Easy Lemon Drizzle Cupcakes with Raspberry Swirl

These bright and zesty Lemon Raspberry Swirl Cupcakes are an amazing snack for the warming weather. This recipe makes 24 small cakes, making it a perfect light treat for afternoon tea, bake sales, or birthday parties. However, it’s also easy to halve for smaller gatherings. Each cupcake starts with a classic British lemon sponge base, mixed with a tart, handmade raspberry swirl, and topped with a crunchy lemon drizzle. Though the number of ingredients may look daunting at first, these cupcakes come together quickly and are light, punchy, and have a little taste of summer in every bite. 

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Ingredients

Lemon Cupcakes:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) of softened unsalted butter
• Zest of 2 lemons
• 1 ½ cups caster sugar
• 2 cups self-rising flour*
• 4 large eggs
• 2 tbsp lemon juice

Drizzle:

• ½ cup granulated sugar
• Juice of 2 lemons

Raspberry Swirl:

• 1 punnet of raspberries
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon cold water

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Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350 F/180 C
• Simmer the raspberries and sugar together in a small pan until the raspberries are soft enough to mash.
• Create a slurry with the cornstarch and water, and add this to the raspberry/sugar mixture. Simmer for a few minutes until thickened, then let cool. (You can strain if you prefer no seeds)
• Cream the butter, lemon zest, and caster sugar together until light and fluffy. 
• Beat in the eggs one at a time, then gently fold in the flour and lemon juice until well combined. 
• Fill 24 cupcake liners halfway, then add ½ teaspoon of the raspberry sauce to each and swirl with a toothpick. 
• Bake for 15-18 minutes. You can check whether they are done by testing whether a toothpick comes out clean (I recommend testing the largest one if unequal). 
• While the cupcakes are baking, mix together the sugar and lemon juice to create the lemon drizzle.
• Let the cupcakes cool for at least 10 minutes if you prefer a slight crunch, otherwise you can immediately prick the cupcakes with a toothpick and drizzle the lemon/sugar mixture over the top of each cupcake with a spoon. 
• Enjoy! (This is a very important step, be sure not to skip it!)

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Tips and Variations

• This dessert works well with blackberries or blueberries if raspberries aren’t available!
• You can determine the texture of the cupcakes by how long you wait before adding the drizzle. Drizzling immediately will allow the syrup to sink into the cakes, but waiting a 10 or so minutes will create a slightly crunchy topping. 
• You will end up with leftover parts of the lemon. Even though they will be zested and juiced, you can still use them for our Lemon Honey Ginger Tea!
• To make your own self-rising flour, you just need 1 1/2 tsp of baking powder and 1/4 tsp of fine salt for every cup of flour. So, for this recipe, we would use 2 cups of flour, 3 tsp (1 tbsp) of baking powder, and 1/2 tsp of fine salt. To be safe, you can sift this mixture a couple of times. This will ensure that your baking powder mixes evenly so that every cupcake rises.

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Storage

• At room temperature, you can store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
• In a freezer, you can store these cakes for up to 2 months, just make sure to thaw at room temperature for an hour before serving. 

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Nutrition

• Lemons are high in Vitamin C and citric acid, which can help aid digestion. 
• Raspberries provide a good boost of antioxidants.