Lemon Cupcakes with White Chocolate Raspberry Cream Cheese Filling…delicious!
This recipe was the number one request for my nieces’ birthdays every year. And as my niece, Lucia’s fifth birthday approaches, I just had to post it in honor of the special occasion.
Now that I’m living in Seattle, these occasions make me nostalgic. But the best way to take care of that is to contribute to her day.
What I miss the most now that I live away from them is watching my nieces enjoy their special day. Being there with them to see their excitement. And the same goes for my sister. She goes all out for their parties, planning every single detail to go with the theme. This one is a tea party theme. She even got paper cups for the children that look like fancy little teacups. I love it!
The funny thing is that I just came back from Florida less than a week ago after spending two months there while I helped my mom recover from surgery. But I missed my husband, Jeremy, way too much! There was no way I could stay away from him any longer.
Before I left, I helped my sister decorate the living room for the party. I’m also working on some cake and cupcake decorations that I’ll be shipping out to her. Be on the lookout for that tea party cupcake topper tutorial next week!
LEMON CAKE FOR A SPECIAL OCCASION
This is one of those recipes reserved for very special occasions. Otherwise, the health and fitness efforts suffer greatly, lol.
But if there’s one thing my sister and I love, it’s white chocolate. Add cream cheese to it and we’re in heaven. So when my sister asked me to make the first birthday cake in that flavor, I was on it! I did some research to get it right.
My number one requirement was that the cake wouldn’t have lemon extract in it. I wanted it to taste like real lemon. The other thing I had to research was the white chocolate icing. You see, the first time my sister asked me to add white chocolate as a cake filling, I was very new to baking (and cooking, in general). I made my mom’s Dominican Cake recipe and filled it with melted white chocolate.
Not good, it was not fluffy and it was overpowering, too strong. The second time around, I did a little bit of research and decided to go with white chocolate cream cheese icing. It was a keeper!
Although the raspberry preserves in these pictures are store bought, I recommend making them yourself if you have the time. I mixed the raspberry with the icing to make the taste subtler. When you make this recipe, I would also keep in mind that it’s best to just add a small amount of the raspberry mixture to the cupcake because the flavor can overpower the remaining ingredients if there’s too much of it.
LEMON CUPCAKES WITH WHITE CHOCOLATE RASPBERRY CREAM CHEESE RECIPE
This delicious combination of lemon cake with white chocolate raspberry cream cheese is hard to beat. The original lemon cake recipe is from The Magnolia Recipe Cookbook. You’ll see in the notes that I adjusted the amount of lemon zest.
LEMON CAKE INGREDIENTS:
- 1 cup unsalted butter two sticks softened
- 2 cups sugar
- 4 large eggs best at room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
- 2 Tbsp. grated fresh lemon zest
LEMON CAKE INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat oven to 350° and line two 12-cup cupcake pans with cupcake wrappers.
- Using medium speed on the mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Gradually add sugar and mix until fluffy in consistency. Add eggs one at a time.
- Combine the two flours and add them in four parts. Alternate flour with milk, fresh lemon juice, and lemon zest. Beat after each addition until well incorporated. Scrape the sides of the mixing bowl and mix to ensure the batter is fully combined.
- Scoop batter evenly into 24 cupcake tins, no higher than 3/4 full as this cake rises. Bake 16-20 minutes until the tops spring back when lightly touched.
WHITE CHOCOLATE CREAM CHEESE ICING INGREDIENTS
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter one stick
- 1 cup cream cheese best at a cool temperature
- 1 lb confectioner’s sugar
- 6 oz. melted and cooled white chocolate
WHITE CHOCOLATE CREAM CHEESE ICING INSTRUCTIONS
- Melt white chocolate squares in the microwave, 15 seconds at a time. Remove and mix every 15 seconds until melted but not hot. Set aside at room temperature to cool further without getting hard again.
- Using medium speed on the mixer, cream the butter and cream cheese until smooth. Slowly incorporate white chocolate in four parts, mixing well in between to ensure cream cheese mixture doesn’t overheat. Add sifted confectioner’s sugar, mixing on low speed until fully incorporated. Then, mix at medium speed until fluffy.
WHITE CHOCOLATE RASPBERRY ICING INGREDIENTS
- 1/2 cup white
chocolate cream cheese icing - 1 Tbsp. raspberry preserves
WHITE CHOCOLATE RASPBERRY ICING INSTRUCTIONS
- In a bowl, mix white chocolate cream cheese icing with raspberry preserves.
Bring it all together. Once the cupcakes are cool, add a 1/2 inch dollop of the raspberry mixture to the top of each cupcake. Pipe the plain white chocolate cream cheese around and over the raspberry mixture. Enjoy!
I hope you like these as much as my nieces do! Comment at the bottom of this post to let me know if the cupcakes made you as happy as it makes them. Plus, don’t forget to download the Fit and Healthy Conversions cheat sheets, they come in very handy to have in the kitchen when you’re baking.
This delicious combination of lemon cake with white chocolate raspberry cream cheese is hard to beat. The cake is made with natural lemon and lemon zest. The white chocolate cream cheese icing has a dollop of white chocolate raspberry icing in the center.
- 1 cup unsalted butter two sticks softened
- 2 cups sugar
- 4 large eggs best at room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
- 2 Tbsp. grated fresh lemon zest
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter one stick
- 1 cup cream cheese best at cool temperature
- 1 lb confectioner's sugar
- 6 oz. melted and cooled white chocolate
- 1/2 cup white chocolate cream cheese icing
- 1 Tbsp. raspberry preserves
-
Preheat oven to 350° and line two 12-cup cupcake pans with cupcake wrappers.
-
Using medium speed on the mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Gradually add sugar and mix until fluffy in consistency. Add eggs one at a time.
-
Combine the two flours and add them in four parts. Alternate flour with milk, fresh lemon juice, and lemon zest. Beat after each addition until well incorporated. Scrape the sides of the mixing bowl and mix to ensure the batter is fully combined.
-
Scoop batter evenly into 24 cupcake tins, no higher than 3/4 full as this cake rises. Bake 16-20 minutes until the tops spring back when lightly touched.
-
Melt white chocolate squares in the microwave, 15 seconds at a time. Remove and mix every 15 seconds until melted but not hot. Set aside at room temperature to cool further without getting hard again.
-
Using medium speed on the mixer, cream the butter and cream cheese until smooth. Slowly incorporate white chocolate in four parts, mixing well in between to ensure cream cheese mixture doesn't overheat. Add sifted confectioner's sugar, mixing on low speed until fully incorporated. Then, mix at medium speed until fluffy.
-
In a bowl, mix white chocolate cream cheese icing with raspberry preserves.
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Once the cupcakes are cool, add a 1/2 inch dollop of the raspberry mixture to the top of each cupcake. Pipe the plain white chocolate cream cheese around and over the raspberry mixture. Enjoy!
- The original recipe calls for 2 tsp. grated lemon zest. I like to add 2 Tbsp. grated lemon zest for more of a lemony flavor.
- Use cool butter and cream cheese for the icing. The cooler the better, without it being so cold that it won't cream. You will be adding semi-warm white chocolate to the cream cheese and butter mixture. The cream cheese icing consistency will not hold if the mixture or the chocolate is too warm. If this happens, refrigerate for approximately 30 minutes.
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