Lemon Cupcakes with Blackberry Cream Cheese Frosting

Also try my lemon blueberry cake!

We have lemon cupcakes with blackberry cream cheese frosting on today’s menu. These cupcakes are all sorts of flavorful with a giant dose of naturally colored (yay!) and naturally flavored (yay again!) blackberry frosting. They’re your dessert answer for everything coming up:

• Literally any springtime celebration = these cupcakes.
• Lilac/lavendar wedding color scheme? Done.
• Bridal shower? Obviously.
• Baby shower? This is your dessert, totally gender neutral.
• Mother’s Day or Father’s Day celebration? Parent approved.
• No reason at all? Do you even need a reason to make cupcakes?

In terms of flavors, they remind me of my lemon berry yogurt cake and citrus cake. 

This is my basic recipe for lemon cupcakes, which I also use for lemon raspberry cupcakes. They’re soft and fluffy with bright and sunny lemon flavor. I published the recipe 4 years ago and they’ve never steered us wrong! The recipe is actually my most popular cake recipe on my blog: lemon blueberry cake… only reduced to make cupcakes. So if you’ve tried the lemon blueberry layer cake recipe, you know the cupcake version is a winner too.

There’s nothing crazy or fancy about the batter. Simply creamed butter + sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder, milk, and lemon. The usual gang! The batter is creamy, silky, and has the most unbelievable fresh lemon fragrance. You’ll fall in love even before you steal the first taste.

Remember to only fill your cupcake liners 2/3 full—just like you see above.

Grab fresh blackberries, puree them in a food processor (I use my little ninja!), then push through a fine mesh strainer to rid the seeds. You’re left with thick and seedless blackberry juice, which will go directly into the frosting. I suppose a blackberry jam works just as well, though the flavor may not be as potent.

(Don’t you just want to swipe a taste with your finger???)

I don’t suggest doing this method with any other berry—though raspberries *should* be fine. Strawberries and blueberries produce a juice that’s much too thin for cream cheese frosting. You know what to do instead? Freeze-dried berries. You know I swear by freeze-dried berries for this strawberry buttercream frosting.

#1 Issue with Cream Cheese Frosting

This is a cream cheese frosting variation so make sure you’re using brick cream cheese, not cream cheese spread. That’s the #1 issue readers face when making cream cheese frosting. You want the actual brick of cream cheese, sold right next to the tubs of cream cheese spread.

The blackberry flavor in this frosting is mild, but you’ll know it’s there. The blackberry cream cheese frosting is a little thinner than we’re used to because of the added juice, but I was still able to pipe it with my #12 round tip. I actually loved how light it was, especially paired with an equally light lemon cupcake. The frosting is also super soft and just as creamy as you see in the photo above.

Baker’s Tip: Try filling these cupcakes with my homemade lemon curd for an extra special treat! See my How to Fill Cupcakes tutorial and video for exactly how to do so. (Use method #2 outlined in that post for filling.)

This is, without a doubt, my new favorite cream cheese frosting. I’m already planning on using it as an alternate filling in this strawberries and cream cake roll and urge you to try that too! Also, doesn’t looking at the purple color instantly put you in a better mood? Experience it all ASAP. ↓

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