Easy Lemon Curd Filled Cupcakes

Need a quick, delicious dessert for a special occasion? Or just craving a delicious lemon treat? Here is an easy recipe, that's partially homemade, but will taste completely homemade: Meyer Lemon Curd Filled Cupcakes with Meyer Lemon Buttercream Frosting!

lemon cupcake filled with lemon cured and topped with lemon buttercream and lemon zest — Click on image to PIN to your board!

This post has recipes for Quickie Lemon Curd Filled Cupcakes, Lemon Buttercream Frosting, Lemon Curd, and Mug Cakes!

It was one of my besties birthdays so of course I wanted to whip up something delicious to celebrate. We were going out to lunch and I had the morning to pull something together. Ever since I made the meyer lemon curd for my cream puffs (POST HERE), I've been wanted to make something else lemony, and I had a few more meyer lemons on my little tree. I made the lemon curd first since it needs to set in the fridge for an hour (recipe below).

My first thought was Lemon Macarons! Without taking too much time going into details, let me just say it was a disaster! LOL! I need to try those again soon, but they weren't happening for the birthday lunch. Plan B: Quickie cupcakes with lemon curd filling and homemade lemon buttercream frosting. Like I said, "mostly" homemade, fast and delicious.

I already had the lemon curd chilling in the fridge and I decided to cheat on the cupcakes and use boxed mix. I also knew I didn't want 24 cupcakes at home (because I would eat them all), so I just used half the mix and made up the rest! It made 11 cupcakes. I took 7 for the lunch and saved 4 for me (hey, I'm not crazy!).

Last tip before the recipes, I zested and juiced 4 meyer lemons for all of these recipes at the very beginning and set aside. It made each step with lemon juice or zest so much easier! Of course if you don't have meyer lemons, regular lemons will work just as good.

Cupcake Ingredients

1 cup white cake mix

1 egg

½ cup water

1 teaspoon lemon zest

2 tablespoons lemon juice

Lemon Buttercream Ingredients

1 stick unsalted butter, room temp

3 cups powdered sugar

2 tablespoons lemon juice

½ teaspoon vanilla

A few drops of yellow gel coloring

1 dash of salt

Lemon zest for garnish

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line cupcake pan with liners.

2. Add all the ingredients to a mixing bowl and mix on medium speed with a mixer for about 2-3 minutes.

3. Place batter into each cupcake liner and bake for 16-18 minutes.

4. Allow cupcakes to cool in pan for about 5 minutes and then transfer to wire rack to cool completely before filling or frosting.

5. For frosting, add butter to mixer and beat on medium speed for 2-3 minutes.

6. Add powdered sugar a cup at a time and incorporate completely.

7. Add lemon juice, vanilla, gel coloring, and salt and beat until creamed together and smooth.

8. After cupcakes have completely cooled, place lemon curd in a pastry bag with a round tip attachment. Insert tip into top of cupcake and squeeze in curd, about a tablespoon. You will see cupcake expand slightly and it will start to ooze out the top a little. Don't worry, you are covering it with frosting!

9. Place frosting in a different pastry bag, use your favorite tip and frost the cupcakes. Sprinkle with leftover lemon zest and enjoy!

Lemon Curd Ingredients

1 teaspoon lemon zest

6 tablespoons lemon juice

6 tablespoons sugar

2 large eggs, room temp

¼ cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1. Whisk together lemon zest, juice, sugar, and eggs in pan on stove.

2. Cook over low heat (so you don't cook the eggs!), whisking constantly, until thickened.

3. Add butter pieces a few at a time, whisking constantly until melted in.

4. Keep whisking until curd is smooth and thickened, and coats the back of a spoon.

5. Strain lemon curd through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl.

6. Put plastic wrap directly on the top of the lemon curd so a film doesn't form on top. Chill in fridge until cold, at least 1 hour.

Extra Boxed Cake Mix Idea

You may be thinking...what should I do with a half box of cake mix? I'll tell you! You can always make more quickie cupcakes...OR...you can make mug cakes for those nights when you want something sweet, but don't want a lot. Mug cakes are the best and so easy to make.

All you have to remember is 3-2-1!

3 tablespoons of cake mix

2 tablespoons of water

1 minute in the microwave

I added sprinkles to the cake mix before microwaving and I also made a quick cream cheese frosting for the mug cake (obviously😆):

1 tablespoon cream cheese

2 tablespoons powdered sugar

Sprinkles are optional, but recommended

Stir cream cheese in a small bowl until it's smooth and warms up a little, add powdered sugar until combined and add to mug cake!