My Lemon Limoncello Cupcakes Recipe is bright and zingy and full of sunshine! Lemony cupcakes brushed with a Limoncello syrup, then topped with a beautiful swirl of Limoncello spiked buttercream. Pure sunshine, pure summer, pure heaven!
Lemon love
So if you’ve been here before, you may have come across a few of my other lemon loves! From my Lemon Cupcakes filled with my delicious Lemon Curd to my Lemon Cookies, Lemon Squares (both these are perfect for picnics!), and my showstopping Lemon Blueberry Doughnuts, you’re actually rather spoilt for choice! 😘
Given I’ve shared so many beautiful lemon bakes with you all, I figured it was time to make it a little more “grown-up”. On a lazy sunny Sunday not too long ago, sitting in our garden watching the children play and enjoying a cheeky Limoncello, I knew the answer was staring up at me! And so here we are, and I’m sharing with you today my Lemon Limoncello Cupcakes Recipe! 🍋
How to make my Lemon Limoncello Cupcakes Recipe
There are a few steps in making this Limoncello cake recipe, but really it’s fairly straightforward.
You simply make your cupcakes, as usual, then whilst they’re baking, you prepare a beautiful Limoncello syrup. As soon as your cupcakes are out of the oven, prick them and brush really generously with your syrup. This keeps them super moist, but also adds to the beautiful boozy lemon flavour 🥂 Then, once cool, top with your buttercream and garnish with a quartered slice of lemon.
Beautiful and totally worth being patient for! 😘
Hope the sun is shining on you, wherever you are, and hope these Lemon Limoncello Cupcakes will bring a little extra sunshine and joy in your life too 😊
Happy baking, my friends x
Recommended equipment and ingredients I used *
| Cupcake tin | Cupcake cases |
| Stand mixer | Glass mixing bowl |
| Spatula | Ice cream scoop |
| Piping bags | Piping nozzle |
Lemon Limoncello Cupcakes Recipe
12
servings40
minutes20
minutes541
kcal1
hourA grown-up cupcake treat: Lemon Limoncello Cupcakes! Yum!!
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Ingredients
- For the cupcakes
175 g (¾ cup+2 tbsp) caster sugar
2 lemons, zest
175 g (¾ cup+1 tbsp) unsalted butter cubed, at room temp
3 large eggs
1 tbsp Limoncello
175 g (1 cup+1 tbsp) self-raising flour
- For the Limoncello syrup
1 lemon, juice of
50 g (¼ cup) caster sugar
3 tbsp Limoncello
- For the buttercream
220 g (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
440 g (3 cups) icing (powdered) sugar
1-2 tbsp Limonello
1 lemon, sliced and cut into quarters, to garnish (optional)
Directions
- Preheat your oven to 180C/350F. Line a 12 hole cupcake tin with cases and set aside.
- In a large bowl, tip in your sugar then add the zest of both lemons directly into your bowl. Stir to combine lemon zest and oils with sugar, then add butter to the bowl and beat until light and fluffy.
- Add in your eggs, one at a time, mixing well until combined before adding the next and scraping your bowl down to make sure everything is well incorporated. Pour in the Limoncello and mix through. Sift in the flour and mix to combine.
- Spoon your cake mixture equally between your prepared cupcake cases. I use an ice cream scoop, but you can use two spoons too. Bake in your preheated oven for 18-20 minutes until your cupcakes are springy to touch and a cocktail stick comes out clean.
- While your cupcakes are baking, make your syrup. Tip the juice of one lemon and the sugar into a small saucepan, and bring to a quick boil to dissolve the sugar. Once the sugar has dissolved, remove the pan from the heat and tip in your Limoncello, stirring through. As soon as your cupcakes are out of the oven, place them on a cooling rack and brush them all generously with the prepared syrup whilst they’re still warm. Doing it when they’re warm helps them absorb the syrup better and keeps them really beautifully moist. Yum!
- When your cupcakes are cool, it’s time for some buttercream! Beat your butter to soften it until it turns pale and fluffy, then add the icing sugar in two goes, beating in between to combine. Once mixed together, add in your Limoncello, mixing and adding more, until you are satisfied with the consistency of your buttercream (I normally use about 1.5 tbsp). Pop your buttercream into a piping bag, fitted with any nozzle you like (I used a star nozzle, wilton 1M), and pipe a beautiful swirl onto your cupcakes. Gently push a lemon wedge into the side of your cupcakes to garnish and enjoy!
Highly recommend this recipe – the cakes are delicious and went down a storm at our Eurovision party! (Italian themed of course!). Easy to make and the bonus is I now have Limoncello left to drink 🙂
Awww, Lucy, thank you so much for such a fabulous review! So glad I could somewhat help you with the leftover Limoncello too 😘
Hello, would like to try to make these but what is self-raising flour and caster sugar? Thank you
Hi Renata, self-raising flour is a type of flour that also contains a raising agent. If you are unable to find it where you are, you can use plain (all-purpose) flour adding 2 tsp baking powder for every 140g of plain flour used. Caster sugar is a type of sugar that is finer than granulated, but coarser than icing/powdered sugar. If you cannot find caster sugar, you can substitute for an equal quantity of granulated sugar instead. Hope that helps!
i cant get it to rise. i have tried making them twice now and both times they sink. i even bought new baking powder and still sank. i am using normal flour with baking powder
Hi Lyle, I’m sorry to hear this! My recipe calls for self raising flour, which I know isn’t easily available around the world. With plain flour as a substitute, you need to add 2tsp baking powder too, for the cupcakes to rise as they should, is this how much you have used? I do hope this helps! 😊