Lemon oil = nice and light lemon flavor in our cupcakes! Yum.
The blackberry buttercream is probably the trickiest part of this recipe, but I think once you read how it’s done, you’ll find it’s really not tricky at all 😉 The first time I tested this recipe I tried adding fresh blackberries straight into the buttercream. That did not work. The berries broke up, released liquid, and made the buttercream a very strange texture. Hmm. Onto batch two! For my second go, I tried using a store-bought blackberry jam. This one came out OK… but the jam was sweetened, and I found the blackberry taste was mute. I wanted a bold blackberry taste. So for the third try (the winning round!) I made a blackberry reduction from blackberries, lemon juice, and just a touch of sugar.
Now, if you’re like, EEK. A blackberry reduction sounds like a lot of work. Relax 🙂 It’s really easy. You’re just going to place the blackberries in a small saucepan, add the lemon juice, and cook it on a low simmer for about 20 minutes. During this time the berries will burst, release juice, and cook down to a nice, thick berry puree. Once it’s reduced to about a quarter cup, you’ll set it aside to cool, maybe do some dishes, and then add it to the buttercream. See! Easy, right?
So next time you need/want to get your cupcake on, ditch the store-bought stuff and make your own! Once you see how simple and fun making them from scratch is, you’ll never want to go back to the box. And that’s a promise 😉
Lemon Cupcakes with Blackberry Buttercream
Ingredients
For the cupcakes:
- 1 3/4 cups cake flour
- 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup sour cream (I used full fat)
- 1/2 cup milk (I used whole)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 large egg whites, at room temperature
- 1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, melted
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- *Zest of one lemon (about 2 teaspoons)
For the Blackberry Buttercream:
- 1 cup blackberries
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, VERY soft
- 1/2 teaspoon salt (do not SKIP!)
- 4 cups confectioners sugar (more if needed), sifted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F). Line a 12 mold muffin tin with paper liners; set aside.
- In a medium bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; mix well to combine. Set aside.
- In a large measuring cup or bowl combine sour cream, milk, vanilla, and egg whites; mix well to combine. Set aside.
- In a small bowl combine sugar and lemon zest. Using your fingertips, rub the zest IN to the sugar, until fragrant and well combined.
- In a large bowl or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment beat melted butter and sugar on medium speed until well combined; about 2 minutes.
- Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter/sugar combination, beating until just combined. Add in sour cream/milk/egg combo and beat on low until *just combined. Over-mixing will result in a dryer/denser cake.
- Divide the cupcake batter evenly into the 12 molds, then place the pan in the oven. Bake for about 16 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Allow cupcakes to cool completely before topping with frosting.
For the blackberry buttercream:
- Combine the blackberries and lemon juice in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, and stir constantly until blackberries have become soft enough to mash effortlessly.; about 6-7 minutes It will look like blackberry jam. Once the mixture can coat a spoon (you will have about 1/4 cup of blackberry puree) remove from heat. Place a fine-mesh strainer over a small bowl and push the puree though, leaving any seeds/large chunks behind. Allow mixture to cool completely before using.
When ready to make buttercream:
- Place soft butter in the body of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; beat butter on medium-speed until completely smooth, scraping down the sides when needed; about 2 minutes. Add in the blackberry puree and beat until completely combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl if needed. Add in the confectioners sugar, one cup at a time, on low speed. Once all of the sugar has been added, add in salt then increase speed to medium-high and beat for 2 full minutes. Ice cupcakes as desired.
- *Cupcakes can be made up to 6 hours ahead of time, but be sure to store in the fridge and bring to room temperature 30 minutes before serving.
I made these cupcakes last night, and while I also found the cake dense (more like a muffin), the flavour got rave reviews! However, the icing wasn’t worth the time. Unfortunately the blackberry taste was lost in the icing sugar and it was just too sweet, especially with the light lemon taste (and I like sweet). I think if I were to make this again I would top with a blackberry whipping cream. Thanks for the fantastic cake recipe.
Hi Holly. I’m so happy you enjoyed the recipe. The icing is very sweet, but adding a dash of salt definitely will decrease the sweetness. You can also hunt down blackberry extract if you ever want to make them again and increase the blackberry flavor.
I just baked these cupcakes and the flavor was great,but I’m a little dissappointed in the texture of the cupcake. It was very dense and muffin like
Hi Marissa. Did you happen to pack your flour? Did you follow the recipe to a T? The cupcakes are typically very moist and fluffy, so I’m not sure why they came out dense. Happy you enjoyed the flavor 🙂
Hey I’m about to try these beautiful cupcakes. I hate sour cream however and was wondering if I could replace it with whipped cream? Would the cupcakes still turn out okay? Do you know if I would use the same amount of whipped cream? Thank you. So excited!
Hi Yvette. I definitely do not recommend substituting whipped cream for the sour cream. You could however use full fat greek yogurt in its place. The sour cream adds texture but you won’t taste it in the cooked cupcake 🙂
I found your cupcakes on pinterest. We are making them right now. Just hoping I am doing it right. The narrative above says to add the blackberries lemon juice and sugar to the saucepan….. But the instuctions don’t mention the sugar. I am doing the way you said in the narrative. Hoping the recipe is just a little typo. Keeping my fingers crossed they turn out half as pretty as they look! Thanks for the recipe.
Hi Rebecca. There is no sugar added to the blackberry lemon jam. You will add the confectioners’ sugar to the cooled jam, though. I hope that helps! I just went through the recipe again and it looks good to me. Please let me know if you have any other questions 🙂
I made these cupcakes today and they were a HUGE disappointment. They looked really pretty on this blog but like another review I read the buttercream tasted like something store-bought. I couldn’t even find the taste of blackberries, it was all sugar. The cupcake looked more like a biscuit than cake, it was extremely dense. I think I’ll just stick to using recipes from the Food Network.
Hi Ariana. I’m sorry to hear your cupcakes did not turn out well. Just to let you know – it is standard to use that much sugar for frosting in pretty much any cupcake recipe – even the ones on the food network. The cupcakes, which I make all the time, should not be like a biscuit. If you ever want to make these again, feel free to reach out and I can help troubleshoot what went wrong. Happy New Year!
Holy cow!!! This looks amazing!
I would love to make these, however I am confused about the recipe. Step 4 says to combine the lemon zest with the sugar, then step 5 says to mix butter with the sugar (I am assuming the lemon sugar), and then add the lemon zest. Please clarify as I am excited to try these!
Hi Mazie! All fixed now 😉 You just add the lemon zest to the sugar, then add the lemon sugar to the butter!
If I don’t have lemon zest, can I just use bottled lemon juice?
I’ve been dying to make these since I saw this yesterday. I decided to give it a go today. I was very disappointed with the outcome. Maybe someone can suggest what I did wrong? The cake came out very dense. I was careful to not overbeat the batter. Maybe it wasn’t beaten enough? It all seemed well-enough mixed. Also, te frosting was coming out so beautiful! And then…. Ick! Too sweet! It wasn’t thick enough either to hold any shape. I figured I could fix that by adding a bit more confection sugar but it was plenty sweet and at that point I had pretty much given up. I decorated the tops with a slice of lemon and a blackberry. Very pretty! Id love to post pictures but I don’t know how. Anyway, if anyone has suggestions to the problems I encountered, I’d appreciate it!
Hi Savannah! I’m so sorry your cupcakes didn’t turn out. I have retested the recipe and my cupcakes were not dense and the frosting held quite well. A few tips 🙂 Always be sure to measure your flour correctly when baking and not overbake the cupcakes. You can also use cake flour if you want a softer, fluffier cupcake. As for the frosting being too sweet, 4 1/2 cups of confectioners sugar is very standard in cupcake frosting recipes, and the blackberry puree should have helped balance out the sweetness. You can always add a dash of salt if it’s still too sweet. Also, you can always place the frosting in the fridge if it’s too soft. During the Summer months I find ingredients melt much faster. I hope these tips help! And thank you for reading my blog. xo
I had the same problem. I work at a professional bakery, making cupcakes/wedding cakes daily, and this was a big flop. The cake was delicious but practically a pound-cake. The frosting was awful! I was so excited about it, and I am mad that I wasted the time, and now don’t have the time to make it better. I have never mixed cream cheese into a “buttercream” and i’m thinking that had something to do with it not holding its shape. I had to put the frosted cupcakes in the fridge to help the completely cooled cupcakes keep their frosting on top! Luckily my husband likes them, because the “buttercream” is disgusting to me. I’ll stick to my normal berry buttercream recipe!
Exactly the same thing happened to me!
Runny extra sweet frosting that wouldn’t hold its shape.
I hoped I had read the comments before making this 🙁
Hey, I tried this recipe myself and was also disappointed by the results I got. I did try them again, changing a few things I noticed immediately to be very different than what I have always gone by when baking. First, I found that you are fine if you don’t add the lemon into the sugar first before mixing it with the butter, in fact I think that it really helped the moisture levels in the cake because I had to turn my mixer on high to get it to blend in(I also added a bit of lemon juice-I didn’t measure how much-to make the lemon flavor stronger, but that is a preference). That caused my butter to turn back into a really soft butter instead of melted which meant that in the oven, the butter melted again, adding more moisture into the cake. Also, instead of adding ALL of your dry ingredients in and then a whole new round of wet, you should alternate, as it helps everything to blend together and you really end up with a smoother batter. I used a cup of dry, then a half cup of wet until all of both were gone. As for the reduction, mine turned out wonderfully, my thought is that you didn’t reduce it enough, making it a weaker concentrate that watered down the entire batch of frosting. Additionally, you do need all of the sugar, as it makes up for the bitterness in the blackberry reduction.
Ashley, I am in love with these cupcakes!! can’t wait to try the blackberry buttercream. . I’d better hurry too while I can still get seasonal blackberries! love!
Cupcakes and I were a match made in heaven. These cupcakes and I? A love story that’s yet to be written! In love with that bold frosting color