Strawberry Lemon Cupcakes

Strawberry Lemon Cupcakes are packed full of irresistible flavor. This delightful dessert is everything you could ever want in a cupcake. Made with a tart lemon pudding batter and a sweet strawberry puree frosting, this is the perfect recipe for pot lucks, parties and bake sales.

This superb lemon and strawberry combination makes this cupcake recipe perfect for you fruit lovers out there. Plus, the flavor and moistness of these cupcakes knock any old box mix cupcakes out of the park! 

Ingredient Notes and Substitutions

This is an overview of the ingredients you will need to make this yummy strawberry lemon cupcake recipe. Important notes and substitutions for certain ingredients are discussed. The full printable recipe, with amounts and specific details, can be found at the bottom of the page.

Butter – You’ll need butter two different ways for this recipe! For the cake mix, you’ll want to add melted butter to the cake mix to really give it that moist texture. For the frosting, you’ll just want to use softened butter. 

Sugar – Use white granulated sugar for the cake mix. 

Fresh Lemon Juice – Fresh juice just tastes better in this recipe, but if you don’t have fresh lemon juice you can always use bottled. 

Instant Lemon Pudding Mix – Any brand works fine with this recipe just as long as it is 3.4 ounces. If you absolutely can’t find lemon pudding mix, a vanilla pudding mix with a few drops of lemon extract can help take it’s place.

Strawberry Puree – To make a strawberry puree, combine 16oz of frozen strawberries, 2 tablespoons (or more to taste) of granulated sugar, and 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Blend until smooth in a food processor or mixer. Make sure when blending the strawberry puree to really make it smooth, you don’t want big chunks of strawberries to get stuck in the piping tip. You can also use store bought strawberry puree if desired.

How To Make Strawberry Lemon Cupcakes

1. Begin by preheating your oven to 350° then lining a cupcake pan with cupcake liners. Then in a large bowl, combine the melted butter and sugar together using an electric mixer. 
2. In a separate medium sized bowl, mix together the flour, salt and baking powder then set this aside. To the wet mixture, add the eggs one at a time and continue to mix this together. After the eggs are combined, stir in the vanilla extract, lemon juice, dry pudding mix and milk. Combine all of this together until smooth. Once smooth, slowly add the flour mixture that was set aside earlier to the bowl of wet ingredients and continue to mix. Make sure to take a spatula and scrape the sides of the bowl to make sure everything is evenly combined. 
3. Next, begin by filling the cupcake liners about 2/3 full of the cupcake batter. It tends to scoop easier with a spoon or cookie scoop because the batter is thick. 
4. Bake these for about 15-20 minutes and check for doneness by poking the cupcakes with a toothpick to see if it comes out clean. Transfer these cupcakes to a cooling rack and begin on the frosting. 
5. For the frosting, use a mixer to beat the softened butter on high until light and fluffy, this usually takes about 2 to 3 minutes. Pour in the strawberry puree and gradually add in 3 cups of the powdered sugar to the fluffy butter and continue to combine until smooth. 
6. If needed, add the remaining cup of powdered sugar to the frosting and continue to combine this until smooth. Make sure the cupcakes are completely cooled before frosting them with the strawberry frosting. You can frost them using a spatula, or if you want to get fancy, a Wilton 1B Large Closed Star tip.

Tips and Advice

Materials – You’ll definitely need a cupcake pan, cupcake liners, a stand or handheld mixer, some mixing bowls and a spatula for this recipe. There are a few other materials that are not necessary but helpful for this recipe which are a cookie scoop, and a piping bag with a Wilton 1B Large tip. 

Storage – You can store these cupcakes frosted in an airtight container for about 3 days in room temperature or in the fridge for a week. If you want, you can freeze the unfrosted cupcakes for up to 3 months. When you’re ready to eat them just defrost and put the icing on them when ready to serve. 

Extra Lemon Flavor – If you’re a lemon lover and want some extra lemon flavor in your cupcakes, you can add some fresh lemon juice to the strawberry frosting and adjust the measurements of the powdered sugar appropriately. 

Recipe FAQs

More Recipes You’ll Love

If you love Lemon Recipes, here are some more to try!

• Lemon Sheet Cake
• Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
• Old Fashioned Lemon Bars
• Lemon Icebox Cake
• Copycat Starbucks Lemon Loaf
• Lemon Cupcake Recipe
• Easy Lemon Curd
• Lemon Raspberry Cupcakes

Strawberry fans, make sure to check out these easy Strawberry Recipes as well!

• Strawberry Shortcake
• Strawberry Pretzel Salad Pie
• Strawberry Cupcakes
• Strawberry Sauce