Lemon Curd Buttercream Icing

Makes just enough icing to ice one two layer 8” cake.

This tart and sweet Lemon Curd Buttercream Icing is a game changer. It will transform your favorite white cake recipe into a spectacular dessert. Even if you slightly over mixed your white cake like I did..see picture. It was still fabulous.  I used the white cake recipe from David Wood’s Dessert cookbook. It has a copyright so I can’t share the recipe.

Sidebar: Covid Birthday Parties can be a complete bust. So, I decided to give myself a virtual party. It was just my husband and me and my fans on my Facebook Fan page. If you want to watch the shenanigans, head over to Facebook and check out my fan page mairlyn.smith.

Recipe:

Light Lemon Curd

Zest from the lemon – see step 1

¾ cup white granulated sugar

1 tbsp + 1 ½ tsp cornstarch

¼ cup + 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice, approx. 1 large lemon or 2 medium lemons

1 large omega-3 egg

1 tbsp unsalted butter

 

Buttercream Icing

½ cup unsalted butter at room temperature

3 cups sifted icing sugar

1-2 Tbsp milk

  1. To make a lemon zest topping for your cake: using a microplane, zest lemon or lemons. Toss lemon zest with 2 Tbsp white granulated sugar and set aside on a large plate for up to 1 day.
  2. To make the Light Lemon Curd: Place a medium wire mesh strainer over a medium bowl, set aside.
  3. In a small saucepan whisk together sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice and egg.
  4. Turn heat to medium low and stir until the mixture comes to the boil.
  5. Reduce heat so the mixture is gently boiling, stirring constantly for 3-5 minutes, you need to make sure the cornstarch is cooked. The curd will turn a deeper yellow, going from cloudy yellow to clear yellow.
  6. Remove from heat and stir in butter until melted.
  7. Pour hot lemon mixture through strainer that you set aside in Step 2. This will remove any cooked egg bits. Pour strained lemon mixture into a heat proof jar, cover with a lid and store in the fridge for up to 1 week. Makes approx.. ½ cup
  8. The next day. Beat the butter until it is creamy. Slowly add the icing sugar on low so you don’t end up wearing icing sugar…
  9. Add milk (1-2 Tbsp) until the icing is thick.
  10. Add the lemon curd or if you decided to buy the lemon curd add ½ cup. Beat in.
  11. If the icing is too soft, add ¼ – ½  cup more icing sugar. It should be light and fluffy and not runny.
  12. Ice your favourite white cake. Sprinkle the top with the reserved lemon zest. Serve.

 

 

6 thoughts on “Lemon Curd Buttercream Icing”

  1. Just a thought, I usually strain the ‘beaten’ egg before adding it, as in Step 3., to remove the egg chalaza which is generally what gives you the ‘hard cooked egg bits’ when making lemon curd. Easier than straining the finished lemon curd as in Step 7. .

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