Search For Recipes

  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

queenslee appetit

Bake it Beautiful

  • Home
  • Blog
  • About
    • Privacy & Disclosure
    • Data Request Form
  • Browse Recipes
    • All Recipes
    • Sweets and Treats
      • Brownies/Blondies
      • Cheesecakes
        • Mini Cheesecakes
        • No-Bake Cheesecake
      • Cakes
      • Cupcakes
      • Frostings
      • Donuts
      • Milkshakes/Freakshakes
      • Parfaits/Trifles
      • Pies/Tarts/Crisps
      • Pudding
      • Frozen Desserts
        • Ice Cream Sandwiches
        • Homemade Ice Cream
      • Truffles
      • Cookies
        • Cookie Cakes
        • Cookie Sandwiches
    • Holidays
      • New Years
      • Game Day
      • Valentine’s Day
      • St. Patrick’s Day
      • Easter
      • Cinco de Mayo
      • Mother’s Day
      • Father’s Day
      • Canada Day
      • Fourth of July
      • Birthday
      • Halloween
      • Thanksgiving
      • Christmas
    • Favourites
    • Vegan
    • Savory
      • Appetizers & Snacks
      • Dinner & Sides
    • Breakfast
    • Drinks
      • Hot Chocolate
      • Summer Drinks
  • Contact
  • Resources
    • Resources for Food Bloggers
    • How to Start a Food Blog (Part 1)
    • Tutorials
  • Subscribe
Home » All Recipes » Dreamy Lemon Buttercream Frosting

Dreamy Lemon Buttercream Frosting

July 25, 2018 by Dedra | QueensleeAppetit 2 Comments

Jump to Recipe
2.6Kshares

When life gives you lemons, make this Dreamy Lemon Buttercream! This frosting is light, fluffy, creamy and exploding with natural lemon flavour! 

When life gives you lemons, make this Dreamy Lemon Buttercream! This frosting is light, fluffy, creamy and exploding with natural lemon flavour! 

Earlier this week I shared a recipe for Strawberry Buttercream and today I’m sharing this recipe for lemon buttercream. As you can already guess, I have a Strawberry-Lemon flavoured dessert coming soon! 

However, I really like giving my frosting recipes their own posts, because they’re THAT good and people seem to really like them! I originally posted this Dreamy Vanilla Buttercream Frosting recipe and since then I’ve shared many flavour variations like chocolate, cinnamon, coconut, raspberry and now lemon! 

When life gives you lemons, make this Dreamy Lemon Buttercream! This frosting is light, fluffy, creamy and exploding with natural lemon flavour! 

This lemon buttercream is extremely easy to make! There’s no need for making a sauce (as easy as it is) or using any complicated ingredients or techniques. To get the lemon flavour, I highly recommend using real lemons and real lemons only! You won’t get the same authentic lemon smell and flavour from lemon extract, it just doesn’t compare. 

When life gives you lemons, make this Dreamy Lemon Buttercream! This frosting is light, fluffy, creamy and exploding with natural lemon flavour! 

The process of making this frosting is exactly the same as my other frosting recipes. We start by beating the butter, shortening and salt together. I like to use a mixture of both butter and shortening, instead of all butter, because it creates a buttercream that is much more stable and holds its shape when piping out designs. The addition of shortening causes the buttercream to form a crust, which means it can hold up in hot weather.

When life gives you lemons, make this Dreamy Lemon Buttercream! This frosting is light, fluffy, creamy and exploding with natural lemon flavour! 

Next we mix in half of the powdered sugar, then add the heavy cream, lemon juice and lemon zest. I decided to use a mixture of heavy cream and lemon juice rather than all lemon juice because the cream is 

what makes this frosting so thick and creamy! 

Once you’ve mixed in the liquids, add the remaining half of powdered sugar and mix until combined. I use this method for all of my frostings because it keeps the frosting nice and smooth throughout the process, making it easier to whip up. If I added all of the sugar at once, the frosting may get super thick and crumbly, which we don’t want. 

When life gives you lemons, make this Dreamy Lemon Buttercream! This frosting is light, fluffy, creamy and exploding with natural lemon flavour! 

Since this is a small batch of frosting, you can get away with using a hand mixer. However, this recipe requires a lot of whipping which may result in sore arms, which is why I always use my stand mixer. 

Although this is a lemon buttercream, it doesn’t really look like it. It’s still a basic vanilla buttercream, just with some lemon juice and zest mixed in so the colour is still pretty white. If you want a more lemon-y look you can add a few drops of lemon yellow gel food colouring. I like to see the gorgeous little flecks of lemon zest in the frosting, so I chose not to add any food colouring. 

When life gives you lemons, make this Dreamy Lemon Buttercream! This frosting is light, fluffy, creamy and exploding with natural lemon flavour! 

This frosting is enough to fill and frost a 2-layer 8 or 9-inch layer cake. It’s also enough to frost 24 cupcakes, by spreading it on with a knife, might I add. If you want to pipe swirls onto 24+ cupcakes, then I recommend doubling this recipe because the recipe below is only enough to pipe onto about 14-18 cupcakes. 

The buttercream can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks, or in the freezer for a few months. Allow the frosting to come to room temperature and re-whip before using.

Enjoy!

>>PIN ME FOR LATER<<

When life gives you lemons, make this Dreamy Lemon Buttercream! This frosting is light, fluffy, creamy and exploding with natural lemon flavour! 

FOLLOW QUEENSLEE APPÉTIT 

Like what you see? Make sure you‘re following Queenslee Appétit for more tasty recipes!

Pinterest | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter |

Did you make a recipe? I’d love to see how it turned out! Follow me on Instagram and use the hashtag #queensleeappetit so I can see all of the Queenslee Appétit recipes you’ve made!

Never miss a recipe, SUBSCRIBE at the bottom of this post!

Have any questions about the recipe? Contact me here, and I’ll be happy to help!

Let’s get baking!

Continue to Content
When life gives you lemons, make this Dreamy Lemon Buttercream! This frosting is light, fluffy, creamy and exploding with natural lemon flavour! 

Dreamy Lemon Buttercream Frosting

Yield: enough to frost (not pipe) 24 cupcakes or fill and frost a 2-layer 8 or 9-inch cake
Prep Time: 13 minutes
Total Time: 13 minutes

When life gives you lemons, make this Dreamy Lemon Buttercream! This frosting is light, fluffy, creamy and exploding with natural lemon flavour!

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup Unsalted Butter, slightly softened
  • 1/2 cup Hi-ratio Shortening
  • ⅛ tsp salt
  • 4 cups Powdered Sugar, sifted
  • 2 Tbsp heavy whipping cream
  • 2 Tbsp Lemon Juice
  • 1 and 1/2 tsp Lemon zest
  • Yellow gel food colouring (optional)

Instructions

  • In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl with a hand-held mixer, beat the butter, shortening and salt on medium speed until light and fluffy (about 5-6 minutes).
  • Turn the mixer to low, and gradually add half of the sugar one cup at a time. Once incorporated, add heavy cream, lemon juice and lemon zest and beat until combined.
  • Add the remaining powdered sugar one cup at a time and mix on low until combined.
  • Once the sugar is combined, increase mixer speed to high and whip until light and fluffy, about 5-7 minutes. Tint with yellow gel food colouring, if desired.
  • Store frosting in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks, or in the freezer for several months. Enjoy!
  • © Dedra

    ©QUEENSLEE APPÉTIT. All images & content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words, or link back to this post for the recipe.

    BON APPÉTIT!

    Love, Dedra ❤

    This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my full disclosure policy for details.

    Filed Under: All Recipes, Frostings, Summer Recipes, Sweets and Treats Tagged With: frostings, Frostings & Fillings, Lemon, Lemon Buttercream, No-Bake

    Previous Post: « Dreamy Strawberry Buttercream Frosting
    Next Post: Strawberry Lemon Cupcakes »

    Reader Interactions

    Trending

    Cajun Shrimp and Crab Mac and Cheese
    Turtle Chocolate Layer Cake

    You May Also Like:

    top view of cheesecake on a white plate that is on a rectangle black silk napkin with a bowl or Oreos and sprinkles on the side

    Birthday Cake Oreo Cheesecake

    This Whipped Cranberry Honey Butter is sweet, tart, fruity and simple to make. It's perfect on toast, raisin bread, scones, dinner rolls, bagels and so much more!

    Whipped Cranberry Honey Butter

    Oreo Cookie Dough Brownies

    top view of fried chicken and parsley on a platter

    Spicy Buttermilk Fried Chicken

    Comments

    1. AvatarTracy

      January 18, 2020 at 11:30 PM

      Im looking at making a couple of your frostings.. this lemon one and your strawberry one. My question is once they are piped onto a cupcake, can the cupcakes sit out at room temperature in an airtight container and for how long??

      Reply
      • Dedra | QueensleeAppetitDedra | QueensleeAppetit

        January 18, 2020 at 11:40 PM

        Yes, you can get away with leaving them at room temperature for about 2-3 days.

        Reply

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    Primary Sidebar

    About Dedra

    Some may say I’m addicted to desserts, and they are absolutely right! Baking is my passion and has been ever since I was 6 years old, it just took about a decade for me to realize it. Now I am devoted to creating the BEST sweet and savoury recipes from my tiny little kitchen and sharing them with the world!

    More about Dedra

    LET’S CONNECT!

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter

    SUBSCRIBE FOR THE LATEST RECIPES!


    Footer

    TRENDING

    Cajun Shrimp and Crab Mac and Cheese
    Turtle Chocolate Layer Cake
    Loaded Cheese Fries
    The Perfect Homemade Pizza Sauce
    The Perfect Homemade Meat Sauce
    Honey BBQ Chicken Wings

    Copyright © 2021 · queensleeappetit.com·PRIVACY & DISCLOSURE·

    Chocolate Chip aren’t the only kind of cookies we have on this site! This website uses cookies to provide you with the best possible experience. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.I'm cool with cookies Reject Read More
    Privacy & Cookies Policy

    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
    Necessary
    Always Enabled

    Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

    Non-necessary

    Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.