Love a scrumptious cupcake? I partnered with the Best Buy Blogger Network, on behalf of KitchenAid, to share this recipe for the most scrumptious poke cake lemon cupcakes. The reviewer has been compensated in the form of a Best Buy Gift Card and/or received the product/service at a reduced price or for free.
One of my family's favorite desserts has been and will probably always be lemon cake.
I write a lot about my grandma's recipes, and her lemon cake was one of the best. Family and friends loved Grandma's lemon poke cake with lemon glaze.
I remember standing in her kitchen with her while she mixed up the simple icing; she always used frozen lemonade with powdered sugar to make it. While her recipe is so delicious in cake form, my middle child loves it when we make the rare cupcake.
So when opportunity came to test out the new KitchenAid Artisan Mini, I put my thinking cap on and decided to transform Grandma's lemon cake into lemon cupcakes. They turned out wonderfully.
Looking for more cupcake recipes? You may also enjoy these moist and fluffy chocolate cupcakes.
How to Make Lemon Cupcakes
This recipe is really simple and easy to make and only requires a few ingredients. Using a mixer like the KitchenAid Artisan Mini, you'll mix together the cake mix and instant pudding mix.
Then you'll add in the eggs and water and beat for 2 minutes. Finally, add in the water and canola oil, and beat for another 2 minutes.
Add cupcake liners to your muffin tin. Once you've scraped the sides of the bowl and your batter is mixed, you're ready to add the batter to each cupcake liner.
While your cupcakes are baking, you'll need to mix up the icing so it's ready to go while the cupcakes are warm.
I love to use fresh lemon juice (my excuse to make fresh lemonade with the leftovers).
The lemon icing is just powdered sugar and lemon juice mixed together, simple as that.
When the cupcakes have baked through and while still warm, you'll poke each one all over with a fork, then brush the icing on.
This helps the icing to sort of melt down into each cupcake, leaving a thin, slightly crispy, sweet but tarty layer on top… A little messy but so worth it.
Just a Few of My Favorite Things About the KitchenAid Artisan Mini
One of the things I love about my Artisan Mini is that the bowl is tall enough around that nothing flies out; in fact, I think this is my favorite feature. When I start to mix dry ingredients together and then add in a wet ingredient like eggs or oil, nothing flies out onto my countertop.
It's also 20% smaller and 25% lighter than my regular mixer, making it easy to move around my kitchen. This will be an added bonus when we're cooking live on Facebook and need to use our mixer.
It makes it nice for anyone with a smaller kitchen or with not a lot of counter space. Even though it's smaller and lighter, it can still mix up a double batch of my favorite chocolate chip cookies; you can use the included 3.5 quart stainless steel bowl to make up to 5 dozen cookies at once.
The Artisan Mini also feels very sturdy and powerful, everything about it, from its 10 speed lever to the tilt head that can be adjusted up or down. It's lightweight but heavy duty.
It comes with 3 coated tools, including a flat beater, dough hook, and 6-wire whip; it's also compatible with other standard attachments like the spiralizer and pasta maker.
And then there's the Twilight Blue color of my mixer… It's pretty! Imagine that, a small appliance that's actually pretty.
Click here to purchase the KitchenAid Artisan Mini, in whatever color you love, from Best Buy.
Print the Recipe for Poke Cake Lemon Cupcakes
The Most Scrumptious Poke Cake Lemon Cupcakes
Ingredients
Cake:
- 1 lemon cake mix
- 1 lemon instant pudding mix
- 4 eggs
- 3/4 cup water
- 3/4 cup canola oil
Icing:
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 4 ounces frozen lemonade If using lemons, use juice of 2 lemons, or about 6 tablespoons
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350° and prepare muffin tin by adding cupcake liners.
- Mix cake mix and instant pudding mix together in large mixing bowl.
- Add eggs and water, beating for 2 minutes.
- Add canola oil and beat for another 2 minutes.
- Pour batter into cupcake liners.
- Bake at 350° for about 20-25 minutes. Insert toothpick in center of cupcake/s to make sure they're baked through before removing from oven.
- While the cupcakes are baking, mix up the icing.
- When the cupcakes are done and while still hot, prick with a fork all over; spoon or brush on the icing.
- Let cool somewhat; then serve and enjoy!