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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.
4.09 from 12 votes
Active Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes
Servings: 12 servings

INGREDIENTS

  • 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.

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