These raspberry lemon cupcakes have a moist lemon cupcake base filled with homemade raspberry jam and are topped with light mascarpone frosting! They're the perfect spring dessert!
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You might also like these blackberry lavender cupcakes or these raspberry lemon cookies!
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Ingredient Notes
You just need a few simple ingredients to make these lemon raspberry cupcakes! Best of all, you can find everything you need at your local ALDI for their everyday great prices!
Cake Flour - I always use cake flour in my cupcakes because it makes them super soft and tender, but all purpose flour also works great!
Yogurt - The yogurt keeps this cake super moist while also adding a bit of tang! You always want to use full fat yogurt in baking for the best results! You could also use full fat sour cream or whole milk!
Lemon Juice & Zest - I highly recommend using fresh lemons for the best flavor! But you can always substitute with a little bottled lemon juice if necessary.
Mascarpone Cheese - Mascarpone is an Italian cheese that's very similar to American cream cheese. It's smooth and soft but more neutral in flavor compared to tangy cream cheese. And in my opinion, that mild flavor makes it much more versatile! But you can also just substitute cream cheese if that's all you can find!
Raspberries - I prefer to use fresh raspberries, but frozen will also work well for the filling!
The complete list of ingredients and amounts is located in the recipe card below.
How to Make Raspberry Jam
Making homemade raspberry jam is super easy and only requires a couple ingredients! Note: if using frozen raspberries, you might need to add in a little bit of cornstarch to help thicken the jam.
- Add all of the jam ingredients to a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Allow the jam to simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring frequently until thickened.
- Transfer the jam to a glass jar and allow to cool to room temperature. Store in the fridge for up to two weeks.
- That's it!
I recommend making the jam the night before you want to make the cupcakes so that it has time to fully cool. However, if you don't feel like making homemade jam, store-bought is fine! My favorite store-bought raspberry jam is Bonne Maman.
How to Make Lemon Cupcakes
Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a 12 cup pan with cupcake liners.
Whisk the cake flour, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl.
In a separate bowl, whisk the melted butter, sugar, and lemon zest. Add in the eggs, vanilla, and lemon juice and whisk until fully combined.
Stir in about half of the flour mixture.
Then stir in the yogurt and the rest of the flour mixture and mix until fully combined.
The batter will be thin.
Pour about ¼ cup of batter into each cupcake liner (they should be about halfway full).
Bake at 350°F for 18-22 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
Remove from pan and let cool on wire rack. Let the lemon cupcakes cool completely before filling and frosting.
Use a cupcake corer to remove the center of each cupcake, then fill with 1-2 teaspoons of cooled raspberry jam.
Frost cooled cupcakes with the mascarpone frosting, then garnish with fresh raspberries, lemon slices, and lemon zest.
Tips for the Best Baked Goods
Use room temperature ingredients! Always make sure ingredients like butter, eggs, milk, yogurt, etc. are at room temperature before baking (unless the recipe indicates otherwise)! This ensures they'll incorporate into the batter more easily and leads to overall better texture. Remove all ingredients from the fridge 30 minutes to an hour before baking for best results.
Measure your flour correctly! It's most accurate to use a kitchen scale, but if you're measuring by volume you want to spoon and level! Fluff up the flour a bit with a spoon, and then spoon flour into the measuring cup. Once it's overflowing, use the back of a knife to level it off. Don't ever pack flour into the measuring cup or you'll end up with way too much! Improperly measured flour can lead to dry, dense baked goods. [Measure cocoa powder the same way!]
Use an oven thermometer! Just because your oven says it's 350, doesn't mean it is! If you oven hasn't been calibrated recently, it can be as much as 30 degrees off, which will negatively affect all baked goods from cakes to macarons! An oven thermometer is the easiest/cheapest way to ensure your oven is always at the proper temperature.
Make sure you baking powder is fresh! Baking powder is important for helping baked goods rise properly, but it has a relatively short shelf life once opened, so it's one of the few items I never buy in bulk! To test if your baking powder is still fresh, add a small amount to boiling water. If it bubbles it's still good to use, but if not it's time to toss it!
Cupcake Decorating Tips
Make sure you let the cupcakes cool completely before frosting!!
Use a cupcake corer to easily remove the center of your cupcakes before filling with jam.
For these big beautiful frosting swirls on these raspberry lemon cupcakes, I use the 1M tip from this decorating kit. The tips are much larger than standard sizes and so fun for decorating cupcakes!
After frosting, garnish with fresh raspberries, lemon slices, and lemon zest.
Recipe FAQ's
These cupcakes will last in the fridge for up to 3 days. However, they taste best when served at room temperature! I like to let them sit at room temperature for about an hour before serving.
Absolutely! If you don't want to make your own jam, just use your favorite brand!
Tips for Success!
For best results I always recommend using weight measurements (especially when baking) because it's the most accurate. Kitchen scales are super affordable and also reduce the number of dishes you have to do! However, all my recipes also include US customary measurements for convince. Use this chart to convert measurements for common ingredients!
Substitutions: In all my recipes, I've included substitutions that I know will work, but I cannot guarantee results if you substitute ingredients that I have not recommended. [For example, granulated sugar and honey are indeed both sweeteners but they have very different properties so they can not always be swapped 1:1. Using honey in a cookie recipe that calls for granulated sugar will yield a giant mess.] In the recipe card you'll find links to the specific ingredients/brands that I use.
A note on salt: I almost exclusively use Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt because it's the best all-purpose salt for cooking and baking. If you're not using kosher salt, consult this handy guide for a conversion chart! When in doubt, if you're using table salt just reduce the amount by half for baked goods. When cooking, I prefer to under-salt because you can always add more! If you've over-salted, adding a little bit of acid (like lemon juice) can help.
More Recipes You Might Like
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Recipe Card
Raspberry Lemon Cupcakes with Mascarpone Frosting
Special Equipment
Ingredients
Lemon Cupcakes
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons lemon zest
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- ½ cup full-fat plain yogurt, substitute sour cream or whole milk
- 1 ½ cups cake flour, substitute all purpose flour
- 1 ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
Raspberry Jam
- 12 ounces raspberries, fresh or frozen
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch, optional
Mascarpone Frosting
- ½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 8 ounces mascarpone cheese, room temperature
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1-2 tablespoons raspberry jam
Instructions
Raspberry Jam
- I recommend making the jam the night before you want to make the cupcakes so that it has time to fully cool.
- Add all of the jam ingredients to a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Allow the jam to simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring frequently until thickened.
- Transfer the jam to a glass jar and allow to cool to room temperature. Store in the fridge for up to two weeks.
Lemon Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a 12 cup pan with cupcake liners.
- Whisk the cake flour, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the melted butter, sugar, and lemon zest.
- Add in the eggs, vanilla, and lemon juice and whisk until fully combined.
- Stir in about half of the flour mixture. Then stir in the yogurt and the rest of the flour mixture and mix until fully combined. The batter will be thin.
- Pour about ¼ cup of batter into each cupcake liner (they should be about halfway full).
- Bake at 350°F for 18-22 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
- Remove from pan and let cool on wire rack. Let the lemon cupcakes cool completely before filling and frosting.
- Use a cupcake corer to remove the center of each cupcake, then fill with 1-2 teaspoons of cooled raspberry jam.
Mascarpone Frosting
- In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the softened butter and mascarpone cheese until completely smooth.
- Then add in the powdered sugar and beat on slow until combined.
- Add in 1-2 tablespoons of the raspberry jam (to taste). If desired, pass through a fine mesh strainer first to remove the seeds.
- Then beat the frosting for 3-4 minutes on high speed until light and fluffy.
- Frost cooled cupcakes, then garnish with fresh raspberries, lemon slices, and lemon zest.
Notes
Nutrition
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
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