These sunshine-inspired lemon raspberry jam cupcakes combine deliciously soft and moist lemon cake, sweet raspberry jam, and creamy-rich raspberry buttercream. Every bite is bursting with bright and fruity flavor, so they’re the perfect dessert in the spring and summertime. I recommend a thick raspberry jam or preserves—I typically use the brand Bonne Maman.
I originally published this recipe in 2014 and have since included a jam filling, plus new photos and a few more success tips.
While they may look innocent, these pretty cupcakes pack a strong flavor punch. They’ve been my go-to summer cupcake recipe for over a decade because they’re always well received, but it wasn’t until recently that I decided to improve upon their pink perfection.
The buttercream on top used to double as the cupcakes’ filling, but swapping it for raspberry jam/preserves lends a burst of intense fruitiness. It was a convenient swap because you also use raspberry jam in the frosting itself. The lemon and raspberry flavors were both stronger after this switch, and it left me with more buttercream to use on top. Taste testers swooned over this batch, so I decided to make it a permanent change. Truly better than ever!
Lemon Raspberry Cupcakes Details:
- Flavor: Tangy-fresh lemon citrus flavor balanced with sweet berry jam and buttercream.
- Texture: The cupcakes have a soft, springy, and moist crumb. It’s the same lemon cupcake recipe I’ve trusted for years, and you’ll see it again with these lemon blueberry cupcakes.
- Ease: The cupcake batter itself is probably the most straightforward cupcake batter I’ve ever worked with. You need a mixer to make it. You’ll fill the lemon cupcakes with jam, then mix together the raspberry buttercream. Filling cupcakes is quite simple—you just need a paring knife and teaspoon.
Grab These Ingredients for the Cupcakes:
- Flour: All-purpose flour is the base.
- Baking Powder: Baking powder helps the cupcakes rise. You do not need baking soda in this recipe.
- Salt: A little salt adds flavor and balances all the sweet.
- Butter: I favor neutral oil in my cakes and cupcakes because it makes cakes exceptionally moist. However, when I’m looking for a buttery taste and cakey texture, I use creamed butter.
- Sugar: Cream this with the butter to produce a soft, cakey base for the batter. If you need some extra guidance with this step, here’s more on how to cream butter and sugar.
- Eggs: 2 eggs add structure and richness.
- Vanilla Extract: Pure vanilla extract adds flavor. You can use homemade vanilla extract if you have a batch going!
- Milk: Milk adds moisture. Milk with fat such as whole milk, buttermilk, or 2% milk is your best choice here. (Nondairy milk is great in a pinch.)
- Lemons: Grab 2 lemons for the cupcake batter. You need the zest and juice, plus a little juice for the raspberry buttercream.
The ingredient list is pretty similar to my lemon cake. Hold onto this dessert recipe; you can pair these lemon cupcakes with a variety of frostings and fillings. And they’re very easy to make.
The recipe conveniently makes exactly 1 dozen. After you bake and cool them, it’s time to fill with jam. Let me give you some advice on filling cupcakes.
Filling the Lemon Raspberry Cupcakes
It’s best to use a thick jam (or thick preserves). You can use seedless if you prefer, but with all of the other soft and creamy textures, you won’t notice a couple seeds in the filling. I always use and strongly recommend Bonne Maman Raspberry Preserves. (Not sponsored, just a big fan!)
We’re using the same method I use to fill these cream-filled chocolate cupcakes and these strawberry shortcake cupcakes. See my How to Fill Cupcakes tutorial and video if you need any extra help with this step.
With a sharp knife, cut a circle in the cupcake and remove the center, which will be roughly the shape of a cone. Using a small spoon, fill the middle of the cupcake with all the jam/preserves that can fit. (Usually between 1–2 teaspoons.) Slice/tear off the pointed tip of the cone-shaped piece of cupcake, and gently press the round piece back on top of the filling.
Let me show you:
It doesn’t have to look pretty on top, because you’ll top the cupcakes with buttercream.
Creamy Raspberry Jam Buttercream
The raspberry buttercream is pretty close to my vanilla buttercream. It’s slightly scaled down to make room for the raspberry preserves, and has the perfect amount of sweet raspberry flavor. I find a dash of salt and a splash of lemon juice both help balance the sweet.
If you need more excuses to make it, you’ll love it on these vanilla cupcakes or these blueberries and cream cupcakes. It’s also wonderful as a filling for homemade eclairs.
Two Success Tips:
- Softened butter and jam have two very different consistencies. One is creamy and the other is juicy. If you over-mix this frosting, it will start to look a bit separated. It’s ok if this happens because it doesn’t change the flavor. However, try to mix until everything is just combined.
- It’s a softer buttercream and does not crust, but I find it holds shape when piped. If the cupcakes sit out for a while, or are in the direct heat, the frosting will begin to lose shape. I recommend refrigerating the cupcakes after piping on the frosting, to help it set.
I used Wilton 1M to pipe the frosting on the pictured cupcakes. Don’t forget a fresh raspberry and lemon slice for garnish!
Yes. If you want to take things 1 step further, you can skip the store-bought preserves and make my homemade raspberry filling instead. It’s going to give you the same results. You can use it as the filling inside the cupcakes and in place of the raspberry jam in the frosting. If you decide to do this, make the raspberry filling on the stove before you begin the cupcakes so it can cool completely.
Yes. You can swap in blueberry, strawberry, or other flavor jam/preserves for the filling and use it in the frosting instead of raspberry.
Yes. Feel free to skip the jam filling and keep these cupcakes un-filled.
Yes, you can swap the frosting below with this strawberry buttercream, using freeze-dried raspberries instead of freeze-dried strawberries.
More Favorite Cupcake Recipes
- Chocolate Cupcakes
- Strawberry Cupcakes
- Peanut Butter Cupcakes
- Coconut Carrot Cake Cupcakes
- Banana Cupcakes
Lemon Raspberry Jam Cupcakes
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours, 45 minutes
- Yield: 12 cupcakes
- Category: Cupcakes
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These sunshine-inspired lemon raspberry jam cupcakes combine deliciously soft and moist lemon cake, sweet raspberry jam, and creamy-rich raspberry buttercream. Every bite is bursting with bright and fruity flavor, so they’re the perfect dessert in the spring and summertime. I used Wilton 1M to pipe the frosting on the pictured cupcakes.
Ingredients
Lemon Cupcakes
- 1 and 1/2 cups (188g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 1 Tablespoon lemon zest
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup (120ml) whole milk or buttermilk, at room temperature
- 1/4 cup (60ml) fresh lemon juice
Filling
- 1/2 cup (165g) thick raspberry preserves or jam*
Raspberry Frosting
- 3/4 cups (12 Tbsp; 170g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3 and 1/2 cups (420g) confectioners’ sugar
- 1/2 cup (165g) thick raspberry preserves or jam*
- 1 Tablespoon whole milk, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- optional for garnish: fresh raspberries and lemon slices
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Line a 12-cup muffin pan with cupcake liners.
- Make the batter: Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl. Set aside.
- Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter, sugar, and lemon zest together on medium-high speed in a large bowl until creamed, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. (Here’s a helpful tutorial if you need guidance on how to cream butter and sugar.) Add eggs and vanilla extract, and then beat on medium-high speed until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Add the dry ingredients and then turn the mixer on low speed and slowly pour in the milk and lemon juice. Beat until just combined. Do not overmix.
- Pour/spoon the batter evenly into the liners. Bake for 18–21 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow the cupcakes to cool completely before filling and frosting.
- Fill the cupcakes: Using a sharp knife, cut a circle into the center of the cooled cupcakes to create a little pocket about 1 inch deep. The piece you removed will be sort of cone-shaped. Spoon jam inside each carved-out cupcake—use however much will fit. (I use a teaspoon for this. Usually you can fit between 1–2 teaspoons of filling in each.) Slice/tear off the pointy end of the “cone” piece of cupcake you removed, and gently press the round piece back on top of the filling. See my How to Fill Cupcakes post if you need extra visuals or help with this step.
- Make the frosting: Beat softened butter on medium speed for about 3-4 minutes until completely smooth and creamy. Add the confectioners’ sugar, jam, milk, vanilla extract, lemon juice, and salt. Start the mixer on low speed and beat for 30 seconds. Turn it up to high speed and beat for 1 minute or until combined. Beat in more confectioners’ sugar if frosting is too thin, is separating (due to the juicy jam), or looks too wet. Taste; beat in more salt if too sweet.
- Frost cooled cupcakes and top each with a fresh raspberry and lemon slice, if desired. You can swipe the frosting on with an icing knife or use a piping tip such as Wilton 1M or Ateco 826. This is a softer-style buttercream and does not crust. If the cupcakes sit out for several hours, or are in the direct heat, the frosting will begin to lose shape. I recommend refrigerating the cupcakes for at least 1 hour before serving, to help set the frosting.
- Store leftover cupcakes in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. A cupcake carrier makes storing and transporting easy.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: Make and fill the cupcakes 1 day in advance. Keep the cupcakes covered tightly at room temperature or in the refrigerator. Frost the next day. Unfrosted cupcakes can be frozen up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature before frosting and serving.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 12-count Muffin Pan | Cupcake Liners | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Citrus Zester | Citrus Juicer | Piping Bag (Reusable or Disposable) | Ateco 826 Piping Tip or Wilton 1M Piping Tip | Cupcake Carrier
- Lemons: You need about 2-3 medium lemons to yield this amount of zest and juice.
- Whole Milk or Buttermilk: You can use either. You can use lower fat or nondairy milks in a pinch, but the cupcakes won’t taste nearly as rich and moist.
- Jam/Preserves: I always use and strongly recommend Bonne Maman Raspberry Preserves. (Not sponsored, just a big fan!)
- Mini Cupcakes: For around 30–36 mini cupcakes, bake for about 11–13 minutes, same oven temperature. I do not recommend filling mini cupcakes; they’re simply too small.
- Can I Use a Homemade Raspberry Filling? Yes, you can skip the store-bought preserves and make my homemade raspberry filling instead (that recipe makes enough for the filling and buttercream). It’s going to give you the same results. You can use it as the filling inside the cupcakes and in place of the raspberry jam in the frosting. If you decide to do this, make the raspberry filling on the stove before you begin the cupcakes so it can cool completely.
- Other Flavor Jam/Preserves: You can swap in blueberry, strawberry, or other flavor jam/preserves for the filling and use it in the frosting instead of raspberry.
- Can I Skip the Filling? Yes. Feel free to skip the jam filling and keep these cupcakes un-filled.
- Amount of Batter/6-Inch Cake: This recipe yields between 3-4 cups of batter which is helpful if you’re reviewing the Cake Pan Sizes & Conversions page. You can use this batter for a 6-inch layer cake and see my 6-inch cake recipes page for complete details and instructions. I recommend piping a “frosting dam” around the bottom and center layer of the cakes so the raspberry jam doesn’t spill out. See my chocolate raspberry cake for a visual.
- Be sure to check out my 10 tips for baking the BEST cupcakes before you begin!
Reader Comments and Reviews
Hi Sally,
This recipe has amazing flavor! The lemon cake was a little dense, more like a pound cake. Did I over mix it? Thanks!
Hi Kelly, over-mixing could definitely be the culprit here. These lemon cupcakes aren’t quite as light as these strawberry shortcake cupcakes, but they shouldn’t be nearly as dense as pound cake, either. This post on How to Prevent a Dry or Dense Cake may be helpful to review for next time!
Your recipes are always spot on and this one nailed it again. I was able use my summer jams and jellies sourced from the garden instead of raspberry to create a blueberry/blackberry jam filled cupcake with currant jelly buttercream. OMG.
I also appreciate the time you take to make videos and provide alternate ways to accomplish tasks. Yes, I bake a lot, but yes, it’s always nice to have refreshers and new stuff hit you to go beyond the recipe box. Thank you!
These were fantastic! Really straightforward to make and totally delicious, like summer in a cupcake! Thanks for another great recipe Sally!
Hey I just wanted to ask if this recipe can be used for cake as well
Hi M, a cupcake recipe typically makes enough batter for a 3-layer 6-inch cake, if you have 6-inch round cake pans. Here is everything you need to know about converting recipes to different cake pan sizes.
Just want to be sure that the cupcakes can be filled with the preserves before freezing.
Sure can, Laurel!
Have made and loved so much I want to make again 😀 Question for this time, would the raspberry sauce (from the white chocolate raspberry cheesecake bar recipe) work well in the frosting here instead of jam?
Hi Emily, that would be too thin, but you could use this raspberry cake filling instead!
Another winner, Sally! I made mini cupcakes for a birthday party so I did not fill them. I did 1.5x the recipe and got about 60 cupcakes. I did not make any additional icing and still had extra. The icing is pretty sweet, which balances out the tartness of the cupcakes. I didn’t have buttermilk, so just did the old milk + lemon juice combo. I used 2% milk and the cupcakes were still very moist, I just monitored the bake time closely (~13min for 2 pans and 11.5 min for 1 pan). The icing was a little thin, but as mentioned due to the sweetness I didn’t want to add any more sugar, so I added 1 tsp of cornstarch and beat for about 30 seconds. Worked great! Thanks for a winner, and hope these tips help others.
These cupcakes were really good. I used the not-so-sweet whipped frosting instead of the raspberry frosting, and it worked well. The lemon and raspberry combo was good and they were pretty easy to make. I would definitely recommend this delicious cupcake.
YUM. I’m glad I made these to take to a luncheon–otherwise, I’d be sitting here eating them all. I filled my cupcake tins with about 1/4-cup of batter, so I got 14 cupcakes instead of 12 and had plenty of frosting leftover. I’m not complaining about extra cupcakes though. 🙂 These are perfect for a summer dessert!
I’m going to be using this recipe to make a two layer half sheet cake, how much do you think I might need to multiply it for to achieve that.thanks ! Love all your recipes so much!
Hi Micaela! Here is everything you need to know about converting recipes to different Cake Pan Sizes.
Hi Sally!! Just like your three layer 8-inch lemon blueberry cake, could we make this cake using three 8-inch layers? Would you happen to have the amount of batter we should make in order to do so? And perhaps how much of the filling and icing we need? Thank you!!!
Hi Paige, we’d recommend using our lemon layer cake recipe for 3, 8-inch layers. You’ll then want about 1 cup of filling for between the layers. The exact amount of frosting will depend on how heavily you’d like to frost the cake. We’d recommend 1.5x or 2x the frosting (if you want to have extra for decorating). Enjoy!
These were great! After seeing comments saying they were a little sweet, I reduced the sugar in the cake to about 3/4 cup and in the frosting to 3 cups. I definitely could have done 2 1/2 cups of sugar in the frosting, as it was still really sweet. Overall, great cupcakes though! I will definitely make these again
I was going to experiment with piping a flower piping tip and making the tops a flower similar to your sunflower cupcakes. There is a note the frosting is a little soft but I still do want the raspberry flavor. Will this work for that type of piping?
Hi Staci, this buttercream does not crust, but we find that is does hold it’s shape well when piped. We recommend refrigerating the cupcakes after piping on the frosting, to help it set. Or, if you want a slightly sturdier option, you could use our strawberry buttercream and use freeze dried raspberries in place of the freeze dried strawberries. Hope you enjoy the cupcakes!
Sally, I always trust your recipes the most. I am making 6 dozen cupcakes for a shower. I would like to make your lemon raspberry cupcakes. Would I be able to dollop the raspberry jam directly into each unbaked cupcake instead of adding it after the cupcakes are baked? I am already making another filled cupcake, and I would like to save myself a bit of time by not having to carve out yet another 24 cupcakes and filling each one. Thank you!!!!
Hi Kathy! We don’t recommend it for fear that the cupcakes may not bake properly with the added liquid from the jam.
To save time making the holes for the jam, I use an apple corer. Just push the corer down as far as you want, then give it a twist and lift out the plug. Works great.
Very dry cupcakes which is a first for me from this website.
Hi there! Can I use this as a cake recipe?
Hi Sam, sure! Our cupcake recipes typically make great 6 inch layer cakes, if you have 6 inch cakes.
I normally love the recipes I try here, but this one wasn’t my favorite. It turned out, and I didn’t make any substitutions, but the sweetness was over the top for me. And I bake nearly every weekend, and love my sugary baked goods. But these were just too much. I needed water just to finish one.