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.
(Note: I used Wilton 8B for today’s frosting!)
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, as an alternative filling and frosting for a 6 inch citrus cake or lemon cake, or swiped on top of lemon shortbread cookies.
Print
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.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Made this with my granddaughter for her 8th birthday. It is delicious. She wanted lemon cake with lemon frosting. Used this as an opportunity for her to learn how to zest a lemon.
What can I sub the heavy cream with? I have coconut milk and almond milk.
Either would be great.
I saw a lemon Texas sheet cake recipe that called for a glaze. However, after seeing this recipe I decided to use it instead. My pan was 18 x 13 so I made 1-1/2 recipes. Oh my goodness!! This lemon buttercream is like heaven on earth. I took this to a church pot luck and it was totally gone!! My husband is totally in love with it. Truly amazing!! When you said you cracked the code, you sure did. Now to improve my piping skills to make your beautiful cupcakes!! Thanks for sharing!!
The first time I made this recipe, I was also making two other desserts and without thinking used regular granulated sugar. *smacks forehead*
Second time going, it was delicious and turned out really well, but I used the correct sugar that time.
Only problem I am facing now is what to do with the sugar, heavy cream, and butter mixture I created.
Its been a week since then and I am at such a loss. I dont want the ingredients to be wasted! 🙁
Any suggestions?
Does the cake with lemon buttercream need to be refrigerated? Or can it sit in room.temp overnight?
Thank you!
Honestly, room temperature is fine but if it’s longer than 1 day, I recommend refrigerating.
Dear Sally, i have a passion fruit curd that i would like to add in a frosting , how would that be possible? Actually i am interested in filling the cake with that and cover it with your vanila buttercream frosting.
Thank you in advance
Hi Evi! If the curd is thick enough, you can use it as a filling. To add it to buttercream, you can use this lemon buttercream recipe for a lemon passionfruit flavor OR my vanilla buttercream recipe. Add a couple spoonfuls of curd to both, but reduce the heavy cream by 2 Tablespoons. So leave it out of this lemon buttercream altogether and only use 2 Tablespoons (1/8th cup) in the vanilla buttercream.
Sally, this might just be the yummiest frosting I have ever made! The lemon flavor was outstanding, and the frosting was creamy and smooth. I used it to frost a lemon cake, and it was nice and sturdy, perfect for piping frosting dams and giving the cake a smooth finish, I haven’t quite mastered the use of my new bench scraper yet; you know, I would love a post about how to frost cakes! Your cakes always look stunning, and it would be so interesting to have a post about frosting techniques and decorations, etc.
Added 1/4 cup cream and used fresh orange juice /zest. Outstanding results. Pulled no crumb on frosting a very moist and soft cake. Thank you!!
Great recipe! Easy to follow and outstanding result.
Will this be enough frosting for your lemon layer cake(three 9 inch layers)?
Hi Miriam! I recommend doubling or 1.5x this recipe for a 3 or 4 layer cake.
Amazing lemon frosting!!! This recipe was so easy and delicious! Perfect combination of sweet with lemon!
Hi! Excited to try this recipe! Should I double the buttercream recipe if I’m going to be using it to cover and fill a cake (8″ round with two layers)?
Hi LeeLee, this recipe should be enough for a 2 layer 8-inch cake.
It was absolutely perfect!
Tried it and it was delicious!
What tip did you use to frost the cupcakes?? Love all your cake recipes! And also your buttercream
This was the Wilton 8B.
Fantastic! Just the perfect amount of lemon flavor! It was a hit!
I used lemon extract instead of juice to prevent breaking. Also used zest to garnish. Terrific recipe.
Very easy and simple recipe. My go-to lemon buttercream recipe. It’s been a big hit every time I’ve made it! Try to avoid eating it by the spoonful!
Hey, hope everything is going well!
I’ve been wondering if instead of lemon I could use lime with the same quantitites, what do you think?
Yes, you can use limes instead. Yum!
Hi Sally,
I made this frosting today and OMG it’s delicious!
Thank you for sharing the recipe.
Just a question though if the frosting can be coloured if I want to pipe coloured flowers using the frosting?
Thank you
Suzi
Hi Suzi! So glad you love this lemon buttercream! You can definitely add some food coloring to it.
Really a very nice lemon frosting. Wish I had used your lemon cake recipe. Next time for sure. Thank you!!!!!
Will this recipe work with Russian Piping tips? Should the cream be reduced?
Yes. I would leave out the cream so it’s a very thick buttercream.
I was so excited to find this recipe and excited to make it! It did not disappoint! I could not stop eating it!!! Awesome! I will make again!!
Hi Sally!
How will you know if the frosting has curdled? When I took the frosting out of the mixer it looked perfect, but as I was spreading it on the cake it seemed like it wasn’t as smooth as I thought. Not huge chunks, but just not as smooth as my usual buttercream. Would it be very obvious if curdling has occurred?
Thanks so much for your help!
It would be very obvious, yes. How did your lemon buttercream taste?
I want to use lemon frosting on a piped succulent cake I’m going to attempt soon. Would this recipe be okay for piping something like that? Not as detailed as a rose, but close. Saw succulent cakes online and thought they were just BEAUTIFUL!
This would be great for piping succulents!
I made this frosting and it was super easy and delicious! One question – if I store it in the fridge, how would you recommend getting it warmed up and loose enough to pipe?
Just let it sit at room temperature for 30-45 minutes or until pipe-able 🙂
I made this recipe this morning to use with Sally’s lemon cupcake recipe (I added frozen blueberries to the cupcakes, too). Both turned out great! The cupcakes are light and moist, plus they are extra yummy with the blueberries. The frosting is lightly lemon flavored but creamy and delicious. I didn’t have cream so I used half and half, and it worked great. Will definitely make both recipes again!