Happy 07.08.09! I am here to bring you yet another Martha Stewart Cupcakes recipe. I just can’t help it. Another useless piece of trivia about me is that my favorite color combination is orange, yellow, and green (yes, I’m enough of a color freak to think about color combinations). So I was pleased to make something with oranges, lemons, and limes.
Triple Citrus Cupcakes
Print Recipe
3-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons coarse salt
1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
3 Tablespoons finely grated lemon zest
3 Tablespoons finely grated orange zest
3 Tablespoons finely grated lime zest
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
9 large eggs, room temperature
1. Preheat oven to 325F. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk together flour and salt.
2. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, scraping down sides of bowl every few minutes. Add citrus zests. Reduce speed to medium and add vanilla. Add eggs, three at a time, beating until incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in four batches, beating until completely incorporated after each.
3. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full; tap pans on countertop once to distribute batter. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester comes out clean — about 20 minutes. Transfer cupcakes to wire racks to cool.
4. To finish, dip tops of cupcakes in glaze, then turn over quickly and garnish as you’d like. Cupcakes are best eaten the day they are glazed; keep at room temperature until ready to serve.
Citrus Glaze
1-1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 Tablespoons fresh citrus juice, plus more if needed (I used fresh lemon juice)
Whisk together ingredients until smooth. If necessary, add more sugar to thicken or more juice to thin the glaze. Use immediately.
I tried a bite of one of the cupcakes and they are VERY citrus-y, which is a good thing in my opinion. The glaze has a very strong flavor due to using fresh lemon juice.
those look really really good
I think I’d really like these and the decorations on top you used are TOOOOOO CUTE! Love it!
Thanks, Rachel! :D
How many does this make?
Kelsey – I don’t remember (I made these quite a while ago!), but I’m guessing that the recipe makes around 20.
Hi, I am making these cupcakes right now…I think they are going to turn out awesome! I also bought some Haribo Fruit Salad Gummi Candies for the top :) I do think these make more than 20 though…I just put in a pan of twelve into the oven and I definitely have more batter left for at LEAST two more pans! Hope everyone is hungry!
The recipe ended up making about 30 cupcakes total, and I filled mine all the way to the top. The glaze is so overpowering, even with using only juice from an orange instead of all lemon juice…I don’t think I will ever make these again. I am bringing them to work tomorrow, so hopefully my co-worker’s enjoy them.
Sorry they didn’t work out for you, Chelsea! Martha’s recipes are usually spot-on, but hopefully you’ll have better luck w/ your next baking project.
That’s alright! My friend suggested I use a buttercream frosting next time and just add a dash of orange or lemon juice, which I think is a great idea. I think the problem with this glaze is that it was just TOO sweet (if that’s possible!)…the mix of confectioners sugar and citrus is out of control!
Oh I definitely agree — there is such a thing as TOO sweet! Depends on the person though. If you ever try these again using buttercream, let me know how they work out!
i usually love martha’s stuff but these, are just awful. Sorry martha. There isn’t any type of leveling agent in these cupcakes so they just taste like flour and citrus. I tweaked it and used cake flour and baking powder and the turned out sooooo much better. Much more cakey and moist than dense. You should try it! You make wonderful things and love your site!
To each their own! But thank you for your feedback :-)