I LOVE these Limoncello Cupcakes with Lemon Curd filling! The first time I heard of Limoncello was in an interview with the great Danny Devito. Turns out he has his own brand of Limoncello.
Since I love lemon-flavored desserts, it was a no brainer for me to make these Limoncello cupcakes. I did make my own lemon curd for these cupcakes (see recipe card below), but you can also buy lemon curd from your local grocery store and still achieve the same delicious results.
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Tips
- While you can pretty much use any brand of cream cheese, I highly recommend you use Philadelphia brand cream cheese. You will taste the difference.
And just to make sure you get all the lemon flavor you can handle, I’ve included a lemon buttercream icing to go with these delicious cupcakes.
Buttermilk Substitution
If you don’t have Buttermilk on hand, you can use this trick as a substitute: Add one tablespoon of lemon juice to a measuring cup.
Add milk and fill to the 1 cup measurement line. Stir the mixture together and let sit for 5 minutes. Since this recipe calls for 1/2 cup you will need to adjust accordingly.
Another option is to use a cultured buttermilk blend. All you need to do is add water. I was very skeptical at first but in a pinch it works great!
Gather your Ingredients
You will need the following ingredients to make this Limoncello Cupcakes recipe (see recipe card for quantities): All Purpose Flour, Baking Powder, Salt, Unsalted Butter, Softened, Cream Cheese, White Sugar, Eggs, Limoncello, Buttermilk, Lemon Juice, Lemon Zest and Powdered Sugar.
How to Make Limoncello Cupcakes
- Preheat Oven to 325°F.
- Beat the softened butter and cream cheese. Add the sugar and mix well until light and fluffy.
- Stir in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each.
- Add the limoncello and beat until well mixed.
- Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Add half the flour to the butter mixture and mix well. Pour buttermilk into the mixture and mix until well combined. Add the rest of the flour mixture and mix.
- Mix in lemon juice and lemon zest just until combined.
- Pour batter into a prepared cupcake pan and bake until a toothpick comes out clean – about 18 to 20 minutes depending on your oven. Let cupcakes cool on a wire rack.
How to Make Lemon Curd Filling
- In a saucepan over medium heat, mix lemon juice, lemon zest, and sugar until it boils.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk egg and egg yolk.
- Remove the lemon mixture from heat. Whisk lemon mixture into eggs to temper.
- Add mixture back to the saucepan and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until thickened. Cool completely.
- Use a Cupcake Corer (or your preferred method) to make a hole into tops of cooled cupcakes. Fill each cupcake with cooled lemon curd.
How to Make Lemon Buttercream Icing
- In a small bowl, beat the butter and cream cheese.
- Add the limoncello and beat until smooth.
- Beat in powdered sugar until desired icing consistency is obtained.
- Pipe icing onto cooled cupcakes.
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Limoncello Cupcakes with Lemon Curd
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Ingredients
CUPCAKE INGREDIENTS
- 1 ½ Cups All Purpose Flour
- 1 Tsp Baking Powder
- ½ Tsp Salt
- ¼ Cup Unsalted Butter, Softened
- 2 oz Cream Cheese
- 1 Cup White Sugar
- 3 Eggs
- 1 Tbsp Limoncello
- ½ Cup Buttermilk
- ¼ Cup Fresh Lemon Juice
- 1 Lemon Zest
LEMON CURD FILLING
- ½ Cup Fresh Lemon Juice
- 2 Lemon Zest
- ¼ Cup White Sugar
- 1 Egg
- 1 Egg Yolk
LEMON BUTTERCREAM ICING
- ¼ Cup Unsalted Butter
- 6 oz Cream Cheese
- 4 Cups Powdered Sugar
- 2 Tbsp Limoncello
Instructions
MAKE THE CUPCAKES
- Preheat Oven to 325°F.
- Beat the softened butter and cream cheese. Add sugar and mix well until light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each.
- Add the limoncello and beat until well mixed.
- Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Add half the flour to the butter mixture and mix well. Add buttermilk to mixture and mix until well combined. Add the rest of the flour mixture and mix.
- Mix in lemon juice and lemon zest just until combined.
- Pour batter into prepared cupcake pan and bake until toothpick comes out clean – about 18 to 20 minutes depending on your oven. Let cupcakes cool on wire rack.
MAKE LEMON CURD FILLING
- In a saucepan over medium heat, mix lemon juice, lemon zest, and sugar until it boils.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk egg and egg yolk.
- Remove lemon mixture from heat. Whisk lemon mixture into eggs to temper.
- Add mixture back to saucepan and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until thickened. Cool completely.
- Use a cupcake corer (or your preferred method) to make a hole into tops of cooled cupcakes. Fill each cupcake with cooled lemon curd.
MAKE THE LEMON BUTTERCREAM ICING
- In a small bowl, beat the butter and cream cheese.
- Add the limoncello and beat until smooth.
- Beat in powdered sugar until desired icing consistency is obtained.
- Pipe icing onto cooled cupcakes.
Notes
I’m trying out different cupcake recipes for our wedding and found your recipe for lemon cupcakes. I made these today and the
flavor of these cupcakes is absolutely delicious! I opted not to use the lemon curd because the lemon buttercream is perfectly creamy, not too sweet (I decreased the powdered sugar to 3 cups), it compliments the subtle flavor of the cupcakes, and it pipes easily. The one thing I was disappointed about was that they didn’t rise. I always pour one third cup of batter into each cupcake liner; unfortunately these cupcakes remained as poured. When unwrapped, the cake itself is about 1” high. I followed the directions closely and am wondering if I should increase the baking powder to 2 tsp. I’d appreciate any suggestions you may have.
P
Thanks for the feedback! These are indeed great cupcakes. Sorry to hear they didn’t rise as expected. In my experience, several factors can be at play here. Sometimes over mixing the batter or the oven not being hot enough. Adding a 1/2 or 1 more tsp might do the trick as well.