You know my philosophy, right? It’s not about all the effort and work that goes into baking and cooking…it’s about spending time in the kitchen with the ones you love and then sharing a meal with them too.
My mom called and asked me to bring some sort of dessert (and yes, I get asked this a lot by my family!) to a pool party. I asked Kensington what we should bring and she said cupcakes. Perfect. Since I’m into fall food already over here (because this foodie blogger works 6 weeks in advance), I decided against bringing pumpkin cupcakes and decided to whip up some fresh lemon and raspberry ones instead.
And I made them easy.
Really, really easy.
But still special looking.
The key to making quick and easy cupcakes look special is first of all, buy cute cupcake liners and the little picks that go in them (I find them at Target and Walmart all the time), second, make your frosting a little special, and finally, garnish. No one will ever know it’s a store-bought mix and not from scratch.
Shopping List
1 box of lemon cake mix (plus the ingredients to prepare it per the box directions)
2 cups of fresh raspberries
1 jar of cream cheese frosting
the zest of 2 lemons
Cupcake liners and picks
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Fit 2 (12 cup) muffin tins with cupcake liners.
In a large bowl, prepare your lemon cake mix per the box directions. Using an electric mixer, beat in one cup of your fresh raspberries.
Fill each cupcake liner 2/3 of the way full with your batter.
Bake about 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cupcakes rest in the tins about 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to finish cooling.
To make your frosting, put all of your store bought frosting in a bowl. Stir in about 2 tablespoons of your lemon zest (depending on the size of your lemons, this might require both lemons). Frost cooled cupcakes with your frosting. Add an additional sprinkle of zest to the tops of each cupcake and garnish with one more raspberry.
Baking doesn’t have to be complicated. It should be fun. Buy a cake mix, buy some frosting, buy a few raspberries and a lemon and voila…you have fun, kind of fancy cupcakes that your entire family will love.
Anonymous says
Awesome, thanks for sharing!
Sheaffer {Pinterest Told Me To} says
They look delicious and so SO pretty!!!!
Kathy Olson says
Looks delicious!
Hey, the Sept. issue of Southern Living should be arriving soon! I remember reading that you looked forward to that issue, too!
Amanda Huskey says
I find those little cupcake liner and pick kits at TJ Maxx all the time!
Valerie says
I actually made a lemon bundt cake just last night because Keith had a couple of motorcycle buddies over to plan a road trip and he requested a cake. I added a small lemon Jello and a lemon yogurt to the cake mix, along with the ingredients on the box. For the topping, I whipped up some fresh whipping cream and stirred in a few spoonfuls of Lemon Curd (sometimes called Lemon Filling) that I found in a jar on the cake mix aisle at the grocery store. That frosting was so addictive! It was light and fresh and yummy and really dressed up a regular bundt cake. And — they make other flavors of the curd/filling – lime, raspberry, etc. So – it's easy to mix and match flavors!
Grace Beekman says
So great! Love the combination of lemon and raspberry. So summery! 🙂
http://sometimesgracefully.com
mel @ the larson lingo says
Lemon and Raspberry are one of my favorite combos! And, I am so glad you didn't bring pumpkin cupcakes to a pool party. Not okay….I LOVE the fall. It's my favorite season & love pumpkin anything. But, not in August 😉
Alice says
Yum! These look delish. And I want to try them. It`s so good to see another baking recipe on your blog. I`ve missed them.