A simple recipe for moist & flavorful honey lemon cupcakes plus three amazing baking tips to make sure your baked goods don’t turn out dry or tough!
It is no secret that dessert is one of my favorite food groups. It’s not a food group you say? Um, ok. Well make these honey lemon cupcakes and then we can talk. All joking aside, these honey lemon cupcakes really are incredible.
I think they have the perfect texture along with the most incredible lemon flavor. The honey adds a nice smooth sweetness, and then the cream cheese frosting makes them perfect! Can you tell I really love these cupcakes?!
Now, before you go to all the trouble of making the cupcakes, let’s talk about a few baking tips. These will ensure your baked goods come out perfect every time! Put them to the test with these honey lemon cupcakes!
Let your eggs come to room temperature.
This allows everything to come together well and bake up evenly in the oven. I leave the butter eggs out the night or morning before I’m baking so they are both the same temperature. And yes, it’s totally fine to leave eggs out overnight.
Don’t over mix the batter.
This is the number one mistake people make!!! I’m going to get my nerd on for a minute and explain exactly what this means – I promise it’s cool. When you are creaming, beating, or whisking – don’t fear of overdoing it. Cream away!
The possibility to over mix comes in when you add the flour. Flour contains this cool protein {which is not actually inherently evil or unhealthy, as common lore would lead you to believe these days – insert eye-roll here} and the really cool protein is…gluten!!
Yes, all gluten is is just a protein found in wheat. Gluten is awesome because it provides structure to our baked goods. It’s what allows bread to rise, rolls to stay round, and it’s what can make your cupcakes tough! The more you mix flour, the more the gluten is “developed” or the more structure it will provide to whatever you’re making. For bread, this is good. This is why we need to knead bread. For cupcakes and other tender baked items, this is not good! This makes them tough and dry. Make sense? Ok, class dismissed :).
Don’t over bake it.
This may seem obvious, but there is a fine line between done and overdone. You have all probably heard the saying, “cook until a toothpick comes out clean.” While some baked goods need to be done until the toothpick comes out clean {brownies, for instance}, most do not. Most should be baked until the toothpick comes out with a few crumbs on it. Crumbs mean great texture and that your cupcakes won’t be overdone!
Now, if you’re just thinking that going to the store and buying a box is more your style, that’s totally fine! All of these three rules still apply and will still make your boxed mixes taste that much better. Promise!
Let me know what you think about these tips and how you like the honey lemon cupcakes!
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Honey Lemon Cupcakes
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup very soft butter one stick
- 3/4 cups sugar
- 3 eggs room temperature
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- Zest from 1 lemon
Icing
- 1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
- 4 oz cream cheese
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 2 tablespoons Juice from 1/2 of a lemon OR whole milk enough to make the icing the correct consistency.
Instructions
For the Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray muffin tin or line with cupcake liners.
- Whisk flour, baking powder and salt together, set aside.
- Stir milk, lemon juice and zest together, set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- Add in almond extract and honey and mix until just combined.
- Tip: spray measuring cup with non-stick spray before measuring the honey, it will come out so much easier!
- Starting with the wet ingredients, alternate adding the wet and dry ingredients, mixing until just barely combined at each stage.
- Pour evenly into muffin tins, they will be about 3/4 full. Bake about 15-18 minutes, checking for doneness at 15. A toothpick should come out with a few crumbs if they are done.
- Let cool before icing.
For the icing
- Let the butter and cream cheese come to room temperature.
- Whisk butter, cream cheese, honey, and almond extract together on until fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- Add 4 cups powdered sugar.
- Whisk on high speed for 3 more minutes.
- Adjust thickness with lemon juice or milk.
- Put icing into a piping bag or just a quart size zipper top bag. Put in the freezer for 15-20 minutes. If you'd like to sprinkle lemon zest on the top of the cupcakes, zest one lemon and let it sit out so it can slightly dry before you sprinkle it on top. If you're using a zipper top bag, cut the corner off about 1/4 inch up from the corner once it's done sitting in the freezer. Ice however you would like!
Alli says
Great flavor combo!
Krystyne king says
Dear Alli, love your blog. Thought you might want to be alerted to the typo in your About Ally write up. Dairy is spelled incorrectly and as a mom of a fellow dairy scientist, I thought you would want to know.
Krystyne.
Alli says
I’m so glad you love the blog! Thank you SO much for telling me about the typo! I always miss when it’s diary instead of dairy :). You’re great!