Lemon Coconut Cupcakes
These homemade Lemon Coconut Cupcakes are super moist and tender with the perfect balance of flavors. We've topped them with a simple, flavorful lemon coconut cream cheese frosting.
Table of Contents
Why we Love Them
- We love the combination of lemon and coconut and have incorporated it into many of our recipes (as with our Lemon Coconut Cake and Lemon Coconut Pound Cake).
- Buttermilk and cake flour make for a light, tender crumb
- Perfect dessert for any occasion, from birthdays to showers, potlucks and more
Our Ingredients
Here's a quick look at our key ingredients for the cupcakes. You can find the full listing and recipe at the bottom of this post.
- unsalted butter (we use unsalted and add the salt separately)
- white sugar
- coconut extract
- lemon extract (make sure that it smells lemony as extracts can sometimes go bad)
- eggs, room temperature (if in a hurry, place eggs in a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes)
- cake flour, which has less protein, creates a softer crumb (We use Swan's Down)
- baking powder, baking soda, & salt
- buttermilk, which breaks down the strands of gluten in the batter, creating a more tender crumb
- vegetable oil
- lemon zest from one lemon (avoid the white pith as it is more bitter)
- sweetened, flaked coconut (sweetened is softer than unsweetened
*Our cream cheese frosting consists of butter, cream cheese, salt, powdered sugar, a pinch of salt, and extracts.
How to Make Lemon Coconut Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and add paper cupcake liners to cupcake pan(s)
- In a medium bowl, whisk the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt for 30 seconds. Set aside
- In another bowl, add the buttermilk, vegetable oil, coconut extract, lemon extract, and lemon zest. Set aside.
- In the bowl of your mixer, add the softened butter and mix at medium speed until smooth. Gradually add the sugar and continue to mix on medium speed for 3 to 5 minutes until lightened in color and fluffy.
- Add the eggs one at a time, mixing after each until the yellow of the yolk has blended.
- With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients (3 additions of dry ingredients and 2 of liquid).
- Mix just until incorporated. Be careful not to over-mix.
- Fold in the sweetened flaked coconut.
- Scoop about ¼ cup bake batter into each cupcake liner (in the cupcake pans)
- Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with just few crumbs attached. Baking times can vary.
- Makes 30-32 cupcakes (approximately ¼ cup of batter per cupcake).
Frosting the Cupcakes
We frosted our cupcakes with Lemon Coconut Cream Cheese frosting. This is a simple, delicious recipe based on our classic cream cheese frosting recipe.
It is a combination of softened butter and cream cheese, powdered sugar, a pinch of salt, and lemon & coconut extracts.
Just as with most cream cheese frostings, the consistency is a bit softer than buttercream. If at any time it becomes too soft to easily decorate with, pop the bowl or piping bag in the refrigerator for a few minutes! This will thicken the consistency.
We decorated our cupcakes very simply, piping "rose swirls" with a 1M piping tip. We added a sprinkling of flaked coconut and topped each cupcake with a very small slice of lemon.
FAQs
More Favorite Recipes
We have many favorite lemon cakes and coconut cake recipes! Some of our most popular are our Lemon Velvet Cake, Piña Colada Cake, Coconut Cupcakes, and Lemon Pound Cake.
Thanks so much for stopping by! We hope that you enjoy this recipe for lemon coconut cupcakes as much as we have. Make sure to check out our full collection of cake recipes and cake decorating tutorials!
Have you made this? We would LOVE for you to leave a ⭐️ rating as well as a comment and photo below! We really appreciate your feedback!
Lemon Coconut Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 1 ½ sticks (170g) unsalted butter softened (holds it shape but dents when pressed)
- 2 cups (400g) sugar
- 2½ teaspoons Coconut Extract (10g)
- 2 teaspoons lemon extract (8g)
- 4 eggs, room temperature (If in a hurry, place eggs in a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes.)
- 3 cups cake flour (342g)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder (8g)
- ½ teaspoon baking soda (3g)
- ½ teaspoon salt (3g)
- 1½ cups buttermilk
- ¼ cup vegetable oil (54g) We use Canola Oil
- zest of one lemon
- ¾ cup sweetened flaked coconut (We used Baker's Angel Flake Coconut)
Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting
- 2 sticks (226g) unsalted butter softened
- 16 oz Cream Cheese, softened (This is two 8 oz packages) Use full fat cream cheese.
- 6 to 6 ½ cups 690g - 747g powdered sugar Start with 6 cups, and adjust to your liking
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1½ teaspoons coconut extract (6g) Adjust amount to your liking.
- 1½ teaspoons lemon extract (6g) Adjust amount up or down to your liking.
Instructions
For the Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, add paper cupcake liners to cupcake pan(s)
- In a medium bowl, whisk the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt for 30 seconds. Set aside
- In another bowl, add the buttermilk, vegetable oil, coconut extract, lemon extract, and lemon zest. Set aside.
- In the bowl of your mixer, add the softened butter and mix at medium speed until smooth. Gradually add the sugar and continue to mix on medium speed for 3 to 5 minutes until lightened in color and fluffy.
- Add the eggs one at a time, mixing after each until the yellow of the yolk has blended.
- With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients (3 additions of dry ingredients and 2 of liquid).
- Mix just until incorporated. Be careful not to over-mix.
- Fold in the sweetened flaked coconut.
- Scoop about ¼ cup bake batter into each cupcake liner (in the cupcake pans)
- Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with just few crumbs attached. We like to remove cupcakes immediately from the pans to prevent over-baking. Baking times can vary depending on pan & oven- check at 15 minutes to be on the safe side, but it may take a few minutes more.
- Makes 30-32 cupcakes (approximately ¼ cup of batter per cupcake)
For the Lemon Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting
- Add the softened butter to the bowl of your mixer, mix until smooth.
- Cut the softened cream cheese into pieces and add to the butter, mixing until blended.
- Add the coconut extract and lemon extract.
- Gradually add powdered sugar and mix until well blended.
- This frosting will pipe best if used while still chilled. You can make it in advance, refrigerate and when ready to use let it soften slightly and remix. Do not microwave to soften. If the frosting becomes too soft while using just refrigerate the piping bag or bowl for a short while to firm it up.
Assembly
- Decorate the cupcakes however you like! Ours are decorated using a disposable piping bag fitted with a large 1M star piping tip. We topped with a sprinkling of coconut and a tiny slice of lemon.
Refrigeration
- These cupcakes should be stored in an airtight container, sealed bakery box, or under a cake dome in the refrigerator. However, for the very best flavor and texture, remove them from the refrigerator a couple of hours before serving. This will allow the cupcakes time to warm and soften (as cakes and cupcakes containing butter become more firm when chilled).