The Story:
After you sit around a campfire for hours, you get in the shower and what happens? As soon as your hair hits the water the smell of smoke and trees flood the shower. Well with my big, curly hair the same sort of thing happens after I bake hundreds of cupcakes all day. It just smells like a bakery exploded in my shower with all the sugary scents filling the air.

Raspberry Lemonade Mini Cupcakes
Ingredients
Lemonade Cake:
- 1 box white cake mix
- 1/4 C. oil
- 3 eggs
- 3/4 C. buttermilk or milk
- 1/2 C. yogurt or sour cream
- 1/4 C. lemon juice
- zest of 2 lemons
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Raspberry Buttercream:
- 1 bag freeze dried raspberries from Trader Joe's
- 1 C. butter softened
- 1 tsp. lemon juice
- 4-5 C. powdered sugar
Fresh Raspberries to decorate
Instructions
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1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees and line pans with cupcake liners.
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2. Sift cake mix into a small bowl and set aside.
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3. In a large bowl combine oil, eggs, buttermilk, yogurt, lemon juice, lemon zest and vanilla extract until smooth.
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4. Stir in cake mix until smooth.
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5. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full and bake for 10-14 minutes or until an inserted knife comes out clean.
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6. Buttercream: Prep berries by putting them in a food processor or blender and pulverize. Then sift out the seeds, (discard seeds), and place what fell through the sifter into your mixing bowl. (When working with freeze dried things you must work fast because they quickly absorb moisture in the air.) Place butter in with berried and beat for 2 minutes. Add lemon juice and slowly add powdered sugar until you reach your desired consistency.
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7. Pipe onto cooled cupcakes and top with fresh berries.
Recipe Notes
For standard size cupcakes: Bake at 350 degrees for 17-22 minutes
Mmmm those look so good! How many OZ. were the raspberries or how many cups after you take out the seeds. ( I am not close to a Trader Joes) Thanks!
It’s about 1/4-1/3 cup once its crushed down and the seeds are out. That stuff is powerful so you don’t need too much
What a perfect summer cupcake. Love how you decorated them.
What doea sour cream do to the taste and textur of cake? And also what about buttermilk?
Both make the cake more moist and a little more dense than the average cake mix cake. It also helps to keep it from getting too sweet.
These look so good they’re making my mouth water!
These look sooo good! I would love to pop a whole one in my mouth right about now! 🙂
I am curious, do you know if there would be ay ingredient changes needed if I used a gluten-free cake mix?
No changes! People use my recipes with the gluten free mixes and always tell me they turn out great.
those look awesome!! i make a raspberry lemonade cake kind of like yours but with raspberry jello mix in poked holes in the cake and cool whip on top! 🙂
These look amazing! I always enjoy reading your short but sweet stories!
Just made these this morning. The only changes I made was to make “standard” size cupcakes instead of minis, and I filled them with lemon curd. I’m taking them to work tomorrow, but my husband always tastes tests one first and he loved it. Thanks again for another fabulous recipe.
Can I use anything besides freeze dried raspberries? I can’t seem to find them anywhere, and I am not near a Trader Joes.
You can use a raspberry puree (sift out the seeds) but the flavor won’t be as rich, because your can’t add as much since it’s liquid and too much liquid makes for a runny frosting. I will sometimes “cheat” by using some puree and then a few teaspoons of raspberry jello powder.
Would this work okay with strawberries?
Yes of course!
do i thaw the raspberries before i pulverize them? also, where do I find a fine mesh strainer?
Use FREEZE DRIED berries, thats what gets the awesome amount of flavor and pop of bright color. If you use real raspberries, yes let them thaw then throw them in the blender. You can get a mesh strainer for just a few bucks in just about any big grocery store or TJ maxx, walmart, target. Kitchen Aid makes one that is usually every where.
do you have any cookbooks or is the recipies just on the internet cause if so i would love to buy one
Yes I do have a book! Go to amazon and type in “Your Cup of Cake” it’s by me (Lizzy Early) and has a cupcake with a blackberry on top on the cover!
Where do you get your tips?
I get them in any specialty baking store or Hobby Lobby, Michaels… but you can order them online if you don’t live near a place like that. I have 4 tips that are my favorite that I use all the time, so you don’t need many (But I do have about 50)
So I am determined to make these for Father’s Day despite the pink color. What size does the cake mix have to be in ounces? there are 18, 15.75 and so much more that I’m not so sure which size to use.
Any will work just fine actually!
I love all your recipes! They have inspired me on creating some of my own! Are u working on another book or maybe even thinking about it?
I am working on 2 books right now! One to be launched in the coming Fall and another big book for next Spring
What decorating tip did you use to pipe the frosting? It makes the cupcake even more edibley enticing!
I used a Wilton 4B tip!
These are the perfect summer cupcake!!! Really light and sweet yet rich at the same time…awesome
For those of us who do not have access to a Trader Joe’s Store, the freeze dried raspberries are available from Amazon. Just search for Trader Joe’s, lots of their products are available.
I’m going to order some so I can do these cupcakes, they look divine !
The freeze dried berries seriously are the best to use for berry frostings. No other way to go.
Hi.i am finding out that there are many different sizes of mini cupcakes. Can I ask what size you used for the lemonade cupcakes. Or what name brand pan are you are using? I have a mini pan but am no longer going to use it as it is too tiny and the minis get way over done. Thanks.
Yes, this is very true. I use this one http://www.oneida.com/kitchenware/bakeware/baking-pans/24-cup-mini-muffin-pan.html
You don’t use oil in these?? They are gorgeous!
I made mine using raspberry extract – they sell it at WalMart, so might be easier to find for those of you without a Trader Joe’s!
http://bonnieprojects.blogspot.com/2013/05/raspberry-lemonade-cupcakes.html
Tried this recipe and it turned out great! The lemon flavor is perfectly balanced so it’s not too sweet. The only problem is the instructions never tell when to add the oil. I assume it’s supposed to be with the other wet ingredients. Anyone making this recipe needs to make sure to add oil or it just won’t come off the papers.
Fixed! So sorry about that.
I buy my freeze-dried raspberries in bulk. How many oz. is the bag of raspberries from Trader Joe’s?
1.2 oz is each package! You can use as little or as much as you want depending on how strong you want the flavor. You can also use them in white cake batter to make a berry cake!
How far in advance can I make the cupcakes– a day maybe? I’m also worried about when to put the rapsberries on as sometimes they get watery.
I only make mine a day before. I frost and then put the raspberry right on a few hours before the event. If you wait to put on the raspberry after it’s been frosted… it can make cracks in the frosting. I hope that makes sense, good luck!
Lizzy,
If I wanted to make chocolate mini cupcakes, would I just decrease the temp to 325 for the 10-14 minutes?
Yes! That’s right!
love this site!Can i ask something ?
You have a nice lemon or orange cupcake recipe????
(i love your IDEAS)
Well, this is a lemon cake recipe, and you can replace the lemon zest and juice with orange zest/juice!
thanks a lot!!i will do it now! 🙂
Can you use a Lemon cake mix instead? or will it be too lemony?
Yes you can! You can then use milk instead of lemon juice and add no lemon zest. I just like using the real lemon flavorings because it tastes more fresh.
What type of piping tip did you use for the icing on these?
Hi,sorry but i do not use cake mix.instead of this what can i use?how mach flower,baking powder etc.?sorry about my english is not my first language.Thanks…
Check out my recipe for a substitute cake mix! http://www.yourcupofcake.com/2013/01/white-cake-mix-substitute-recipe.html
I just finished the frosting. It needed a lot more liquid than the 1 tspn–I think I used 8tspn lemon juice and 6tspn water. It is delicious!! Tastes like raspberry sorbet! I can’t wait to try it on the cupcakes!! Thanks for the recipe!!
The cake was a little too dense for my liking. I’ll be keeping this frosting recipe though! I loved it now I need to make a light fluffy maybe lemon but maybe just a white cupcake to go with it. Thank you for introducing me to freeze dried fruit, it’s AMAZING!!! i can’t wait to bake with it more!
Love this recipe! That is why we featured it in our list of the Best Dessert Recipes http://www.listsforall.com/best-dessert-recipes/. Would love if you would checkout the full list sometime. Keep up the good work!
can you make these the night before?
I can apply this baking and color combination to soft pastry, thanks very much
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