How was your weekend? Kevin’s birthday is this week, so we celebrated on Saturday. It was one of those effortlessly beautiful weekends where you just want to stay outside. Completely the opposite of every other weekend so far this summer where you feel like you’re holed up in a sauna. Practically Z-E-R-O humidity, so we took full advantage and spent most of the time out of the house. But I also did some “nesting” which doesn’t really feel like nesting? Baby laundry, organized baby toiletries, some bath stuff, etc. Does nesting feel like nesting? Was that even nesting…?
I also worked in the kitchen with a new piping tip—the leaf tip. Wilton #352. Trying to work on my piping skills. Now that I have a solid background of basic designs using these 6 piping tips, my goal is to learn making more intricate frosting designs!
(Note: I used Wilton 8B for today’s frosting!)
But let’s talk frosting. I’m trying to build out the frosting section on Sally’s Baking Addiction with some of my basic frosting faves and a few fun ones like creamy strawberry frosting and rainbow chip frosting (holy heck, that one!). My latest success is lemon buttercream frosting. This is a tricky one to master because lemon juice + zest can produce a curdled-looking buttercream, quite the opposite of anyone’s agenda. Have you ever tasted curdled fros… I can’t even finish that question. Gives me the heebie-jeebies.
To overcome that curdled situation, you have to make sure you have enough confectioners’ sugar to battle the additional liquid. And, most notably, you want to stick to fresh lemon instead of artificial lemon flavoring. Lemon extract is wonderful and all, but it doesn’t even compare to fresh lemons in both the aroma and flavor categories.
But here’s the common dilemma! Adding extra confectioners’ sugar is an easy solution and all, but you can add *too* much. Overly sweet and artificial frosting follows, which is everything you were hoping against.
We want REAL lemon flavor. And:
- Tangy + creamy, sweet but not overly so.
- Easy to pipe, fresh, and silky.
- NOT curdled.
Tall orders when it comes to lemon buttercream, but I cracked that code. The secret is in the balance of confectioners’ sugar to liquid. With the precise recipe below, you’ll enter lemon frosting nirvana where you have the texture and consistency of vanilla buttercream, with fresh lemon flavor.
Besides adding enough confectioners’ sugar, my secret is the ratio of lemon juice to heavy cream. I used to skip the heavy cream completely and only use lemon juice as the liquid. Hence the curdling situation. Cream ensures a CREAMY and THICK (hey, who woulda thunk?) consistency. I don’t suggest subbing it out!
The pictured cupcakes are my lemon cupcakes. If lemon is your soul sista, this frosting and the lemon cupcakes are a combo you’ve gotta try. But it’s equally as delicious on white chocolate strawberry cupcakes, lemon blueberry cupcakes, and even vanilla cupcakes, or as an alternative filling and frosting for a 6 inch citrus cake or lemon cake.
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Lemon Buttercream Frosting
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 2.5 cups
- Category: Frosting
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Lemon buttercream frosting is tangy, sweet, and creamy. It tastes delicious on everything and is so easy to make!
Ingredients
- 1 cup (16 Tbsp; 226g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 4 and 1/2 cups (540g) confectioners’ sugar
- 2 and 1/2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 Tablespoons heavy cream
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest
- pinch salt, to taste
Instructions
- With a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy—about 2 minutes. Add confectioners’ sugar, lemon juice, heavy cream, and zest with the mixer running on low. Increase to high speed and beat for 3 full minutes. Taste and add salt as needed. Add up to 1/2 cup more confectioners’ sugar if frosting is too thin or another Tablespoon of cream if frosting is too thick.
- Cover tightly and store for up to 1 week in the refrigerator or up to 3 months in the freezer. After freezing or refrigerating, thaw in the refrigerator, bring to room temperature then beat the frosting for a few seconds so it’s creamy again. You may need to add a little milk or heavy cream if it’s still too stiff.
Notes
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Citrus Juicer | Zester | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand)
- Quantity: This recipe is enough to frost 12-16 cupcakes or one 9×13 quarter sheet cake.
Delicious! Perfect amount of lemon, light and fluffy… great recipe! Thank you!
Could I frost cupcakes with this frosting the day before and leave them covered in my kitchen overnight for an event the next day?
Hi Kristen, we’ve had no problem leaving the frosted cupcakes out for up to 24 hours, but any longer than that and we’d recommend storing in the refrigerator.
I’m making a 8” layer cake but putting lemon curd as a filling, although I do make a “dam” around the perimeter with frosting. Does this recipe make enough to frost the exterior of an 8” two-layer cake? Thanks!
Hi Aly, this recipe should be enough for a 2 layer 8-inch cake, but feel free to 1.5x or double the recipe if you prefer more frosting on your cakes.
This frosting tastes delicious ! Lovely and lemony. Still to test freezing it. Hoping to use for my son’s wedding cake this summer. Thanks ! Subscribed !
This is my favorite and go to lemon buttercream! I make mine a little on the thick side because I put lemon curd in between my cake layers. All of my friends and family love this! Thank you!
This is what I’m intending to do for my son’s wedding cake – delighted to see you have success with using lemon curd too.
Would salted butter work?
Hi Leslie, we haven’t tested it with salted butter, but you can try it. Just omit the pinch of added salt!
It worked for me!
Used this recipe to fill my lemon macarons and they were a hit!! Added more lemon juice to make them extra zesty! Will make again!!
Does this recipe crust over well?
Hi Tamara! This frosting sets pretty nicely. To ensure even more crusting, you can replace half of the butter with shortening. That promises a stiffer frosting.
I have loved every single recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction! Any time I search for a recipe, if one of yours pops up, that’s what I’m using! Always amazing!
So easy, directions super helpful. Turned out fluffy, creamy, lemony, not too sweet. So fluffy from beating as long as recommended that I’m going to need to make another batch of cupcakes! I only used half or so, for 12 cupcakes. Didn’t need to add anymore than the 4.5 cups of icing sugar. Used regular oat milk, & 1 lemon for the zest & juice
This frosting was DELICIOUS! I put it on a French vanilla cake (modified box mix cake), and it was DELICIOUS! I might have added a little extra (fresh squeezed) lemon juice, but it was PLENTY lemony, and when I make it again, I would do the same. (I wouldn’t put it on a lemon cake, personally, because the flavor was perfect!
I made a sort of half batch for a 6” lemon cake but I only had 180g powdered sugar and I added more juice; still worked great! Would have preferred more lemon flavor (we’re lemon fiends here) might be because I used a meyer and not my preferred eureka lemon.
Hi Victoria! Meyer lemons are sweeter and less tart – for more lemon flavor we would steer away from Meyer lemons (though they are SO tasty in other things).
Not sure what I did wrong but after following the recipe, I had to add a LOT more powdered sugar because it was still too runny and now it’s way too sweet.
Hi Maddie, for buttercream, using 1 cup of butter (16 Tbsp or 2 sticks), 4 cups of confectioners’ sugar, and 1/4 cup of liquid is typically the ratio. There’s slightly more liquid here, and a little more confectioners’ sugar. I’m surprised you had to add more confectioners’ sugar. Was your butter very soft? Make sure it’s still cool to the touch when it’s softened.
Would this be able to ice a 2-layer 9” cake?
Hi Alyse, this recipe should be enough for a 2 layer cake, but feel free to 1.5x or double the recipe if you prefer more frosting on your cakes.
Would this work with vegan butter instead of the dairy butter?
Hi Noemi, we haven’t tested it, so we’re unsure of the results. Let us know if you give it a try!
This frosting is amazing. I used only 1 tablespoon of heavy whipping cream and added 1 extra tablespoon of fresh lemon juice in its place. Perfect flavor and so smooth!! Highly recommend!
What would be the effect of using 10% cream instead of heavy cream?
Hi Adele, a lighter cream or even milk could work in a pinch, the frosting just won’t be quite as rich and creamy.
Would it work to use the lemon buttercream frosting on your coconut cake? Would I still “cover” the frosted cake w/coconut flakes?
Hi Sue, this icing would be great on our coconut cake!