Name: Raspberry Lemonade Cupcakes
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 18 min
Total time: 38 min
Ingredients: ¾ cup butter; 3 eggs at room temperature; 1 ¾ cups all purpose flour; 1 teaspoon baking powder; ¼ teaspoon baking soda; ¼ teaspoon salt; 1 ½ cups granulated sugar; 2 teaspoon grated lemon peel; 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice; ⅔ cup buttermilk; ¾ cup butter at room temperature; 7 to 7 ½ cups powdered sugar (swifted); 4 tablespoons milk; 4 tablespoons seedless raspberry jam (or 2 tablespoons raspberry liqueur for spiked version)

The perfect blend of zesty and sweet, these Pink Lemonade Cupcakes are the perfect treat for summer. With a refreshing lemon flavour and a pop of pink, they bring a fun twist to classic summertime beverage!

Pink Lemonade Cupcakes garnished with a lemon slice and fresh raspberry.

The lemony cake is moist and light. The raspberry frosting….I could have eaten by the spoonful!! The addition of seedless raspberry jam to the frosting gives them a delicious raspberry flavour and pretty pink colour without any artificial food colouring.

Ingredients You Will Need

butter
eggs
all purpose flour
baking powder and baking soda
salt
granulated sugar and icing sugar
lemons
raspberry jam
butter milk or soured milk

What is soured milk?

If a recipe like this one calls for buttermilk, but you don’t have any on hand, you can substitute soured milk instead. Soured milk is simply milk that has been quickly soured by adding white vinegar or lemon juice.

Simply add 1 tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice to a one cup measure and add milk to the one cup mark. Let stand for 10-15 minutes and there you have soured milk!

Ingredients to make lemon cupcakes — Lemon Cupcake Ingredients

Ingredients to make raspberry frosting including icing sugar, butter, milk and raspberry jam. — Lemon Cupcake Ingredients

Preparation Tips

Bring your ingredients to room temperature before beginning. This should take about 30-45 minutes for butter and eggs.

The better may look “broken” or curdled however that is normal and won’t affect the final cupcake texture or flavour.

Use seedless raspberry jam for the buttercream. It makes for a smoother and more flavourful frosting.

How to Make Pink Lemonade Cupcakes

See full ingredient list and instructions in the printable recipe card below

A lemon that has been zested with a rasp and juiced into a white ceramic bowl.

Butter that has been beaten in a stand mixer for 30 seconds.

Butter, sugar and lemon mixture in bowl of electric mixer.

Egg added to the butter and sugar mixture for cupcake batter.

Zest and juice one large lemon. Beat butter until creamy. Add sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice. Beat until well combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well between each addition. After all eggs are added the mixture may look somewhat curdled. This is normal.

Dry ingredients for cupcakes mixed with a whisk, including flour, baking powder and baking soda.

Flour added to butter mixture for lemon cupcakes.

Whisk together flour, baking powder and baking soda. Add to butter mixture, alternately with the butter milk, beating on low between each addition.

Cupcake batter divided between 12 muffin tins before baking.

When all flour and milk has been added, beat well to fully combine. Divide between muffin tins lined with baking cups. Bake at 350 degrees F for 16 to 18 minutes. Transfer to cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.

How to make Raspberry Frosting

Butter and icing sugar combined to make Raspberry Buttercream.

Seedless raspberry jam added to butter and icing sugar mixture for frosting.

Combine butter and two cups icing sugar. Add jam and milk and beat for about 30 seconds. Add remaining icing sugar one cup at a time, beating after each addition until frosting is thick, smooth and creamy.

Lemon cupcakes with raspberry frosting garnished with raspberries and lemon slices.

I used a #10 Wilton tip to swirl frosting atop each cupcake, but just spreading on with an off set spatula would work just fine. Garnish with fresh raspberries and lemon slices.

3 Pink Lemonade Cupcakes on a cake stand.

They really do taste just like raspberry lemonade! These Pink Lemonade Cupcakes are as fun to eat as they are to make. For an extra refreshing treat, serve them cold to cool off on a hot summer day!

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