Lemon-Raspberry Cupcakes with a Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Frosting

May gray has passed and now we enter June gloom here in San Diego, it’s cold, overcast, and my hair is always frizzy! These two months are usually when you should avoid coming to San Diego but for some reason it’s when the most tourists come to visit.

But I’ll sacrifice a couple of months of bad weather in exchange of ten months of warm sunshine. Not a bad deal huh? When I say two months of “bad” weather, what I really mean the temperature drops to a frigid 60 degrees. You’ll see people dressed in their rain boots, scarfs and coats and it’s quite entertaining because it ain’t that cold people! Just put on a light jacket and move along.

Since it has been consistently overcast, I wanted to make something fresh, bright and take advantage of the delicious summer berries we’ve had this season. I came up with these lovely Lemon Raspberry Cupcakes with a Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Frosting. They are light, airy and the tartness from the fresh raspberry sauce really compliments the sweetness of the frosting.

These cupcakes really brightened up my day and decorating them was a lot of fun. I have to admit, my piping/decorating game hasn’t been strong since I haven’t decorated in a while but making these cupcakes made me realize how much I enjoy decorating cupcakes…sometimes 😉

Recipe adapted from Baking for All Occasions by Flo Braker.

Lemon-Raspberry Cupcakes with a Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Frosting

Print Recipe

Servings

28 cupcakes

Servings 28 cupcakes

Lemon-Raspberry Cupcakes with a Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Frosting Print Recipe Servings 28 cupcakes Servings 28 cupcakes

Ingredients

Cupcakes

• 3 cups cake flour
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup whole milk, room temp
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup softened unsalted butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs lightly beaten, room temp
• zest of two lemons

Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Frosting

• 8 oz cream cheese, room temp
• 4 oz softened unsalted butter
• 4 1/2 - 5 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste or 1 1/2 tsp vanilla exctract
• 1 Tb whole milk

Fresh Raspberry Filling

• 12 oz fresh raspberries
• 2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 3 Tb sugar
• 3 tsp cornstarch

Servings: cupcakes

Instructions

Cupcakes

1. Preheat oven to 350F and and place liners in cupcake pan. To make batter, sift together all dry ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside. Stir together milk and vanilla extract.
2. In a stand mixer, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy. Add sugar and beat for 3-4 minutes until light and fluffy. Scrape down sides occasionally. With mixer on low, slowly add eggs beating in between additions and again scrape down sides of bowl.
3. With mixer running on low speed add flour mixture alternating with milk. Start and end with flour mixture and beat until just incorporated after each addition. Again scrape down sides of bowl to ensure everything is incorporated. Using scoop or spoon, fill pan about 2/3 full. Bake for about 15-20 minutes until slightly golden and toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Allow to cool in pan before removing.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1. In a bowl of stand mixer, cream butter and cream cheese until creamy and fully incorporated. Add vanilla and mix. Sift powdered sugar into cream cheese mixture and beat on low speed until fully incorporated, then increase speed to medium-low and mix for about one minute. Finally add milk and briefly mix.

Filling

1. Place raspberries in a food processor and process until completely pureed. Pour the puree through a strainer over a small sauce pan and using a spatula, firmly press the puree through the strainer. Repeat until you extract as much puree as possible. Add lemon juice and sugar to raspberry puree and place on stove. On medium heat, add cornstarch and whisk constantly until puree comes to a boil and slightly thickened, keep whisking for about one minute and then remove from heat. Place in a bowl and allow to completely cool.
2. Once cupcakes have cooled, using a pairing knife gently core the cupcakes but do not let the knife reach the bottom. Once filling is completely cooled and slightly thickened, fill a pastry bag with raspberry filling and cut the tip of bag and begin filling cupcakes!

Decorating Cupcake

1. I used a large star tip and filled a 16 inch piping bag with frosting but you can use whatever you want. I split the frosting in half and added purple and green food coloring to achieve the colors use see in the pictures. I first placed a dollop of purple frosting on one side of piping bag leaving space next to it for the green frosting and alternated sides, keep going until you've filled the bag. I began piping the frosting starting from the center and going all the way around.

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