Tender, light cupcakes with bright lemon flavor filled with a perfectly savory-sweet strawberry basil compote and topped with a delicate, fruity strawberry basil buttercream. These cupcakes are truly reminiscent of childhood days filled with lemonade stands, picking strawberries, and nothing to worry about beyond how to sneak another cupcake.

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I’m just gonna say it: these cupcakes are bougie. I mean, strawberry basil lemonade cupcakes? As my husband has said, I’ve been coming up with cockamamie flavors lately. But they’re as delicious as they are pretentious. These cupcakes are light and delicate and remind me of carefree strawberry picking as a child. And the flavor is unbelievable.

The key is the strawberry basil compote, in both the filling and the buttercream. It’s so, so, so good. It has chunks of strawberries still in it (as a compote should have). And the basil plays off the strawberry flavors beautifully.

Plus, that lemonade cupcake is so tender and light and lemony. I’ve spent years trying to find a good lemon cake. This is the result of so much research and many trials.

The key? Cold infusing the milk plus mixing zest into the sugar.

You can heat the milk and let it steep with the lemon peel, but the flavor just won’t be as bright. Plus, the cake won’t be quite as light and fluffy, because heating up milk until it begins to boil alters its chemistry. Don’t ask me how—I’ve just heard it does and have witnessed how it can alter the final texture of a cake.

As for the sugar-zest, you can stir it roughly (super technical term for stirring it while also pressing it against the bowl to help the zest release the oils). Or, you can pulse it in a food processor. Either way, you’ll get a better lemon flavor.

The end result is a perfect marriage of fluffy lemon cake, savory-sweet strawberry compote, and delicate, fruity buttercream.

How to make strawberry basil lemonade cupcakes

Make the strawberry basil compote and steep the milk ahead of time. Doing both ahead is helpful for time and flavor—the compote will thicken and the milk will soak up all the lemon flavor.

Make the lemonade cupcakes. Whisk dry ingredients.

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, then oil and vanilla.

Alternate adding flour, strained milk, then more flour. Only mix until it just barely comes together.

Make the strawberry basil buttercream.

Fill the cupcakes with compote then top with buttercream.

Enjoy!

My cupcake tools

Here are my must-have tools I use for making these cupcakes. Affiliate links provided.

Stand mixer or handheld mixer

1M piping tips

Reusable silicone piping bags (These are super easy to clean—just turn inside out, wear like a mitten, and wash! I stand mine like a cone hat on my tea kettle to dry.)

Cupcake corer (I love that this comes in two sizes!)

Cupcake pans (I’ve used many over the years and these are the most consistently successful.)

Tips and notes for this recipe

Split up your work

The recipe also has a note about this, but it bears repeating. You don’t have to do all of this in one day! In fact I highly suggest making the compote the day before, when you steep the milk for the cupcakes. You could also make the buttercream the day before, especially since it would speed things up to remove some compote, add a few more basil leaves, and reduce that down a bit then strain it for the concentrate in the buttercream.

Sub plain strawberry buttercream

Like, I said, these are bougie cupcakes. And as such, that means they do have several steps. I really wanted strawberry basil in the buttercream as well as the filling. Plus, I really loved how light and delicate (is that the right word? I say it is) the buttercream ended up being. However, you are welcome to make a somewhat faster buttercream that is also always a hit: my sturdy strawberry buttercream.

You might also like:

Chocolate Strawberry Cupcakes

Blackberry Lavender Lemonade Cupcakes

Strawberry Lemonade Cake

White Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes

Lemon & Mascarpone Cake

Strawberry Basil Lemonade Cupcakes

Print

prep time: 50-55 minutes
bake time: 12-15 minutes
total time: 1 hour, 20 minutes

servings: 24

Ingredients:

¾ cup(184g) whole milk
peeled zest of 2-3 lemons
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons (244g) cake flour, spooned then leveled (see note above for making your own)
2 teaspoons (8g) baking powder
½ teaspoon (3g) sea salt
¾ cup (170g) unsalted butter*, room temperature**
1 ⅔ cups (335g) granulated sugar
2 tablespoons (12g) grated lemon zest (2 large lemons)
3 large eggs, room temperature
2 tablespoons (27g) avocado or vegetable oil
1 tablespoon (13g) vanilla extract
¼ cup (58g) fresh lemon juice
half a batch of strawberry basil compote
one batch strawberry basil buttercream

Instructions:

cold infuse the lemon peel and milk for the cupcakes

The night before you plan to make the cupcakes, use a vegetable peeler to remove the zest (avoid the white pith) of 2-3 lemons. Add this to your milk in a sealed jar. Refrigerate until ready to make the cupcakes.

make the strawberry basil compote

Ideally, you’ll make this ahead of time, so it’s cooled enough to use in the cupcakes. However, if that doesn’t work out, try to make it before you start the cupcakes so that you can chill it before filling them.

make the lemonade cupcakes

When you take the butter and eggs out to warm up, strain the lemon peel from the milk and let it come to room temperature for 30-60 minutes.
When ready to bake, preheat oven to 325 (350 if at high elevation). Line 2 cupcake pans with liners.
In a food processor, pulse the sugar and grated lemon zest. You can also rub it together with your hands or stir with a wooden spoon, pressing against the sides of the bowl, until fragrant.
In a medium mixing bowl, sift then whisk together cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or a large mixing bowl with a hand mixer), beat the butter on high until fluffy, about 1 minute. Add the lemon sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape the bowl as necessary, at least once.
Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing on medium until light and fluffy (about 30 seconds) and scraping the bowl after each addition. Add the oil and vanilla and mix on medium until well blended.
Add half of the flour and mix on low until just barely blended. Add the milk and lemon juice and mix on low until just barely blended. Add the remaining flour and mix on low until just barely blended. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl. Mix on low another 3-5 seconds, just to mix it all. Don't’ worry if there are a few streaks of flour.
Divide evenly between your cupcake liners, filling about ⅔ full (no more than ¾ full). Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle cupcake comes out clean. Check early, around 10 minutes, as climate, elevation, and individual ovens can cause the bake time to vary.
Let cupcakes cool in the pan 5-10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

make the strawberry basil buttercream (can also be made ahead of time)

If you didn’t make the buttercream ahead of time, make it while the cupcakes cool so it’s ready to use when they’re done. If you did make it ahead of time, be sure to let it come to room temperature on the counter (usually 2-3 hours).

assemble

When the cupcakes are cool, use a cupcake corer or knife to remove about a ½ inch deep and wide chunk of cupcake from the center. Fill with strawberry basil compote, just until level with the cupcake (don’t overfill).
Frost with strawberry basil buttercream. You can either use a piping bag and a 1M piping tip, like I did. Or you can frost with an offset spatula or butterknife, but start from the edge to help seal in the jam or it will spread into the buttercream (which could have a fresh, springy look if you want!).

Enjoy!

Cupcakes should be stored in a truly airtight container. If using a typical cupcake caddy, wrap the seam with plastic wrap to preserve freshness. Cupcakes will last 3-5 days at room temperature.

Split up your time by making the compote and buttercream ahead. Buttercream can be kept on the counter overnight or refrigerated 1-2 weeks or frozen 1-2 months, both in an airtight container. Jam can be kept refrigerated about a month or frozen up to 3 months. Let come to room temperature on the counter. If chilled longer than overnight, it may need to be stirred or quickly whipped with a mixer.

*I highly recommend European style butter! It has less water and makes a richer dessert.

**If your butter has become shiny or oily, put it back in the fridge for 5-10 minutes until it firms up a bit (not hard) and is matte in appearance.