• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Charlotte's Lively Kitchen logo

  • Home
  • Recipes
    • Baking & Desserts
      • Biscuits & Bars
      • Cakes
      • Cheesecakes
      • Chocolates
      • Cupcakes
      • Icing
      • Ingredients
      • Jams, Curds & Spreads
      • Meringues
      • Savoury Baking
      • Scones
      • Sweet Sauces
      • Vegan Baking
    • Lunch & Dinner
    • Side Dishes & Sauces
    • Breakfast
    • Drinks
  • Conversions
    • Grams to Cups Conversions
    • Oven Temperature Conversions
    • All Baking Tools
  • The Food Calendar
  • Subscribe
menu icon
go to homepage
subscribe
search icon
Homepage link
  • HOME
  • RECIPE INDEX
  • – BAKING & DESSERTS
  • – LUNCH & DINNER
  • – SIDE DISHES & SAUCES
  • – BREAKFAST
  • – DRINKS
  • CONVERSIONS
  • CALENDAR
  • ABOUT
  • CONTACT
  • PRIVACY
×
Home » Baking & Desserts » Icing » Lemon Buttercream

18 February 2019

Lemon Buttercream

2.4K shares

Two different versions of my delicious lemon buttercream – one made with fresh lemons (juice and zest) and another made with either lemon extract or oil. Perfect for decorating cakes and cupcakes or filling biscuits and macarons.

Jump to the recipe made with fresh lemon zest and juice or lemon extract/oil

Two different versions of my delicious lemon buttercream - one made with fresh lemons (juice and zest) and another made with either lemon extract or oil. Perfect for decorating cakes and cupcakes or filling biscuits and macarons.

One of my most requested new recipes is lemon buttercream (and a lemon birthday cake to go with it!). It’s something I’ve not shared until now because I had a massive dilemma about the best way to make the buttercream. Should it be flavoured with lemon extract/oil, or should I opt for fresh lemon zest and juice?

Both types of buttercream are delicious, and both have times when they really come into their own. In the end, I decided the only solution was to share both.

This lemon buttercream goes brilliantly with both my carrot cake cupcakes and gingerbread cupcakes and I’ll be sharing my recipes for the lemon cupcakes shown in these pictures (which I also filled with lemon curd for an extra burst of lemon flavour), and my full-sized lemon cake soon. I’ll add the links here when I do, and if you want to make sure you don’t miss these new recipes when they’re published make sure you subscribe to my mailing list.

Two different versions of my delicious lemon buttercream - one made with fresh lemons (juice and zest) and another made with either lemon extract or oil. Perfect for decorating cakes and cupcakes or filling biscuits and macarons.

When to use buttercream made with fresh lemon zest and juice

Lemon buttercream made with fresh zest and juice is best when you want your buttercream to really pack a punch. You’ll see from the recipe that I’ve added a lot of zest for flavour and then a little lemon juice for added sharpness. The addition of the lemon juice really adds a kick to the buttercream.

You’ll notice that I’ve used more zest than juice in the recipe. After a lot of testing, I found this gave just the right balance of flavours. It does mean that you’ll have some juice leftover, but don’t worry about waste. Lemon juice freezes really well for you to use later – I like to put the juice of ½ a lemon in each square of an ice cube tray and then I can defrost it as I need it. I’ve also added a list of recipe ideas below for using up lemon juice for you to try.

Two different versions of my delicious lemon buttercream - one made with fresh lemons (juice and zest) and another made with either lemon extract or oil. Perfect for decorating cakes and cupcakes or filling biscuits and macarons.

Lemon Buttercream made with fresh lemon juice and zest

When to use lemon buttercream made using lemon extract/oil

Lemon buttercream made with extract or oil is better when you want a more subtle lemon flavour in your buttercream. When I tested the two buttercream types on my family, I found that adults enjoyed the kick of the buttercream made with fresh lemons and the children preferred the one made with extract. When I was a child I remember not liking the sharpness of lemon (how my tastes have changed as an adult because now I love it!), this version of the buttercream keeps the flavour but loses the sharpness you get from the fresh lemons.

If you’re planning on piping your buttercream then I’d recommend using the version made with lemon extract. You can see from the pictures that it’s silky smooth, whereas the buttercream made with fresh lemon has flecks of lemon zest running through it. It still pipes OK, but you can see the edges aren’t as clearly defined and if you were planning on using a smaller nozzle than the one I’ve used here (JEM1B) you may find that the nozzle gets clogged by the zest.

The other big advantage to this version of the buttercream is that it’s made from ingredients I always have in my store cupboard/fridge – butter, icing sugar, lemon extract and milk. It’s therefore perfect for those times that I need to bake a cake at the last minute and I haven’t had a chance to go to the shops, as I only buy fresh lemons when I know I’m planning to use them. It also means you don’t have to think about what to do with the leftover lemon juice.

Two different versions of my delicious lemon buttercream - one made with fresh lemons (juice and zest) and another made with either lemon extract or oil. Perfect for decorating cakes and cupcakes or filling biscuits and macarons.

Lemon Buttercream made with lemon extract/oil

Does this buttercream crust?

Yes, it’s based on a standard buttercream with twice the amount of icing sugar to butter and so it crusts just as that would. It’s therefore perfect for piping more intricate shapes such as buttercream flowers and also for using under fondant on a decorated cake.

Can this lemon buttercream be made vegan/dairy-free?

Absolutely, it’s pretty straightforward to adapt the recipe to be vegan/dairy-free.

All you need to do is switch the 250g of butter in the recipe for 125g of dairy-free/vegan margarine (I use Pure Sunflower) and 125g of a vegetable oil block such as Stork Baking Block or Trex. Then switch the milk added at the end for a dairy-free alternative such as almond milk.

The vegan margarine adds flavour to the buttercream and the vegetable oil block adds firmness, so your buttercream is just the right consistency for piping.

If you’d like to read more about making vegan buttercream take a look at my vegan vanilla buttercream recipe where I’ve gone into more detail.

Ideas for using up lemon juice

As I mentioned before, this recipe uses more lemon zest than juice so here are some delicious recipes you can try to use up the leftover lemon juice.

  • Lemon Cheesecake from Apply To Face
  • Lemon Posset from Fuss Free Flavours
  • Shortbread Lemon Bars from Sugar & Soul
  • Moist Lemon Cake from Living Sweet Moments
  • Lemon Blueberry Cake from Cooking With Carlee
  • Watermelon Lemonade from Caroline’s Cooking
  • Frozen Lemonade from Finding Zest
  • Ginger Beer & Gin Cocktail from Greedy Gourmet
  • Caribbean Rum Punch from Earth Food & Fire
  • Spiked Lemon Shake-Up Cocktail from Mama Gourmand

Some of the recipes listed use cups measurements rather than grams. If you’d like to convert between the two then I have a handy conversions calculator you can use.

Two different versions of my delicious lemon buttercream - one made with fresh lemons (juice and zest) and another made with either lemon extract or oil. Perfect for decorating cakes and cupcakes or filling biscuits and macarons.

FREE GRAMS TO CUPS CONVERSION CHARTS

Subscribe to the Charlotte's Lively Kitchen mailing list to get your FREE printable grams to cups and cups to grams conversion charts for twelve popular baking ingredients

Lemon buttercream made with fresh lemon juice and zest. Perfect for decorating cakes and cupcakes or filling biscuits and macarons.

Lemon Buttercream

Version one of my lemon buttercream made with fresh lemon juice and zest. Perfect for decorating cakes and cupcakes or filling biscuits and macarons.
4 from 11 votes
Print Pin Rate Save Go to Collections
Active Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes
Servings: 12 servings
Prevent your screen from going dark

INGREDIENTS

Metric - US Cups/Ounces
  • 250 g butter - soft at room temperature
  • 500 g icing sugar
  • Zest of 5 lemons
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice - The juice from approximately ½ a lemon
  • A little milk - To help get the buttercream to a soft consistency

INSTRUCTIONS

  • Beat the butter (250g) on a low speed until it is soft.
  • Add the icing sugar (500g) and beat until combined - I like to add mine a spoonful at a time as it helps stop it flying out of the bowl!
  • Finely grate the zest of 5 lemons. Squeeze the juice from the lemons until you have 1 tbsp. 
  • Add the lemon zest to the buttercream and beat until it is evenly distributed. Slowly add the lemon juice (no more than 1 tsp at a time) and beat in each addition before adding more.
  • Check the consistency of your buttercream - It should be soft enough that you could spread it onto a slice of bread without the bread tearing, but not runny. If it is a little stiff, then add a little milk (again no more than 1 tsp at a time) until is it the right consistency.
  • Your buttercream is now ready to use.

NOTES

If you would like to make the buttercream a little smoother simply blitz it with a hand blender and this will break down some of the lemon zest so it is finer.
The recipe makes enough to decorate 12 cupcakes in the style shown in the fresh lemon buttercream pictures, or 18 cupcakes decorated as shown in the buttercream made with lemon extract pictures.
It will be enough to fill and create a thin outer coating on a 20cm 2-layer round cake.
Nutritional information is based on 12 servings.
WANT TO HEAR ABOUT NEW RECIPES FIRST?SUBSCRIBE to the Charlotte's Lively Kitchen Mailing List

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION

Calories: 323kcal | Carbohydrates: 41.9g | Protein: 0.2g | Fat: 17.1g | Saturated Fat: 10.9g | Sodium: 13.5mg | Fiber: 0.3g | Sugar: 40.7g

Any nutritional information provided is the estimated nutritional information per serving. Please refer to my guide to Charlotte’s Lively Kitchen nutritional information if you would like to learn more about how this is calculated.


Keyword: Frosting, Icing
Author: Charlotte Oates

FREE FROM/SUITABLE FOR…

The ingredients I used to make this recipe are all free from the following allergens. However, please check any labels carefully for allergens you need to avoid as brands can vary and product recipes can change over time. 

  • Suitable for Vegetarians
  • Gluten-Free
  • Egg-Free
  • Tree Nut-Free
  • Peanut-Free
  • Sesame-Free
  • Soya-Free
  • Sulphur Dioxide & Sulphite-Free
  • Lupin-Free

This list of allergens is the same regardless of which version of the buttercream you choose to make.

There are details of how to adapt this lemon buttercream to be vegan/dairy-free above the recipe.

Two different versions of my delicious lemon buttercream - one made with fresh lemons (juice and zest) and another made with either lemon extract or oil. Perfect for decorating cakes and cupcakes or filling biscuits and macarons.

FREE GRAMS TO CUPS CONVERSION CHARTS

Subscribe to the Charlotte's Lively Kitchen mailing list to get your FREE printable grams to cups and cups to grams conversion charts for twelve popular baking ingredients

Lemon cupcakes topped with lemon buttercream.

Lemon Buttercream

Version two of my lemon buttercream made with lemon extract or oil. Perfect for decorating cakes and cupcakes or filling biscuits and macarons.
4 from 11 votes
Print Pin Rate Save Go to Collections
Active Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 5 minutes
Servings: 12 servings
Prevent your screen from going dark

INGREDIENTS

Metric - US Cups/Ounces
  • 250 g butter - soft at room temperature
  • 500 g icing sugar
  • 1 tbsp lemon extract/lemon oil - (can use a little more or less according to your own taste
  • A little milk - To help get the buttercream to a soft consistency

INSTRUCTIONS

  • Beat the butter (250g) on a low speed until it is soft.
  • Add the icing sugar (500g) and beat until combined - I like to add mine a spoonful at a time as it helps stop it flying out of the bowl!
  • Slowly add the lemon extract/oil (1 tbsp - add no more than 1 tsp at a time) and beat in each addition before adding more.
  • Check the consistency of your buttercream - It should be soft enough that you could spread it onto a slice of bread without the bread tearing, but not runny. If it is a little stiff, then add a little milk (again no more than 1 tsp at a time) until is it the right consistency.
  • Your buttercream is now ready to use.

NOTES

The recipe makes enough to decorate 12 cupcakes in the style shown in the fresh lemon buttercream pictures, or 18 cupcakes decorated as shown in the buttercream made with lemon extract pictures.
It will be enough to fill and create a thin outer coating on a 20cm 2-layer round cake.
Nutritional information is based on 12 servings.
WANT TO HEAR ABOUT NEW RECIPES FIRST?SUBSCRIBE to the Charlotte's Lively Kitchen Mailing List

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION

Calories: 344kcal | Carbohydrates: 41.4g | Protein: 0.1g | Fat: 19.6g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Sodium: 13.5mg | Sugar: 40.5g

Any nutritional information provided is the estimated nutritional information per serving. Please refer to my guide to Charlotte’s Lively Kitchen nutritional information if you would like to learn more about how this is calculated.


Keyword: Frosting, Icing
Author: Charlotte Oates

Two different versions of my delicious lemon buttercream – one made with fresh lemons (juice and zest) and another made with either lemon extract or oil. Perfect for decorating cakes and cupcakes or filling biscuits and macarons.

2.4K shares

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. CLAIRE says

    February 25, 2023 at 3:45 pm

    5 stars
    best thing i ever made love you so much SLAY

    Reply
  2. Tia says

    January 13, 2023 at 10:38 pm

    I made lemon cupcakes and they are really lovely. But the buttercream was way too sugary. I know it’s supposed to have a lot of sugar in it, but I felt it spoiled the cake itself. Do you think it would still work if I used a lot less sugar or would it greatly affect the consistency that you need to pipe it?

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      March 01, 2023 at 12:36 am

      I wouldn’t recommend reducing the sugar in this recipe or you’ll be decorating with slightly sweet butter. You might prefer something with a little more tang like this Cream Cheese Buttercream. If that is still sweeter than you like, you could look for a flour based frosting called ermine buttercream. I don’t have a recipe but a google search should give you some options.

  3. Becky says

    September 25, 2022 at 11:51 pm

    2 stars
    Buttercream runny and followed recipe.

    Reply
  4. Beck says

    June 12, 2021 at 10:10 pm

    1 star
    Came out way too runny. Followed all the instructions and measurements exactly.

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      June 16, 2021 at 10:46 am

      I’m sorry to hear that. Can I just check, did you use butter and not margarine. I’ve only heard of this buttercream being too soft when this has been the case. Sadly the recipe doesn’t work with this substitution.

  5. Sarah says

    February 14, 2021 at 11:04 pm

    Hi Charlotte. I absolutely love this recipe and use it as a base for all of my piped buttercream flavours. They work perfectly each time! x

    Reply
  6. Danielle says

    February 10, 2021 at 11:21 am

    5 stars
    Tasted amazing, can’t wait to make it again!

    Reply
  7. Olivia says

    October 15, 2020 at 11:03 am

    4 stars
    Came out lovely but the fact that it won’t freeze well just disappointed me because the cream was delicious

    Reply
    • Connie says

      January 11, 2021 at 8:10 pm

      Is it with unsalted ed butyer

    • Charlotte Oates says

      January 12, 2021 at 11:02 am

      Yes

  8. Diana says

    October 09, 2020 at 10:05 am

    Hi there, I baked your amazing all in one lemon cake – everyone loved it! I wonder, can you mix in lime to the lemon juice for the butter icing and in what proportions would you suggest? Thanks Charlotte

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      October 19, 2020 at 8:51 pm

      It’s opt for lime zest rather than juice as this will give a stronger flavour. If you want lemon and lime I’d switch out half of the lemon for lime zest.

  9. Jane Blackmore says

    June 26, 2020 at 10:42 am

    5 stars
    Great recipe, clear instruction, one of my family’s favourites from the first slice. Thank you.

    Reply
  10. Lesley says

    June 08, 2020 at 2:38 pm

    Hi Charlotte
    I made cupcakes with the lemon curd centre and would love to use your fresh lemon buttercream on them, but they will need to keep 3 days (there’s only 2 of us so 4 cupcakes a day is well enough lol). Would the buttercream mix keep in the fridge if I only used a 3rd each day, icing them freshly each day?
    Thank you

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      June 08, 2020 at 4:30 pm

      Yes, that’ll be fine. Just make sure you allow it to come up to room temperature before you attempt to put it onto your cupcakes as it’ll be dry stiff when you remove it from the fridge.

  11. Pauline Cripps says

    May 15, 2020 at 9:51 am

    5 stars
    Lemon buttercream made with real lemon juice absolutely finished my lemon drizzle muffins off just right. Many thanks

    Reply
  12. Phyllis Wheeler says

    May 01, 2020 at 2:13 pm

    My buttercream was to runny .followed recipe and my sponge took 50 mins in oven an still bit soggy grrrr not happy lol i have obvious messed up somewere.

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      May 01, 2020 at 2:34 pm

      I’m sorry to hear that the cake and buttercream didn’t turn out as expected.

      I’m hoping you might be able to answer a few questions that might help me to understand what could have happened.

      1) For the cake – did you bake it in sandwich tins or one deep tin? If you use one deep tin it’ll take longer (about 50 minutes) that using sandwich tins.
      2) Which version of the buttercream did you make? How soft was the butter when you added it to the buttercream?

  13. Mary says

    April 18, 2020 at 10:12 pm

    5 stars
    I searched high and low for the perfect recipe for lemon cupcakes with frosting and found it here! Spot on measurements and so delicious!

    Reply
  14. Lucy says

    February 11, 2020 at 2:42 pm

    Hi Charlotte,

    Would this recipe work with oranges to make an orange buttercream?

    Thanks

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      February 12, 2020 at 9:15 pm

      I have tried it but I can’t see why it wouldn’t.

  15. lorna flener says

    November 27, 2019 at 5:05 pm

    5 stars
    will use for Church Thanksgiving dinner. Love lemon

    Reply
  16. Emily says

    August 18, 2019 at 2:50 pm

    2 stars
    This buttercream is much too buttery, and with just 1tbsp of lemon juice, had almost no lemon flavour. It felt very fatty and stuck to my mouth. I’d recommend halving the butter and adding much more lemon juice or zest, plus some extra sugar to keep the consistency. I ended up scraping it off my cake and adding 70ml lemon juice and an extra 200g or so of icing sugar to get it to taste less oily and more lemony.

    Reply
  17. Sharon Thompson says

    March 29, 2019 at 4:26 pm

    My buttercream is always gritty – do you have a method to create a smooth buttercream that isn’t Swiss meringue or Italian meringue based?

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      March 29, 2019 at 6:40 pm

      This thread has lots of good tips https://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/47816/how-can-i-keep-my-buttercream-from-becomming-grainy

  18. Jenny Walters says

    February 23, 2019 at 12:01 pm

    5 stars
    I adore baking with lemon but have never made lemon buttercream! So this is just perfect for me. Pinned! I love that there are two versions too. I do have lemon extract always in the cupboard so guess what I’m doing next week! Thanks for including my cheesecake x

    Reply
  19. Mahima says

    February 19, 2019 at 6:12 am

    Thank you so much for sharing recipes.Great blog!!!

    Reply
  20. Teresa Hampson says

    February 18, 2019 at 3:45 pm

    Do you have a recipe for a lemon cake

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      February 18, 2019 at 4:00 pm

      It’s coming soon. If you let me know what size you want it, I can tell you how to adapt my vanilla cake in the mean time.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Rate this recipe




Primary Sidebar

Charlotte Oates about me

Hi, I'm Charlotte Oates. Welcome to my lively kitchen where I share delicious, simple baking recipes, baking tools and calculators, and lots of tips and tricks.

Find out more
Facebook logo - when clicked this will open the Charlotte's Lively Kitchen Facebook page Pinterest logo - when clicked this will open the Charlotte's Lively Kitchen - Pinterest page Instagram logo - when clicked this will open the Charlotte's Lively Kitchen Instagram page Twitter logo - when clicked this will open the Charlotte's Lively Kitchen twitter page

Latest Post

  • The Food Calendar 2023 – International & UK Food Days, Weeks and Months

Featured Recipes

  • Lemon Drizzle Loaf Cake
  • Biscoff Cake
  • Oreo Cheesecake (No-Bake)
  • Chocolate Orange Cake
  • Easy Lemon Cake (All-In-One Lemon Sponge)
  • Easy Lemon Cheesecake (No Bake)
  • Easy Coffee Cake
  • White Chocolate Buttercream
  • Coffee Buttercream

Footer

About

Contact

Privacy Policy

↑ back to top

Copyright © 2022 CLK Digital Limited