This fluffy, homemade Lemon Buttercream Frosting is made using real lemon juice and rich butter. It is full of bright lemon flavor with a silky, creamy consistency. It’s the perfect lemon frosting for cakes, cupcakes, and cookies.
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I’m excited to share this delightful, lemony buttercream recipe with all of my lemon lovers. It’s perhaps the best of all buttercreams, balanced with a touch of salt and the tartness of fresh lemon flavor.
The sweet, salt, and zest produce harmony, rather than a nauseatingly sweet buttercream.
Buttercream is often quite heavy and can be cloyingly sweet, pushing many to choose whipped frostings or cream cheese frostings. I’m also a big fan of those, as seen in my recipe for sourdough chocolate cupcakes.
However, you’ll find this luxurious buttercream to be a crowning addition to all flavors of cakes, cookies, and cupcakes. Of course, I particularly love these recipes for sourdough vanilla cake, sourdough chocolate cake, gluten-free lemon cake, sourdough chocolate cupcakes, or sourdough sugar cookies, but you could also pair this easy lemon frosting with strawberry, coconut, or lemon bakes of any kind.
This lemon buttercream frosting is quick and easy, bright and zesty, and suitable for a variety of flavors and desserts.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Balanced flavors – Buttercream recipes simply require a lot of powdered sugar. This intense sweetness is countered and balanced very well with freshly squeezed lemon juice, a sprinkling of salt, and a touch of cream to give it a silky consistency.
Easy to make – It’s a one-bowl recipe and can be whipped up very quickly in a stand mixer or a bowl with a hand mixer.
Pairs with many other recipes – Lemon pairs so well with strawberry, raspberry, blackberry, vanilla, and chocolate. Spread it over cakes, cupcakes, sugar cookies, or cookie bars, or use it as a filling between cake layers or piped into cupcakes.
Ingredients
Butter: You can use salted or unsalted butter, but it should be at room temperature. If using salted butter, you may want to taste the frosting before adding extra salt.
Powdered sugar: Known also as icing sugar or confectioners sugar, this is the sweetener and thickener.
Cream: The addition of cream yields a creamy frosting without unpleasant curdling, plus it can be spread more easily.
Lemon juice: Fresh, organic lemons provide the perfect amount of flavor and natural color to this frosting. After washing the fruit, grate the lemon peel to add zest to the frosting or to use as a garnish.
A full ingredient list with exact amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
Tools You May Need
Stand mixer or hand mixer
How to Make Lemon Buttercream Frosting
Step 1: Place the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk attachment. Beat on medium speed until pale in color and airy.
Step 2: With the mixer turned on low, add the powdered sugar slowly.
Step 3: Slowly pour in cream, lemon juice, lemon zest, and salt to the whipped butter. Once mostly combined, increase to medium-high speed, and scrape down the sides of the bowl as you go. Mix until fluffy. Pipe, spread, or store. Enjoy!
Storage:
Store in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to a week. Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight. The next day place in the stand mixer and whip on high for a few minutes to get it light and fluffy again.
Tips
- Room temperature butter is key to a smooth frosting. If it’s too soft, it won’t be as fluffy or full, and if it’s too hard, it may be clumpy and difficult to whip up.
- Fresh lemon juice works best. I find it adds the perfect amount of color and flavor.
- If you want a stronger lemon flavor, add a few drops of lemon extract rather than more lemon juice. More lemon juice will disrupt the proportions.
- For a more vivid yellow color, add a few drops of natural food coloring or a pinch of turmeric to the frosting and whisk.
- If you plan to add lemon zest, zest your lemon before squeezing it, only grating the brightest parts of the peel, as the white part of the peel can be bitter. Go for organic lemons since you are using the peel directly.
- If your frosting is not stiff enough for your taste, add a bit more powdered sugar until it’s just right. If it’s too wet but you’d rather not add more sugar, try adding more soft, whipped butter. If it’s altogether too stiff, thin it out with a small amount of cream.
Recipe FAQs
While buttercream will do well at room temperature for about a day, it should be refrigerated if you are storing it any longer than that. Keep it in the fridge in an airtight container for up to a week. When ready to use, be sure to bring it to room temperature first. If it’s too thick to spread, you can add a splash of cream and mix it up in your stand mixer again.
If your buttercream is too thin, you can add small amounts of powdered sugar, whisking until reaching your preferred consistency. Or you can add more whipped butter to thicken without increasing the sugar.
Yes, powdered sugar is also known as icing sugar or confectioner’s sugar.
A tangy addition like lemon juice can help to counteract the sugary sweetness of buttercream. It adds the perfect balance of fresh, tart flavor.
More Sourdough Recipes from the Farmhouse
- Lemon Poppyseed Muffins
- Lemon Sourdough Pound Cake
- Sourdough Discard Lemon Bread with Lemon Glaze
- Fermented Lemonade
- Coconut Flour Lemon Poppyseed Muffins
If you try this recipe and love it, I would love it if you could come back and give it 5 stars! Tag me on Instagram @farmhouseonboone.
Lemon Buttercream Frosting
Equipment
- Stand Mixer or hand mixer
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1/2 tablespoon Lemon zest, optional
- pinch salt
Instructions
- Place the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk attachment. Beat on medium speed until pale in color and airy, about 2 minutes.
- With the mixer turned on low, add the powdered sugar slowly.
- Slowly pour in cream, lemon juice, lemon zest, and salt to the whipped butter.
- Once mostly combined, increase to medium-high speed, and scrape down the sides of the bowl as you go. Mix until fluffy.
- Pipe, spread, or store. Enjoy!
Notes
- Room temperature butter is key to a smooth frosting. If it’s too soft, it won’t be as fluffy or full, and if it’s too hard, it may be clumpy and difficult to whip up.
- Fresh lemon juice works best. I find it adds the perfect amount of color and flavor.
- If you want a stronger lemon flavor, add a few drops of lemon extract rather than more lemon juice. More lemon juice will disrupt the proportions.
- For a more vivid yellow color, add a few drops of natural food coloring or a pinch of turmeric to the frosting and whisk.
- If you plan to add lemon zest, zest your lemon before squeezing it, only grating the brightest parts of the peel, as the white part of the peel can be bitter. Go for organic lemons since you are using the peel directly.
- If your frosting is not stiff enough for your taste, add a bit more powdered sugar until it’s just right. If it’s too wet but you’d rather not add more sugar, try adding more soft, whipped butter. If it’s altogether too stiff, thin it out with a small amount of cream.
- Storage: Store in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to a week. Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight. The next day place in the stand mixer and whip on high for a few minutes to get it light and fluffy again.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
