Baby shower cupcakes recipe

Our baby shower cupcakes will put a smile on everyone’s face as you celebrate the imminent arrival of a new bundle of joy. 

Ultimately, any cupcake recipe can be adapted and decorated for your baby shower celebration. This recipe has a delicious lemon sponge and buttercream for a subtle citrus flavour. Swap for orange if you prefer or go classic and use vanilla extract instead. 

Ingredients

• 175g unsalted butter, softened
• 175g caster sugar
• 3 eggs
• 175g self-raising flour
• Zest of 1 large lemon
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 2tbsp milk

For the lemon buttercream:

• 125g unsalted butter, softened
• 250g icing sugar, sieved
• Juice of 1 large lemon

To decorate:

• Ready-made baby shower sugar decorations such as Culpitt Blue Sugar Baby Feet Edible Toppers
• Edible silver balls and glitter, optional 

Method

1. Heat the oven to 190C (170C, Gas 5). Line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cases.
2. Whisk the butter and sugar together until pale and creamy.
3. Gradually whisk in the eggs until just combined. Then add the flour, lemon zest, baking powder and milk. Whisk until combined and fluffy.
4. Divide equally between the paper cases, filling them about two-thirds full, and bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes until golden and risen.
5. Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to go cold.
6. Meanwhile prepare the lemon buttercream. Whisk the butter in a bowl until fluffy. Gradually add the icing sugar and whisk until it comes together. Add the lemon juice and whisk until light and fluffy.
7. To decorate your baby shower cupcakes, spread or pipe the icing over each cake. You could pipe half the cupcakes with a swirl design and half with small stars around the edge of the cake. Top the iced cakes with a sugar decoration and finish with a scattering of silver balls or edible glitter, if liked.

Top tips for making baby shower cupcakes

If you would prefer to make your own decorations for your baby shower cupcakes, buy some fondant icing and some baby-themed icing cutters. We think little feet, bottles and baby grows are very cute options.

You could use white icing and colour it yourself or buy your preferred colour of icing instead. For more tips and ideas, continue reading below.

It’s best to use a large, sturdy mixing bowl when combining the cake batter and buttercream ingredients. We like this one from Mason Cash. 

Mason Cash Ceramic Mixing Bowl, 4L, Green - View at John Lewis 

The wide, shallow shape of this bowl makes it easy to combine your cake ingredients and to see if everything is mixed evenly. The pattern on the exterior is also useful for helping you grip the bowl. The chip-resistant material is perfect if you’ll be stacking other bowls inside when not in use. It is also heavy enough to not wobble around too much when using an electric hand mixer. 

Try making our vanilla cupcake recipe and decorating it with some baby-themed decorations if you like. Our chocolate cupcake recipe is another great option or for something bitesize, these mini cupcakes are perfect.