Lemon curd cupcakes
A super light yet wonderfully moist cupcake that is so simple to make - and customise!
Stays soft and moist for longer but still has a buttery flavour, thanks to the use of both oil and butter. Not to mention the Greek yoghurt!
For this particular recipe, I customised it with lemon curd and cream cheese frosting, but feel free to substitute your own flavours into it.
Perfect as another Easter recipe with its zesty and zingy flavour profile matching the spring vibes of Easter (even though here in Australia it is autumn), but is overall just a great cupcake base to customise because it is so moist and tender.
I just checked, and it appears that I haven’t made cupcakes since 2018 and muffins since 2019!!! A travesty!!
So I guess this bake remedies that, plus I have a muffin recipe coming soon(-ish) too.
To be honest, I was going for an ‘egg’ look with the frosting (egg white) and lemon curd (egg yolk) at the top, but I can’t say with confidence that it really worked out too well… so just decorate how you like.
If you’d prefer to properly pipe the frosting on, I’d suggest making it in advance (a day is fine) so that it has time to firm up in the fridge before piping (since you’re starting with room temperature cream cheese and butter).
Something I always make sure to do when baking with sour cream or yoghurt is stirring it to ensure it is smooth and loose. This just makes it easier to mix into the batter evenly, otherwise there may be small lumps of it in the batter. Not toooooo big of a deal, but something I like to do.
For this particular recipe, I’d also suggest swirling the lemon curd into the batter more than I’ve done here or making a well in the centre of the batter when spooning the curd on. This is to avoid pockets of curd being wasted on the side of the cupcake liners.
Recipe
For the cupcakes
Makes approx. 14 cupcakes
INGREDIENTS:
280g plain flour
1/4tsp baking soda
1 1/2tsp baking powder
1tsp salt
200g Greek yoghurt OR sour cream
1tsp vanilla extract
100g unsalted butter, room temperature
250g castor sugar
75g olive oil OR a neutral flavoured oil
3 eggs
160g lemon curd
METHOD:
Preheat oven to 180°C and line a muffin pan.
Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
Stir together the yoghurt and vanilla to loosen the yoghurt up. Set aside.
Cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, then beat in the oil.
Beat in the eggs one at a time, ensuring each egg is thoroughly combined before adding the next.
Beat 1/3 of the flour mixture in until roughly combined, then 1/2 of the yoghurt mixture. Beat in 1/2 of the remaining flour mixture, then the remaining yoghurt mixture. Lastly, fold in the remaining flour mixture with a spatula to ensure you do not overmix it.
Spoon the batter into the lined muffin pan. Fill it up 1/3 of the way, create a well in the middle to fill with or swirl in roughly 1tsp of lemon curd, and then top with more batter until roughly 2/3-3/4 full. Top with an extra swirl of lemon curd.
Repeat this until no batter is left.Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the cupcakes spring back when lightly pressed and a skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool for 15 minutes in the pan before transferring to a cooling rack.
Once completely cool, frost with cream cheese frosting and a little extra lemon curd if desired.
For the cream cheese frosting
INGREDIENTS:
250g cream cheese, room temperature
115g unsalted butter, room temperature
400g icing sugar (pure OR mixture)
1/2tsp vanilla extract
Corn flour (optional)
METHOD:
Beat the cream cheese until it is completely smooth. Beat in the butter and beat until fully incorporated.
Sift in the icing sugar a little at a time, beating well after each addition.
Beat in the vanilla.
If frosting is too thin, add more icing sugar or some corn flour (only 1/2tbsp at a time for the flour).
If frosting is too thick, add a little milk.
