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Sweet, with just a bit of tangy flavor, these lemon lime cupcakes are tender, tasty and festive! 

In our home, birthdays are very festive. The birthday boy or girl gets to choose all the meals for the day, all the entertainment, as well as the cake flavor.

I have made all types of flavors in the past, from lemon cake with strawberry frosting, to Oreo ice cream cake with blue frosting to Boston Creme Pie. Some are stranger combinations, some are standard. Each one unique for the special person.

When the boy was on the cusp of turning 14, he loved the idea of citrus. Lemon this, lime that. He could easily eat lime curd by the batchful. I knew his birthday cake was going to be different this year. Something citrus, not overly sweet. And fun. It HAS to be fun.

I was all for the fun, and all for the citrus. Thus, was born lemon lime cupcakes.

Originally, he wanted a layer cake that had lemon on the top, lime on the bottom and strawberry frosting in the middle. Hey, he’s 14 and flavor combinations like that are the norm, right? Wanting to make his birthday more festive, I went with cupcakes.

Lemon lime cupcakes have a tender, lemony cake with lime curd filling. The frosting is also lime flavored, giving all the citrus flavors he was going for. All in an easy to control portion size. This one was a total winner with the rest of the family, too.

I’m not saying lemon cake with strawberry frosting is bad at all, but it WAS nice to get a break from that this year. Just saying.

Ingredients you need for these bakery style cupcakes:

For the cake:

• Butter
• Sugar
• Eggs
• Lemon juice
• All purpose flour
• Baking powder
• Salt
• Baking soda
• Sour Cream

For the filling:

1 batch lime curd (get the recipe here)

For the frosting:

• Butter
• Powdered sugar
• Lime juice
• Lime zest

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven and line muffin tin with papers. 
2. Mix dry ingredients in medium bowl and set aside. 
3. Beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. 
4. Add eggs and yolks and lemon juice.
5. Add in flour mixture and sour cream.
6. Pour into cupcake liners. 
7. Bake, then allow to cool completely.
8. Once cool, carefully remove a small part of the cake in the middle, using an apple corer or spoon.
9. Add lime curd.
10. In a clean medium sized bowl, add in softened butter and powdered sugar.
11. Beat together until fluffy.
12. Stir in lime zest and juice.
13. Frost cooled cupcakes as desired. Decorate as desired.

What is your favorite birthday cake flavor? Will you try these lemon lime cupcakes? Be sure to pin this for later!