Lemon Cupcakes with a poppy seed twist! These Lemon Poppy Seed Cupcakes are sweet, dense, and topped with rich lemon buttercream frosting. If you love lemon… these cupcakes are for you!
Spring has arrived! And along with it… all things lemon. There’s just something about lemon that feels so perfect for spring. It’s bright and fresh and feels like sunshine, and it’s one of my absolute favorites for spring baking.
From Lemon Zucchini Bread to Lemon Raspberry Coffee Cake, there’s no denying that fresh lemon completely transforms any recipe. Including these lemon cupcakes! They’re chock full of fresh lemon juice and lemon zest and topped with a sweet, tart lemon buttercream frosting.
I don’t know about you, but I like my cupcakes a little bit dense, and these cupcakes are exactly that. They’re the perfect balance of sweet and lemony and cakey and chewy. And loaded with lemon flavor. In other words, they’re absolutely perfect.
And when you top them with JUST the right amount of buttercream? They’re out of this world delicious.
what you’ll need for this recipe
Dry ingredients – These make up the base of the cupcakes and are traditional ingredients found in many baked goods: all purpose flour, baking powder, and salt. I also added poppy seeds to this recipe for a fun twist! (Feel free to omit them if you prefer.)
Wet ingredients – These ingredients make the cupcakes moist and give them their delicious flavor! I used a combination of butter, sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, eggs and milk.
Buttercream – The BEST homemade Lemon Buttercream Frosting, made with butter, powdered sugar, lemon juice, and milk. I also topped the cupcakes with lemon zest and a few extra poppy seeds.
Pro Tips
Measure your ingredients accurately. Most importantly? Be sure you spoon your flour into the measuring cups instead of scooping. This ensures that your cupcakes won’t end up dry.
If possible, use fresh lemon juice. As with any fresh ingredients, fresh lemon juice will give you the most authentic (and delicious) lemon flavor!
Use a cookie scoop to measure batter. I love using a cookie scoop to guarantee that all my cupcakes turn out the same size.
Double the frosting recipe. If you’re anything like me, the frosting is the best part. Don’t be afraid to double it up!
storing cupcakes
These Lemon Poppy Seed Cupcakes can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature out of sunlight for up to one week. For longer storage, refrigerate or freeze cupcakes in airtight containers and bring to room temperature before enjoying.
More Recipes to Try
If you love lemon flavored treats, be sure to check out some more of our favorites!
Lemon Cupcakes
Ingredients
Lemon Poppy Seed Cupcakes
- 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 5 teaspoon poppy seeds
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 Tablespoon lemon zest
- 2 large eggs
- 3/4 cup milk
- 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
Lemon Buttercream Frosting
- 1/3 cup unsalted butter
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 2 Tablespoons milk
- 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°. Line two 12-cup muffin pans with cupcake liners.
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, and poppy seeds.
- In a separate large bowl, beat butter, granulated sugar, and lemon zest until light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- Add half the flour mixture and beat on low speed just until blended.
- Add milk and lemon juice and mix on low speed until combined.
- Mix in remaining flour mixture.
- Divide batter evenly among the muffin cups, filling 3/4 full. Bake until golden brown, 20-25 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.
- For the frosting, beat the butter until light and fluffy.
- Gradually add 2 cups powdered sugar, beating well.
- Slowly add in milk and lemon juice, then beat in remaining 2 cups powdered sugar.
- Pipe frosting on to cupcakes; top with lemon zest and poppy seeds.
I love this flavor combo so much! Wishing I had one of these in front of me right now! =)
What piping tip did you use in these pictures? They look awesome, can’t wait to try!
I will not make these cupcakes again. They are just OK. They are kinda bland and texture is not good.
I am a new convert to poppyseed and I absolutely love them with lemon. These cupcakes are gorgeous!
I’m with you on lemon and winter going hand in hand! I usually crave all things lemon in January too!!! These are so pretty!
I love lemon desserts! These cupcakes look amazing – loving all the cupcakes for Lindsay today!
LOVE the poppy seed in this!
These are perfect cupcakes!
I love all things lemon and poppy seed so I know I’d love these.
I am also a huge fan of lemon! I have always loved lemon poppy seed bread. Why have I never thought of a cupcake that I can add icing too! Oh my!
These look awesome! I couldn’t agree more about spooning the flour in to measeure…definitely a game changer!
This flavor combination is perfect especially for a baby shower! I’ll make sure to eat at least two in honor of the twins.
I’ve always loved the lemon-poppy seed combo for cakes and cupcakes. I’ll bet that sprinkling of lemon zest on top makes these really “pop” with deliciousness!
This looks like a little ray of sunshine! Perfect flavor combination!!
I love this combination of flavors!
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So what do I do with the other half of the dry ingredients. Doesn’t say what to do with the other half unless I missed a step?
I am making these for the first time and I have that exact same question!
What did you do? I”m going to see how wet this looks and likely add all the dry, surprised the proof read/ tester didn’t catch this big mistake.
Step 7 says to add remaining flour mixture
FYI your recipe says 9 cups of powdered sugar !! Haha that really stressed me out until I got to the steps later on and realized it’s only 2.
Freakin delicious cupcakes and I’ve only tasted the batter!
the frosting recipe calls for 9 cups of powdered sugar but the directions say 2 cups????
Sorry for the confusion! I will update the recipe- it should be 4.5 cups, i had doubled the recipe.
I love this recipe! But I personally like a tangy and more sour flavor. So instead of 5 tablespoons of lemon juice I put way more and used 1/2 cup. I also put more lemon juice in the frosting! I would also recommend putting a lot more zest in as well:)