Creamy, tart, and creamy, this Lemon Buttercream Frosting is perfect for lemon lovers. It is perfect for topping cupcakes or frosting layer cake.
Love lemon? You might also love this Lemon Meringue Pie, Lemon Cheesecake, or classic Lemon Bars!
To know me is to know my love of all things lemon. From ice cream to cookies to cake, I’ll take it all.
Especially when it comes in the form of buttercream.
This lemon buttercream frosting is everything I could want in a buttercream. Sweet, tart, and full of lemon flavor.
And yes, you could pipe it on top of your cupcakes, or you can be like me and just grab a spoon!
Ingredients
Butter: I like to use unsalted butter so that I can control the amount of salt. If you do use salted butter, you could probably omit the salt below.
Lemon Juice: You want fresh lemon juice here. Bottled will not work well for this recipe.
Lemon Zest: The lemon zest will give the frosting a nice punch of lemon flavor. Make sure when you zest the lemon that you are only getting the yellow part of the peel – not the white part of the lemon.
Lemon Extract: I like to add in a little bit of lemon extract to up the lemon flavor. This really is totally optional, though. The lemon zest and juice will give you great lemon flavor, but the extract really highlights the lemon. If you don’t want to use the extract, simply leave it out.
Salt: You just need a large pinch of salt, about 1/4 teaspoon.
Powdered Sugar: This is also known as confectioners’ sugar. I don’t sift mine before. I think 7 cups is the perfect amount, but feel free to play with this amount and add less if you don’t want it quite as sweet.
How to Make Lemon Buttercream Frosting
- Start by beating the butter. I like to use my stand mixer, but you could use a hand mixer as well.
- Add in the lemon juice, lemon zest, lemon extract, and salt.
- Start slowly adding in the powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, until it is all incorporated. You’ll want to do this with the mixer on low so that the powdered sugar doesn’t fly everywhere.
- Once all of the powdered sugar is mixed in, turn the mixer to medium and beat the frosting until it is a light and fluffy consistency. I like to let it beat a full 8-10 minutes. This is my secret for a light buttercream.
Tips and Tricks
If your buttercream starts to separate or look curdled, just keep beating it. The lemon juice can cause some separation, but if you just keep beating it, it will all come together.
The lemon juice and zest won’t add much color, so if you want the frosting to be yellow, add a few drops of yellow food coloring.
The buttercream is easiest to spread or pipe when it is at room temperature.
Store any leftover buttercream in an airtight container in the refrigerator. You an also freeze the buttercream. Thaw at room temperature. Before using, you may need to whip it again with a mixer
You will also need to store any leftover decorated cupcakes or cakes in the refrigerator.
How to Use Lemon Buttercream
This lemon buttercream recipe is very versatile!
My favorite way to use it is on cupcakes. You could use a basic white cupcake to let the lemon in the buttercream shine, or for a good punch of lemon, use it on lemon cupcakes!
This also makes enough to frost a 2 layer cake, and it works well for that.
You could make sugar cookies and use this to frost the cookies for a treat full of bright flavors.
More Frosting Recipes
Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting
Funfetti Frosting
Mint Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Frosting
Fluffy Frosting
Fresh Cherry Frosting
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Lemon Buttercream Frosting
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: enough for 24 cupcakes 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: American
Description
Creamy, tart, and creamy, this Lemon Buttercream Frosting is perfect for lemon lovers. It is perfect for topping cupcakes or frosting layer cake.
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 6 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 1–2 teaspoons lemon extract*
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 7 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- Beat the butter in a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer until smooth and creamy.
- Add the lemon juice, lemon zest, extract, and salt. Beat to combine.
- With the mixer on low, start adding the powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, until all of the sugar has been incorporated. Start mixing on medium. Beat the buttercream until it is light and creamy, 5-10 minutes.
Recipe Notes:
*The lemon extract adds an addition punch of lemon flavor, but if you don’t have any or don’t want to add it, you can leave it out.
You can add a few drops of yellow food coloring to help color the buttercream, but it’s not necessary.
Nutrition information provided as an estimate only. Various brands and products can change the counts. Any nutritional information should be used as a general guide.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/24 of recipe
- Calories: 208
- Sugar: 34 g
- Sodium: 24 mg
- Fat: 7 g
- Saturated Fat: 5 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 2 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 35 g
- Fiber: 0 g
- Protein: 0 g
- Cholesterol: 20 mg
Keywords: lemon buttercream frosting, lemon frosting, lemon buttercream
Aura Darling says
Loved this recipe! I made strawberry cupcakes and wanted a strawberry lemonade flavour, I was a bit worried about the measurements (and I skipped the lemon extract) but the icing was perfect! it was sweet but a little extra salt did the trick. Great, I’ll definitely use it again.
★★★★
Barbara says
Gorgeous lemon cupcakes Deboroah. Great o have you participate again. Thank you for supporting LIveSTRONG With A Taste Of Yellow.
Pearlsofeast says
The frosting is hard to resist.I love citus flavor and lemon frosting are the best.
Rosie says
Your cupcakes look so beautiful and what wonderful frosting 🙂
Rosie x
Lore says
Great contribution Deborah! I find that your frosting perfectly encapsulates the essence of “A taste of yellow”.
PheMom says
The buttercream looks great to me! Yum!
Sophie says
I love lemon! I’ve yet to make lemon cupcakes, but I love that you made them for LiveSTRONG Day :). The frosting looks perfect and its color is even perfect for Spring :).
Cynthia says
Beautiful cakes for an exceptional event.
RecipeGirl says
Super pretty… I love lemon with a passion. Good job on swirling that frosting into gorgeous tops for the cakes!
Elle says
Oh my gosh, those are adorable! i envy all of you cupcake bakers. I’m cupcake impaired, hehe.
Melanie says
I, for one, am impressed you threw together buttercream frosting (so glad you wrote down the reicpe). Very impressive in my book! And the cupcakes look delicious.
Patricia Scarpin says
Deb, what a wonderful recipe you chose! I love lemon.
Bellini Valli says
Lemon is the perfect feel good ingredient for this event:D
ruthEbabes says
Lemon is perfect in cupcakes…. these sound delicious
KJ says
Wow, I can almost taste that lemon icing. It just looks zingy and fresh. Yum!
Rosa's Yummy Yums says
They look very pretty and neat! Beautiful!
Cheers,
Rosa
Ellie @ Kitchen Wench says
How adorable! And how great is lemon buttercream? I used it for some cupcakes I made last week and am hooked on the stuff!
Jenny says
Beautiful Deborah! I love lemon desserts and those cupcakes are so cute!
Peabody says
What luck that no one close to you has ever had it. Lets hope it stays that way!
Awesome cupcakes.
StickyGooeyCreamyChewy says
Your cupcakes are so pretty! I could really go for one right now!I almost made lemon cupcakes for this event too. I ended up doing something different, but now I am craving them. 😉
Nikki says
My girlfriends and I used the same cupcake wrappers this weekend! (Got them at Joann Fabrics) But, we made chocolate and red velvet cupcakes so the wrapper didn’t even show! Glad to see how cute yours ended up.
Kalyn says
Love the yellow frosting, what a great entry.
Kevin says
Lemon buttercream frosted cupcakes sound really good!
Abby says
LOVE those wrappers!
Karen says
Oh, that frosting looks fantastic! I’m on a total lemon kick. Can’t wait to try these!
mimi says
that frosting looks sooo soft! wow, these must have been really yummy. i never get tired of using lemon!
Grace says
mini cupcakes are my go-to office treat, but that’s not important. what’s important is that i would gladly eat that icing a finger-full at a time. 🙂
Katie B. says
What adorable little cupcakes! Is your office hiring, by chance? 🙂
kat says
those look so good. i can’t believe you just made up the frosting…i love to make cupcakes but frostings seem to stump me lately.
Sandy says
Love this post – may have to try your frosting.
We’re on board w/the whole LIVEstrong theme – and my husband is a cyclist! 🙂
Brilynn says
Who wouldn’t want to help themselves to a few of those? They look great!
Cakespy says
What a wonderful cause to be part of, and what gorgeous cupcakes!! The frosting looks beautiful and I’ll bet they taste even better!!
Sarah says
This is probably the 4th lemon recipe I have printed off today…I am in heaven and can’t wait to try this buttercream!!
Emiline says
Your lemon cupcakes look delightful. I’ve been reading lots of entries to this event. I think I’m going to run out of time before I can enter.
Mary says
Your cupcakes are beautiful! And I happen to love lemony things.
Rachel says
Lovely! I don’t make nearly enough lemon-y foods.
Marija says
The frosting is fantastic!