Bright raspberry and fresh lime turn a classic vanilla cupcake into something rather special. A spoonful of tart raspberry filling is tucked inside each tender buttermilk cupcake, then topped with silky Swiss meringue buttercream flavoured with lime zest and juice. Cheerful enough for a llama party, but far too good to reserve for one.
Raspberry-Filled Vanilla Cupcakes with Lime Buttercream
Tender vanilla buttermilk cupcakes filled with a bright, tart raspberry filling and crowned with silky Swiss Meringue Buttercream flavoured with fresh lime. Raspberry and lime provide a lively counterpoint to the rich vanilla cake—a cheerful little cupcake with a delicious surprise inside.
- Yield: 24 Cupcakes 1x
Ingredients
Scale
For the Vanilla Cupcakes
- 300 g or 2½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 10 ml or 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp fine sea salt
- 227 g or 8 oz unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 266 g or 1⅓ cups granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs, at room temperature
- 20 ml or 4 tsp vanilla extract
- 225 ml or 1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
For the Filling
- 1 recipe Raspberry Sauce & Cake Filling
For the Lime Buttercream
- 1 recipe Swiss Meringue Buttercream
- finely grated zest of 2 limes
- 15–30 ml or 1–2 tbsp fresh lime juice, to taste
Instructions
Make the Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two 12-cup muffin pans with paper liners.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until very light and fluffy, about 3–4 minutes.
- Add the eggs one at a time, beating for about 15 seconds after each addition and scraping down the bowl as needed. Beat in the vanilla.
- With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the buttermilk in two additions, beginning and ending with the flour. Mix only until combined.
- Using a #20 scoop (about 45 ml or 3 tbsp), divide the batter among the cupcake liners, filling each about two-thirds full.
- Bake until the tops spring back lightly when touched and a wooden pick inserted into the centre comes out clean, 16–18 minutes.
- Let cool in the pans for 5 minutes before transferring the cupcakes to wire racks to cool completely.
Fill the Cupcakes
- Once completely cool, use a small paring knife or cupcake corer to remove a small plug from the centre of each cupcake. Spoon or pipe about 1–2 tsp of Raspberry Sauce & Cake Filling into each cavity. You can replace a little cap of cake if you like, though with that generous SMB swirl, I wouldn’t bother.
Make the Lime Buttercream
- Prepare the Swiss Meringue Buttercream according to the Pantry recipe.
- Once the buttercream is completely emulsified and silky, add the finely grated lime zest. Add the lime juice gradually, beginning with 1 tbsp and beating well after each addition. Taste before adding more. That’s important. We don’t want to destabilize perfectly good SMB in pursuit of lime flavour. The zest does most of the aromatic heavy lifting; the juice supplies the acidity.
- Pipe generously over the filled cupcakes.
