These easy lemon cupcakes take just 30 minutes to make and taste delicious. Moist and bursting with lemon flavours they're also made with no butter!
These easy lemon cupcakes are amongst my favourite cupcake recipes to make.
They're so tasty and lemony that one may just not be enough
But that's OK though because they're only 144 calories each too.
Just like my lighter lemon loaf cake I've used Greek yogurt and no butter helping to make these into healthier lemon cupcakes!
Every bite of these easy lemon cupcakes has a refreshing citrus flavor.
Each cake has an amazing soft and tender texture.
Plus the topping isn't some fancy buttercream from a piping bag making it look like something out of a bakery.
Forgive me folks but I'm no artist!
Nope its just lemon juice and icing sugar mixed together.
You see these are just easy home baked lemon cupcakes.
Easy for kids to make and for adults not to stress over!
You DO NOT need an electric mixer to make these.
It's just two bowls. One large bowl for the dry ingredients and one medium bowl for the wet ingredients.
The wet ingredients are folded into the dry ingredients to create a batter which is then spooned into the paper cases and baked.
Let the cupcakes cool to room temperature. Then spoon the lemon icing over. Easy!
As lemon desserts go these homemade lemon cupcakes really are packed with lemon flavor!
And all it takes it just a few simple ingredients and voila. Amazing fluffy lemon cupcakes.
They'll most likely become one of your favorite desserts. They're one of our most favorite cupcake recipes.
The fresh lemon juice used in the lemon cupcake batter definitely makes all the difference. Make sure you don't skip on that!
Jump to:
Ingredients
- Self-Raising Flour
- Baking Powder
- Caster Sugar
- Eggs
- Sunflower Oil
- Fat Free Greek Yogurt
- Lemon
- Icing Sugar / Powdered Sugar / confectioners’ sugar
- Lemon Juice
See recipe card for quantities.
Substitutions
- Self-Raising Flour - you can substitute with cake flour / all purpose flour instead and 2.5 extra teaspoons of baking powder.
- Baking Powder - essential to help the cupcakes rise.
- Caster Sugar
- Eggs - use 1 medium sized egg.
- Sunflower Oil
- Fat Free Greek Yogurt
- Lemon - the recipe needs fresh lemons.
- Icing Sugar / Powdered Sugar / confectioners’ sugar - for the creamy lemon frosting.
- Lemon Juice - you can use bottled for the lemon frosting.
Tips For How To Make Easy Lemon Cupcakes
Detailed instructions for how to make the best lemon cupcakes are in the recipe card below. But here are some quick tips for making these healthy lemon cupcakes. Healthy cupcakes when compared to other recipes!
- Make sure you use the juice and zest of an actual lemon in the cake batter. I do not recommend using bottled lemon juice here in this lemon cupcake recipe. Your cakes will not taste particularly lemony.
- However you can use bottled lemon juice for the icing part.
- To store keep your lemon cupcakes sealed in an airtight container for up to three days. I don't recommend keeping them in the fridge or freezing them.
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Other Delicious Lemon Baked Recipes You Might Also Like
📋 Easy Lemon Cupcakes Recipe
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Equipment
Ingredients
For the cupcakes: -
- 200 g self-raising flour
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 75 g caster sugar
- 2 eggs
- 50 ml sunflower oil
- 50 ml no fat Greek yogurt
- Zest and juice of one lemon
For the topping: -
- 100 g icing sugar.
- 2 tablespoon lemon juice
Instructions
For the cupcakes: -
- Preheat oven to 180C (Fan) and line a 12-hole cupcake tin with paper cases.
- In a large mixing bowl, sift the flour and baking powder then add the sugar.
- In a smaller glass Pyrex mixing bowl, whisk the eggs, oil, yogurt and zest and juice of lemon together.
- Using a plastic spatula gradually fold the wet egg mixture into the dry flour mixture to make a batter.
- Spoon the mixture equally between the 12 paper cases.
- Bake in the oven for 15 minutes until the cupcakes have risen and are golden brown. Check they are fully cooked inside by inserting a toothpick into one and ensuring it comes out clean,
- Transfer the cupcakes onto a wire rack and allow them to cool completely.
For the topping: -
- Once cupcakes have cooled, sift the icing sugar in a bowl and mix it with the lemon juice.
- Top each muffin with approximately ½ tsp. icing then allow the icing to set.
Nutrition
Nutrition Label
Nutritional information provided below is calculated using paid for online tools and the exact ingredients and quantities used above.
Rate The Recipe
If you’ve made this homemade lemon cupcake recipe, or any other recipes on Neil's Healthy Meals, then please let me know.
I’d love to hear what you think of my recipe in the comments below and please do rate my recipe 5* if you like it! 🙂
David @ Spiced
These cupcakes sound fantastic - and easy! I always crave citrus flavors this time of the year, so these would be the perfect solution. And clocking in at just 144 calories means I get one of these cupcakes into my daily limit without too much trouble. Heck, 144 calories normally goes to some afternoon pita chips. Not this time! Now it's a lemon cupcake!
Neil
There's plenty of citrus flavours in these David. I did wonder if I put a little too much icing on them as it made them collapse a little. But they were incredibly tasty. So I left them like that. Ha ha!
Emma Tickner
These look lovely and easy to make vegan.
I will be trying these.
Thanks for the recipe Neil.
Neil
Thank you Emma. Hope you enjoy them. 🙂
Holly
I love this kind of simple cupcakes with no fuss to make. These lemon cupcakes are especially good for people who wants to avoid butter. Using Greek yogurt is a great idea to keep them moist. I can imagine the taste of lemony freshness. Yummy!
Neil
Thanks Holly. These are definitely moist and so lemony! I do use butter in my baking but that tends to be in my bread recipes. Thanks for commenting! 🙂
Easyfoodsmith
Oh Yum! You made me crave these.
Neil
Ha ha! Yeah I can understand that. We can't get enough of them at the moment! 🙂
Laura
Neil - Im in such a citrus mood, I just can't get enough! And these look and sound outstanding. I love that they're made with yogurt! And your simple glaze is gorgeous!
Neil
Thanks Laura. As I mentioned to David in a previous comment I did wonder if I put too much icing on as it made the cakes collapse a little. Still they are delicious!!
Ben | Havocinthekitchen
Citrus recipes - or specifically lemon recipes - are associated with the transition between winter and spring to me. Maybe because this flavour is so refreshing and luscious. These cupcakes are lovely and they scream "spring " to me (which apparently is far from arriving in Nova Scotia.)
Neil
Thanks Ben. It'll just be nice to be able to sit outside, weather willing don't you think with Spring on its way? We've had some nice weather here but like you its still far too cold to sit outside. So I'll just need to sit inside and enjoy these cupcakes!