Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting - Herbs & Flour (2024)

These fluffy, tender Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes are flavored with fresh lemon and studded with blueberries. These cupcakes are not only delicious, but easy to make too!

Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes are one of those recipes I regularly fall back on because they are a guaranteed hit whenever I serve them. They are soft, moist and perfectly flavored with fresh lemon and bursts of juicy blueberries.

Lemon and blueberry are one of those food pairings that go so well together. They work so beautifully together in these cupcakes as well as in other treats like Lemon Blueberry Biscotti and Lemon Blueberry Bread. Simply delicious.

I top these delicious little cakes with a lemon cream cheese frosting. The creamy, lemony frosting takes them to a new level! If cream cheese isn’t your cup of tea, a vanilla buttercream frosting also works great. You can find my recipe for vanilla buttercream in my Funfetti Cupcakes recipe. To decorate the cupcakes, I like to add a few plump blueberries and some lemon zest to top the cupcakes and make them an adorable addition to your dessert table.

I cannot rave about these Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes enough. They are truly wonderful and work for so many occasions including birthdays, bridal or baby showers, Mother’s Day or Father’s Day, Tuesdays, Saturdays…the list goes on! Pretty much any excuse to make them is a good one.

Why we love these Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes

• They are delicious! Lemon and blueberry go so well together.
• The cupcakes are tender and moist.
• A stand mixer makes these super easy to whip up!
• If you have fresh lemons and blueberries, you are well on your way to making these. The other simple ingredients are standard cake ingredients that you likely have on hand.
• You can easily adapt this recipe to work with any other berry you like. I use this same base recipe to make my Strawberry Lemon Cupcakes and my Triple Berry Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting.
• Cream cheese frosting is the perfect creamy addition to complement the fluffy cupcakes.
• These cupcakes have always been a hit whenever I have served them!

Ingredients in Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes

• Butter: softened unsalted butter is used in the cupcakes as well as the frosting.
• Sugar: regular granulated sugar is used for the cupcakes and powdered sugar (aka icing sugar or confectioners sugar) is used for the frosting.
• Flour: all purpose flour.
• Eggs
• Vanilla extract: for flavor.
• Salt: A little salt is added to enhance flavor.
• Baking powder: leavener.
• Milk: You can use any kind of milk including whole milk, 2% milk, 1%, etc.
• Lemon: Fresh lemon juice and zest.
• Blueberries: Fresh blueberries are the best option for these. If you don’t have fresh berries, frozen can be used instead, however, they run the risk of bleeding blueberry juice and staining the cupcake batter.
• Cream cheese: softened cream cheese is used for the frosting.

**Note: Ingredient quantities and full instructions are in the recipe card at the end of this post.**

How to make Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes

1. Prep. Preheat oven to 350F and line a 12 cup cupcake pan with cupcake liners.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Combine the wet ingredients. Add the eggs, vanilla extract, milk and lemon juice and mix thoroughly. Note: If you do not have a stand mixer, you can do this using a large mixing bowl and an electric mixer/ hand mixer.
4. Mix in the dry ingredients. Mix the baking powder, flour, lemon zest, and salt in a large mixing bowl and then slowly mix it into the wet ingredients to form a smooth batter. Remove the bowl from the stand mixer.
5. Fold in the blueberries. Toss the blueberries in a tablespoon of flour and then fold the blueberries into the batter with a spatula.
6. Bake. Spoon the cupcake batter into the cupcake liners, filling each until they are 3/4 full. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 3 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Favorite frostings for these cupcakes

My absolute favorite frosting for these is a creamy cream cheese frosting. I like to flavor it with a hint of lemon too to compliment the cupcakes and accentuate the lemon flavor. To make the cream cheese frosting:

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the cream cheese and beat until smooth. Add the butter and beat to combine. Next, add the lemon juice and powdered sugar and mix until everything is combined and smooth.
2. Transfer to a piping bag and pipe onto cooled cupcakes. Top the cupcakes with fresh blueberries and lemon zest if desired.

As mentioned earlier, you can replace the cream cheese frosting if it is not your favorite. A vanilla buttercream works really well with these delicate cupcakes. My recipe for vanilla buttercream is in my Funfetti Cupcakes post.

If you want to make them extra special, you can flavor the buttercream with blueberries. I do something similar in my Strawberry Lemon Cupcakes. You can follow this buttercream recipe and use blueberries in place of the strawberries.

Storing the cupcakes

You can make these blueberry lemon cupcakes ahead of time and store them in the fridge in an airtight container. These cupcakes should be kept refrigerated and not out at room temperature to maintain freshness. This is especially important if you are using cream cheese frosting.

Can you freeze these cupcakes?

Yes, you can freeze these cupcakes. If you are making these in advance and know you are freezing them, I highly recommend freezing them unfrosted and then waiting until they are thawed to frost them. This will help you wrap them up more securely to maintain freshness as well as prevent any frosting from getting smushed in the freezer.

To freeze unfrosted cupcakes, once they are baked and cooled, you can individually wrap the cupcakes with plastic wrap and then place them in a freezer bag or freezer safe container.

If you have leftover cupcakes and wish to freezing them after they have been frosted, you can do so as well. In order to maintain the frosting and prevent them from getting overly smushed, you can freeze them first on a baking tray and then transfer them to a freezer safe container afterwards. Opt for a container with enough height allowance to prevent smashing down the frosting when you freeze them.

Can you turn this cupcake recipe into a cake?

Yes, you can easily use this recipe to make a cake instead of cupcakes. My Triple Berry Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting is essentially this exact recipe in cake form (and using 3 types of berries).

As written, the batter can be transferred to an 8×8 baking pan to make a small cake. You will need to add more baking time when baking a cake to ensure it is cooked through. It will take about 20-25 minutes to bake, though you should check with a toothpick to ensure the center is baked.

These lemon blueberry cupcakes are a favorite at all the events I have brought them to. I hope you enjoy these lemon blueberry cupcakes as much as I do!

Happy baking!

-Cathy

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