Sweet and tangy, these Meyer lemon cupcakes are some of the best lemon cupcakes I’ve ever tasted. Flavored with fresh Meyer lemon juice and zest and topped with a Meyer lemon cream cheese frosting, they’re bursting with flavor. The cream cheese frosting keeps them from being overly sweet while providing a tangy creaminess that compliments the cupcakes perfectly.
Meyer lemon desserts are awesome. The slightly sweet and less tart flavor of these lemons makes lemon desserts stand out as familiar but better. If you love Meyer lemons, or are looking for other options to utilize them, I recommend my Meyer lemon crinkle cookies and Meyer lemon bars as well.
While I love a good buttercream frosting, I feel it adds a bit too much sweetness to these Meyer lemon cupcakes. Reinforcing the flavor of the cupcakes, I use a Meyer lemon cream cheese frosting here. It’s still fairly sweet, but the cream cheese adds a nice creaminess to the rich cupcakes.
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🍋 Meyer Lemons vs Regular Lemons
Meyer lemons originated in China and were introduced to the US in 1908 by Frank Nicholas Meyer, who worked for the United States Department of Agriculture. The species is called “Citrus × meyeri” and is hybrid of a citron and mandarin orange. While they can be grown year-round, they’re typically harvested during the winter until early spring.
Normal lemons have a thicker, yellow skin over a thick, white layer of pith. Meyer lemons have a color from dark yellow to orange skin and very little pith. They also have thinner skin than normal lemons, which makes it a bit harder to safely ship. This contributes to their higher prices than regular lemons as well.
Where a regular lemon is sour and acidic, Meyer lemons are less acidic and slightly sweet. This is what makes them particularly tasty in baked goods. They have a strong lemon flavor that tastes like it was mixed with just a bit of orange juice. You can almost always switch one lemon for the other in almost any recipe as well.
🥘 Ingredients for Meyer Lemon Cupcakes
As in most cupcakes and muffins, the ingredient list is full of the usual pantry staples. Considering they’re Meyer lemon cupcakes, you’ll need to get some of those, and I do prefer cake flour here. Both have options though as I’ll mention below.
Lemon Cupcakes
Flour – I prefer cake flour here because it keeps the cupcakes soft with a tender crumb. If you don’t keep cake flour on-hand and rather not buy it, you can use all-purpose flour instead.
Leaveners – Use both baking powder and baking soda here for rising agents. The sour cream and lemon juice are acidic enough to activate the soda.
Sugar – Use just white granulated sugar here.
Fat – I like the combination of butter and oil for these cupcakes. The addition of oil helps keep the cupcakes moist and slightly lowers the gluten formation.
Sour Cream – Instead of whole milk, I prefer whole far sour cream here. It adds moisture without being another fully liquid ingredient. It also adds a nice tang to offset some of the sweetness.
Meyer Lemons – Use both the zest and juice from fresh Meyer lemons. Depending on the size and how juicy they are, you’ll need 2-3 Meyer lemons for this. If you can’t find Meyer lemons, you can replace them with regular lemons, or a mix of 3 tablespoons lemon juice and 1 tablespoon orange juice for a similar flavor. If using regular lemons, add 2-3 more tablespoons of sugar.
Eggs – Use both a large egg and one large yolk. The extra yolk adds tenderness to the crumb.
Meyer Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
Butter – Unsalted, room temperature butter helps to thicken the frosting and brings a rich creaminess to the flavor. If using salted butter, omit the salt called for.
Cream Cheese – Use 8 ounces of full fat cream cheese here, the block style and not the spreadable kind. Leave it out long enough to soften, but not to room temperature.
Sugar – Sifted powdered sugar adds sweetness and structure here. I prefer to measure and then sift powdered sugar in frostings because it reduces graininess in the finished frosting.
Meyer Lemon – Use both the zest and juice of a fresh Meyer lemon again here. One lemon should be enough for both.
Vanilla – Just a splash of vanilla extract helps to balance the flavors and sweetness.
🔪 How to Make Meyer Lemon Cupcakes
Making Meyer lemon cupcakes from scratch is easy and comes together quickly. You can also make the lemon cream cheese frosting while the cupcakes are cooking and cooling.
Meyer Lemon Cupcakes
Preheat your oven to 350°F / 180°C and line a muffin tin with cupcake liners. Set it aside.
In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and soda, salt, and Meyer lemon zest. Whisk together and set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, or in a large mixing bowl with a hand-mixer, add the butter and sugar and mix on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
Add the sour cream, oil, Meyer lemon juice, and vanilla and mix until fully combined, about a minute or so. Now add the egg and egg yolk, one at a time, until fully incorporated.
Now add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients in 2-3 increments, mixing on low. Increase the speed to medium low after adding the final amount of dry ingredients, scraping down the bowl as necessary until just combined.
Spoon or pour the batter into the prepared muffin pan, filling the liners roughly ½ to ⅔ full, keeping them as even as possible. Place into the middle of the oven and bake for 17-20 minutes, until a toothpick comes mostly clean.
Let the cupcakes cool and finish setting up in the pan for 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack until completely cooled before frosting.
Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
While the cupcakes are baking, you can make the cream cheese frosting.
In the cleaned bowl of the stand mixer with the paddle attachment, or another mixing bowl with a hand mixer, add the butter and softened cream cheese. Beat on medium speed until well combined, soft, and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
Add the powdered sugar and lemon zest, a little bit at a time, and mix on low speed until the powdered sugar is mostly combined, then turn the speed up to medium until fully mixed. It should be thick at this point.
Pour in the Meyer lemon juice, vanilla extract, and a pinch of salt and mix until fully combined. If the frosting feels a bit loose, and a bit more powdered sugar. Refrigerate while the cupcakes cool. This should help thicken the frosting as well.
Decorating the Cupcakes
Once the cupcakes have fully cooled and the cream cheese frosting has set up and chilled, you can decorate the cupcakes.
Fill a piping bag with some frosting and pipe from the outside into the middle of the cupcake in a closing circle, going up and making another circle towards the center. For reference, I used a large, Wilton 8B piping tip. Decorate with lemon slices, sprinkles, sanding sugar, or more zest and enjoy.
📖 Variations
I love these easy Meyer lemon cupcakes as they are, but here’s a few variations depending on your tastes.
Meyer Lemon Curd – If you want to add a punch of lemon flavor, you could fill these cupcakes with a lemon curd. This works well if you want a more subtle flavor and leave out the lemon from the cupcakes and/or frosting. Or just a third layer of lemony flavor.
Meyer Lemon Buttercream – I prefer the cream cheese frosting here because it’s slightly less sweet and creamier than a buttercream. If you’d rather do buttercream though, it’s an easy switch. Omit the cream cheese, increase the butter to ¾ cup, and a few tablespoons of heavy cream. Once everything is mixed, add the heavy cream a tablespoon at a time until you reach the consistency you desire.
Lemon Cupcakes – If you can’t find Meyer lemons, you can replace everything with regular lemons as well. Because they’re tarter and sourer, you may want to add a few more tablespoons of sugar in the cupcake batter. Alternatively, for a similar flavor profile to Meyer lemons, mix lemon and orange juice and zest at a ratio of 4:1 lemon to orange.
💭 Frequently Asked Questions
Using oil instead of or in addition to butter can help keep cupcakes moist for much longer. Other ingredients like sour cream or yogurt also add moisture and keep the cupcake crumb tender.
I like to give cupcakes at most 5-10 minutes in the baking pan. Depending on the cupcake, they might need more time to finish cooking and setting before being moved. Leaving them in the pan too long, however, can cause them to steam and have soggy bottoms or overcook. After 5-10 minutes, move to a cooling rack. Give them 45 minutes to an hour before frosting.
Most cupcakes are fine left out at room temperature for 3-4 days. Refrigerating cupcakes will cause them to dry out faster. However, cupcakes made with a lot of dairy, such as a custard filling or cream cheese frosting, need to be refrigerated for food safety reasons.
🍽 Equipment
These are simple cupcakes to make, so you won’t need anything fancy. I’ll mention just a few items to consider, including the piping tip I used here.
Juicer – I don’t typically use a hand juicer for 1-2 fruits, but I do recommend a simple and cheap hand juicer for any recipe that requires juicing more fruit. This is also easier if you have arthritis or any issues with hand strength. The one listed is easy to use and collects the juice in a glass below. I then pour that through a fine mesh sieve into a measuring glass to remove any seeds or pulp that falls through.
Piping Tips – As mentioned in the directions, I used a Wilton 8B open star piping tip for decorating the cupcakes. You could also use a Wilton 6B open star piping tip, but I do find larger tips work better than small ones on cupcakes. Don’t forget some 12″ pastry bags also.
Storing & Freezing Cupcakes
Once cooled and decorated, Meyer lemon cupcakes can be placed in an airtight container and refrigerated for up to a week. The cupcakes themselves can stay at room temperature for 3-4 days, but once frosted they will need to refrigerated because of the cream cheese in the frosting.
If you’re making cupcakes ahead of time or need to store them for longer than a week, freezing is a good option. I prefer this to refrigerating cupcakes as freezing and then thawing keeps them tasing fresher than being refrigerated.
Once completely cooled, wrap each undecorated cupcake in plastic wrap. Place in a gallon freezer bag or airtight container and freeze for up to 3 months. Leave at room temperature to thaw for 30 minutes to an hour and decorate as normal.
While you can freeze frosted cupcakes, I don’t recommend it as it takes up more room and not all frostings do as well frozen. With that said, if you want to freeze frosted cupcakes, move them to the freezer uncovered for a few hours to freeze the frosting. Once frozen, wrap individually as above, and freeze for up to 3 months. When thawing decorated cupcakes, remove the plastic wrapping right away and let them thaw uncovered.
📋 Recipe
Meyer Lemon Cupcakes
Ingredients
Meyer Lemon Cupcakes:
- 1 ½ cups cake flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons Meyer lemon zest, from 1-2 Meyer lemons
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- ½ cup sour cream, at room temperature
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ cup Meyer lemon juice, from 2-3 Meyer lemons
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
Meyer Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 8 ounces full-fat block cream cheese, softened, see note
- 3 ½ cups powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons Meyer lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons Meyer lemon zest
For Decorating:
- Meyer lemon slices
- Candied Meyer lemon slices
- Meyer lemon zest
- Sprinkles
- Sanding sugar, I used gold sanding sugar in the photos
Directions
Meyer Lemon Cupcakes:
- Preheat your oven to 350°F / 180°C and line a muffin tin with cupcake liners. Set it aside.
- In a mixing bowl, combine 1 ½ cups cake flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ¼ teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon salt, and 2 tablespoons of Meyer lemon zest. Whisk together and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, or in a large mixing bowl with a hand-mixer, add ¼ cup unsalted butter and 1 cup granulated sugar and mix on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add the ½ cup sour cream, ¼ cup vegetable oil, ¼ cup Meyer lemon juice, and ½ teaspoon vanilla extract and mix until fully combined, about a minute or so. Now add the egg and egg yolk, one at a time, until fully incorporated.
- Now add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients in 2-3 increments, mixing on low. Increase the speed to medium low after adding the final amount of dry ingredients, scraping down the bowl as necessary until just combined.
- Spoon or pour the batter into the prepared muffin pan, filling the liners roughly ½ to ⅔ full, keeping them as even as possible. Place into the middle of the oven and bake for 17-20 minutes, until a toothpick comes mostly clean.
- Let the cupcakes cool and finish setting up in the pan for 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack until completely cooled before frosting.
Meyer Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting:
- While the cupcakes are baking, you can make the cream cheese frosting.
- In the cleaned bowl of the stand mixer with the paddle attachment, or another mixing bowl with a hand mixer, add 6 tablespoons unsalted butter and 8 ounces of softened cream cheese. Beat on medium speed until well combined, soft, and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add the 3 ½ cups powdered sugar and 2 teaspoons Meyer lemon zest, a little bit at a time, and mix on low speed until the powdered sugar is mostly combined, then turn the speed up to medium until fully mixed. It should be thick at this point.
- Pour in the 2 tablespoons of Meyer lemon juice, ½ teaspoon vanilla extract, and a pinch of salt and mix until fully combined. If the frosting feels a bit loose, and a bit more powdered sugar. Refrigerate while the cupcakes cool. This should help thicken the frosting as well.
Decorating the Cupcakes:
- Once the cupcakes have fully cooled and the cream cheese frosting has set up and chilled, you can decorate the cupcakes.
- Fill a piping bag with some frosting and pipe from the outside into the middle of the cupcake in a closing circle, going up and making another circle towards the center. For reference, I used a large 8B piping tip. Decorate with lemon slices, sprinkles, sanding sugar, or more zest and enjoy.
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