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Home » Recipes » Cupcakes & Mini Cakes

Lemon Poppy seed cupcakes

Published: Jun 28, 2020 · Modified: May 10, 2021 by Katalin Nagy · This post may contain affiliate links. This blog generates income via ads. Please read our Disclosures.

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These crazy moist Lemon Poppy seed cupcakes are the prettiest, easiest, most delicious cupcakes you will ever make! Poppy seeds and Lemon are match-made in heaven, the perfect cupcake flavor combination you must try! These cupcakes are fluffy, tender with incredible aromatic lemon flavor, packed with poppy seeds, filled with tangy lemon curd, covered with an easy whipped mascarpone frosting.

Lemon poppyseed cupcake
Moist and fluffy lemon poppy seed cupcakes with mascarpone frosting
Jump to:
  • 7 Pro tips to make crazy moist cupcakes
  • Ingredient notes
  • 4 Expert tips
  • More cupcake recipe ideas
  • Lemon Poppy seed cupcakes
Lemon poppyseed cupcake

7 Pro tips to make crazy moist cupcakes

1. Do not change the Ingredients

I suggest not to change the recipe ingredients unless you are an expert and aware of how to fully reformulate it. If you decide to leave out eggs or choose to go for dairy-free, gluten-free, sugar-free etc., I can almost guarantee that it will result in an imbalance in the ingredients making the poppy seed cupcakes either too dry or too crumbly or too wet or too oily, etc. in their texture. It is absolutely possible to make moist “free-from” cupcakes but that requires a totally new recipe instead of skipping certain ingredients

2. Use the Secret ingredient

I call it the secret ingredient, it is not really secret though since I share this tip in all my muffin recipes. Once the cupcake batter comes together – before baking – mix a small amount of (½ teaspoon) white vinegar with a small amount of (½ teaspoon) baking soda. The mixture will foam a bit, then quickly fold it into the cupcake butter – I promise this will make cupcakes airy and much lighter than cupcakes you are used to. These cupcakes will stay super moist and tender even after days if they ever last that long.

3. Learn the Technique

You very much have to be careful not over beating your cupcake butter. It might be tempting to pour everything into a stand mixer but please make sure to use a Hand whisk from the point when butter and sugar are already creamed. Beating the muffin batter too hard can result in too much gluten development and we don´t want that.

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4. Be precise while measuring your ingredients

For a consistent, happy baking experience always measure your ingredients with the help of a Digital scale. Cup measurement is inaccurate and not an appropriate way to measure ingredients. Just a little bit too much dry ingredients (eg. flour) or too few wet ingredients (eg. milk) can easily ruin your cupcakes` texture and make them dry.

5. Pay attention to temperature

Make sure all your ingredients are at room temperate while making these Lemon Poppyseed cupcakes. If your butter is too hard, your milk or egg is too cold, they won´t emulsify properly with the rest of the ingredients resulting in unappealing texture on your cupcakes. When it comes to temperature, oven temp is also super important as baking these cupcakes on too high temp or for too long can result in a dry texture. Make sure you invest in an inexpensive Digital oven thermometer to be able to measure your oven temp correctly.

6. Might apply soaking syrup

The soaking syrup is a common trick people use to make their cakes moist, you can use the same method for cupcakes. It is not mandatory and I don´t use it in this Lemon Poppy seed cupcake recipe but you can always brush the top of the cupcakes or even drizzle them with syrup that fits with the flavor eg. lemon syrup in this case

7. Storage the cupcakes correctly

Once cupcakes are well baked and beautifully frosted, the appropriate storage is definitely something you have to bear in mind to avoid dry cupcakes. Instead of leaving them on a plate, store cupcakes in a container with a tight-fitting lid on – in the fridge.

tiramisu cupcake
secret ingredient for moist cupcakes: white vinegar + baking soda
Lemon poppyseed cupcake
Look how moist these cupcakes are

Ingredient notes

For the Poppy seed muffins

  • Butter: Use always unsalted as you want to be in control of the quantity of the salt. I am using European-style 82% fat content butter in all my cupcake recipes. In this Poppyseed muffin recipe, the butter needs to be at room temperature which technically means soft enough to be able to cream but not too soft or runny so avoid last-minute microwaving. The right consistency and temperature of the butter is a very important factor when it comes to the cupcake texture, so please make sure you leave the butter out on the kitchen counter to soften for a few hours before using it
  • Granulated Sugar: Standard, all-purpose granulated or white sugar is perfectly fine for making cupcakes, nothing fancy. If you want to learn about the different types of sugar and how to use them in baking, please read my article in here
  • Egg: Room temperature as always
  • Flour: All-purpose flour or pastry flour makes the best cupcakes. They are so-called “soft flour” which are low on protein resulting in a delicate, tender texture. It is always a good idea to sift your flour as it tends to form lumps. If you want to be a Pro when it comes to deciding what type of flour to use in your baking, please read my article in here
  • Poppy seeds: Poppyseed will be used to make these Lemon Poppy seed cupcakes. Poppy seeds will bring a beautiful color and nutty flavor to the cupcakes
  • Salt: An essential ingredient in most dessert recipes. Balances flavor and enhances other ingredients
  • Baking powder: Has two functions: increase the volume and lighten the texture
  • Milk: Room temperature whole milk is the best
  • Lemon zest: One of my favorite ingredients to flavor cupcakes, even a small amount makes the cupcakes wonderfully fragrant. It is a must to make these Lemon Poppy seed cupcakes
  • White vinegar+baking soda: The SECRET ingredients to make cupcakes super moist and tender even after days, the exact opposite of those sad-looking dry ones from the supermarkets
Lemon poppyseed cupcake
Poppy seed muffin ingredients

For the lemon curd filling

  • Lemon: Using lemon and lemon zest makes the desserts wonderfully flavorful and aromatic. These Lemon Poppy seed cupcakes will be filled with lemon curd. Make sure you use fresh, organic lemon (or one which has no chemicals on the skin) and only grate the yellow part of the skin, not the white. First, take the zest off then simply squeeze the juice out. The recipe is given in grams as the amount of juice that comes out of lemons can greatly vary!
  • Granulated sugar: Use normal white granulated sugar, nothing fancy or expensive. In this lemon curd recipe, the curd will be tangy and not overly sweet, which is my preference for lemon desserts. Feel free to adjust the quantity of the sugar for your taste
  • Egg: Room temperature as always and use only the yolk, which will thicken the curd. If you wonder what to do with the leftover egg white, why not try my macaron recipe. Some other recipes out there use the whole egg, I prefer using yolk only for a few reasons: 1. Colour 2. Texture 3. Easier to cook and less likely to end up like scrambled egg
  • Butter: Use always unsalted. The butter makes the lemon curd incredible rich and creamy

I have a whole detailed Guide about how to make the perfect lemon curd filling. My lemon curd recipe is incredibly creamy, tangy, buttery, and the perfect filling for your poppy seed muffins. Please make sure you read my instructions in this post carefully. Making lemon curd takes less than 10 minutes, once you try it, you will never buy it from the store ever again!

Lemon curd ingredients.
lemon curd filling ingredients

For the whipped mascarpone frosting

  1. Mascarpone: Very rich Italian cream cheese, exceptionally smooth and easily to spread, or whip. The flavor is milky and slightly sweet.  Use at room temperature
  2. Heavy cream: Heavy cream, also known as whipping cream or double cream has a fat content between 36% and 40% , I use 36% in all my recipes. Use it very cold and do not substitute with vegetable based “whipping cream”
  3. Icing sugar / Powdered sugar: Powdered sugar is the first choice when it comes to whipping up frosting. Question I often get is whether the quantity is a typo. NO, it´s not! You do not actually need a lot of sugar when you are using mascarpone! Instead, let the mascarpone and cream shine. See my tips below for whipping up the perfect cupcake frosting
Whipped mascarpone ingredients.
whipped mascarpone frosting ingredients

4 Expert tips

1. How to make poppy seed muffins

This is a super simple poppy seed muffin recipe that makes 6 wonderful tall bakery-style cupcakes. The recipe can be doubled or halved easily.

There are 2 important considerations to bear in mind while making the cupcakes:

1. Do not overmix the cupcake batter: Key thing is not to overmix the cupcake butter. Once you cream butter and sugar with an electric hand mixer, I suggest switching to Hand whisk. Add in the egg, then mix for a few seconds, then add in dry (flour+poppy seed+baking powder+salt) and wet (milk) ingredients in 4 steps: wet, dry, wet, dry, that keeps the mixture well blended. Make sure you finish with dry ingredients. Please note that room temperature ingredients encourage proper emulsification of the cupcake batter therefore make sure that butter, egg, milk are all at room temperature.

2. Do not overfill your cupcake tin: For this Poppyseed cupcake recipe, I recommend filling your cupcake tin until ¾. The recipe is designed to make 6 tall cupcakes. Cupcake cases are coming in different sizes in terms of their height, try to buy the taller ones.  If you overfill your cupcake tin it will result in “mushroom-style” cupcakes! On the other hand, if you don´t fill it enough, they will rise but will stay tiny

Lemon poppyseed cupcake

2. How to make lemon curd filling

Making the lemon curd filling for this Lemon Poppy seed cupcakes recipe is super easy and brings a strong natural citrus flavor to the nutty poppy seed. I have a very detailed lemon curd tutorial with tons of tips that I suggest you check out!

The process is the following:

  • Place fresh lemon juice, egg yolk, and sugar in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water (double boiler) and cook the curd over medium-high heat whisking constantly. Whisking is important to avoid egg yolks from curdling
  • After about 8-10 minutes the mixture starts to thicken like custard. I find the temperature at this stage is around 80C/176C
  • Remove the curd from the heat and to be on the safe side, pour the cooked curd through a sieve so you will get rid of any potential egg bits in there
  • With a rubber spatula mix in room temperature butter in small chunks, one by one makes sure each cube is fully incorporated before adding the next. If you have a blender, blend butter into curd, if not, make sure you fully incorporate it with your spatula
  • Fold the zest in. Make sure you won´t leave the zest out, it will give so much flavor!
  • Pour curd into a jar and place plastic wrap directly on top so it is touching the top of the curd. (This prevents skin forming on top.) The curd will continue to thicken as it cools in the fridge
  • Store it in the fridge for a week although it will be gone much quick

You will have to use the curd to fill the cupcakes and it is important that both the cupcakes as well as the curd are either cold or at least room temperature otherwise they might melt together making a mess.

The perfect lemon curd
lemon curd filling

4. How to make whipped mascarpone frosting

This frosting is super simple, it consists of heavy cream, mascarpone, and a small amount of icing sugar whipped until fluffy, pipeable consistency. It is creamy, milky, a super stable frosting, and way more delicious and less sweet than buttercream!

Using the right ingredients at the right temperature is extremely important while making whipped mascarpone frosting.

1. Mascarpone should be cold, use the full-fat version (41%+) 2. Heavy creamy needs to be very cold (pop it into the freezer for a few minutes before using it) and again, full fat version so anywhere between 36-40% 3. Powdered sugar has to be sifted to avoid lumps 4. do not over whip the mixture

Basically you will have to whip the mixture with an electric hand mixer for a minute or two until it reaches a creamy, fluffy consistency, then stop. It won´t get more stiff after this point, in fact if you overbeat it, it will get only runnier then it will break. I don´t use my standmixer to whip this frosting since it is really easy to over whip it.

Once you are happy with the consistency of your frosting, move it into a piping bag fitted with your favourite nozzle tip, the one I am using is Wilton 1M piping nozzle tip decorate these lovely Lemon Poppy seed cupcakes.

TIP: If you do not have mascarpone, feel free to replace it with full-fat cream cheese and make cream cheese frosting instead.

Lemon poppyseed cupcake

4. How to assemble the cupcakes

I recommend making the lemon curd first, as it needs to set in the fridge for a few hours. Meanwhile, bake the cupcakes. Once the poppy seed muffins and also the lemon curd filling is cooled or at least on room temp, prepare the whipped mascarpone frosting as per instructions.

  1. Make a small hole on each of the poppy seed cupcakes and fill them lemon curd. Before filling, make sure that neither the cupcake nor the filling is warm
  2. Pipe frosting on top of each cupcake. I am using Wilton 1M piping nozzle tip. Very important that you never frost cupcakes that are warm as that would melt the frosting
  3. Before serving, decorate the cupcakes with more poppy seed and edible flowers
  4. Store the cupcakes in fridge in container with lid on
Lemon poppyseed cupcake
Make a small hole on each of the poppy seed cupcakes and fill it lemon curd filling
Lemon poppyseed cupcake
pipe frosting on top and decorate with poppy seed and edible flower

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Spatula desserts

Have you tried this recipe?

Please leave a 5-star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating on the recipe card and consider leaving a comment as well! I would love to hear about how your dessert turned out and your feedback also helps other Readers!

Lemon poppy seed cupcake.

Lemon Poppy seed cupcakes

These crazy moist Lemon Poppy seed cupcakes are the prettiest, easiest, most delicious cupcakes you will ever make!
4.88 from 16 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Prep Time: 1 hour
Cook Time: 1 hour
Waiting time: 1 hour
Total Time: 3 hours
Servings: 6 Large
Calories: 669kcal
Author: Katalin Nagy

Equipment

  • Digital scale
  • Electric hand mixer
  • Rubber spatula
  • Cupcake tin
  • Piping bag
  • Wilton 1M piping nozzle tip
  • Cooling rack

Ingredients

Cupcakes

  • 100 (½ cups) Unsalted butter room temperature
  • 100 g (½ cups) Granulated sugar
  • 1 Egg room temperature
  • 135 g (1 cups) All purpose flour
  • Pinch of salt
  • ½ teaspoon Baking powder
  • 135 g (½ cups) Whole milk room temperature
  • 2 tablespoon Poppy seeds
  • 1 Lemon zest zest of 1 lemon
  • ½ teaspoon White vinegar
  • ½ teaspoon Baking soda

Lemon curd

  • 65 g (⅓ cups) Fresh Lemon juice freshly squeezed, juice of approx. 2 lemons but measure it
  • 2 Egg yolks
  • 90 g (½ cups) Granulated sugar
  • 1-2 Lemon zest Zest of the lemons squeezed before
  • 65 g (⅓ cups) Unsalted butter room temperature

Frosting

  • 150 g (⅔ cups) Mascarpone
  • 35 g (2 Tablespoon) Icing sugar sifted
  • 120 g (½ cups) Heavy Cream very cold

US customary cup measurement is an indicative figure only. Measure the ingredients with a digital scale by weight (gram). Baking is art but also science which requires precision and accuracy.

Instructions

Make the lemon curd filling

  • Start with making the filling, follow my lemon curd recipe and let it cool

Continue with poppy seed muffins

  • Heat oven to 175 C / 347°F
  • With an Electric hand mixer beat room temperature soft butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy then beat the egg in. Do not overbeat
  • Sift flour, salt and baking powder together then add poppy seed, this is the “dry ingredients”, while the room temperature milk is your "wet ingredient"
  • Start adding the dry and wet ingredients into the cupcake batter in the following 4 steps: wet, dry, wet, dry. Fold with a Rubber spatula fold each time
  • Fold in lemon zest
  • Mix vinegar and baking soda together in a small bowl, it will be super bubbly. Immediately fold the mixture into the cupcake batter. This is the secret ingredient to keep the cupcakes soft for days without the taste of vinegar of course!
  • Spoon or Pipe the mixture into Cupcake pan till approx. ¾. This recipe makes 6 large cupcakes
  • Bake for 25 min or until a skewer inserted comes out clean then let them cool on Cooling rack

Assemble

  • Once cupcake coosled to room temperature and lemon curd sets, make a small hole on each of the cupcakes and fill it with lemon curd
  • For the frosting beat mascarpone, very cold heavy cream, and powder sugar until smooth and fluffy, about one or two minutes with Electric hand mixer. Once it has reached the right consistency, do not overbeat as it can become runny.
  • Move frosting into a piping bag and pipe frosting onto room temperature cupcakes, I am using Wilton 1M piping nozzle tip
  • Dust with some more poppy seed and decorate with edible flower
  • Store in fridge

Nutrition

Calories: 669kcal | Carbohydrates: 59g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 45g | Saturated Fat: 27g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 9g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 206mg | Sodium: 176mg | Potassium: 129mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 39g | Vitamin A: 1495IU | Vitamin C: 7mg | Calcium: 162mg | Iron: 2mg
Tried this recipe?Mention @spatuladesserts or tag #spatuladesserts would love to see your creation on Instagram!

« The perfect lemon curd (4 ingredients only)
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  1. Sarah

    January 24, 2022 at 5:35 pm

    Hi - recipe looks great. Can’t wait to try it. Is the cupcake tin you used one for 6 oversized muffins or 6 regular sized?

    Reply
    • Kata

      January 24, 2022 at 7:52 pm

      Hey it is hard to say what is oversized or regular-sized, depending on where you live and what you are used to. My muffin case is 35mm in height and 65mm in diameter. Hope this helps:)?

      Reply
  2. Antonia

    January 12, 2022 at 12:00 am

    This looks amazing
    Can this be converted to a cake?

    Reply
    • Kata

      January 12, 2022 at 9:27 am

      I guess so!:)

      Reply
  3. Rita

    August 28, 2021 at 7:15 pm

    5 stars
    I tried the lemon cupcakes and they were amazing 🤩

    Reply
  4. Mae

    February 06, 2021 at 6:55 am

    5 stars
    A tasty cupcake and lemon curd just takes the level higher .

    Reply
  5. Sakina

    September 29, 2020 at 11:07 pm

    5 stars
    This delicious cupcake is my all time favorite.
    Well explained, easy to make and heavenly yummi.
    Thank you for sharing your recipes! 😋😋

    Reply
    • admin

      September 30, 2020 at 7:50 am

      Thanks so much it is my fav too:)!! Hope you will try some of my other recipes soon

      Reply
  6. Joshma

    September 29, 2020 at 6:21 am

    I tried and this came out super soft and yummy, your tips and tricks does the magic😋 Thanks for sharing the recipe ❤️

    Reply
    • admin

      September 29, 2020 at 5:52 pm

      How kind thanks a lot!

      Reply
  7. Taaz

    September 21, 2020 at 7:04 pm

    5 stars
    5 stars and more for this

    Reply
    • admin

      September 23, 2020 at 10:24 am

      How kind! Thanks so much

      Reply
  8. Taaz

    September 21, 2020 at 7:04 pm

    The most ymost yummy lemon poppy muffins ever...and oh so refreshing with the mascarpone 😋

    Reply
    • admin

      September 23, 2020 at 10:24 am

      Thank you, happy that you loved it!

      Reply
  9. Maruška

    August 29, 2020 at 12:26 pm

    5 stars
    Amazing recipe, so delicious, i made them without lemon curd for the first time, but definitely gonna make it next time 🙂

    Reply
    • admin

      August 29, 2020 at 6:01 pm

      Thanks for your feedback! Definitely try the lemon curd, it is literally 5 minutes job and absolutely delicious:)

      Reply
  10. Munowara

    July 16, 2020 at 6:10 pm

    5 stars
    100% recommend this recipe! Tasted amazing the cupcakes were sooo soft and delicious, you'll definitely be eating more than one at a go! So worth all the calories! 🥰

    Reply
    • admin

      July 19, 2020 at 8:28 pm

      Yes, they are dangerous 🙂 Thanks for your comment really appreciate!

      Reply
    • Adithi

      October 03, 2020 at 4:03 pm

      5 stars
      This is now my go-to recipe for lemon poppyseed cupcakes! The recipe for the cupcakes, icing and lemon curd are all really well written and basically fool-proof! I've also used this as a layer cake recipe and it worked really well.

      Reply
      • admin

        October 03, 2020 at 6:20 pm

        Thanks a lot for your kind feedback I love this recipe so much, glad you enjoy it too:)

        Reply
    • Fuzz

      May 11, 2021 at 10:50 am

      5 stars
      Absolutely fabulous recipe
      Turned out wonderfully soft and moist
      The curd and mascarpone add a kick and make it all look so sophisticated but the cupcake on its own is also lovely as a tea or coffee snack
      I swear by Katalin at spatadesserts !!!!

      Reply
  11. Tati

    July 06, 2020 at 10:13 pm

    5 stars
    This recipe is amazing. The poppy seeds give so much texture and although the cupcake turned out be very fragile. (my bad), the combination of flavors is outstanding. I made extra lemon curd because we loved to put more on top once ready to eat..
    I will definitely make more of these very soon.

    Reply
    • admin

      July 06, 2020 at 10:18 pm

      Thanks for your feedback, what happened with your cupcake:)? It should be super moist and soft but firm. Let me know if I can make any of the instructions more clear.

      Reply

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I am Katalin Nagy, and it is my pleasure to welcome you to Spatula Desserts, a baking blog where I will teach you how to bake like a Pro with the help of my foolproof recipes, baking tutorials, and online baking classes! 

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