I knew this was coming.
I knew this was coming and I just stood there like a deer in the headlights, waiting. Because when I perfected my icing recipe to my taste and liking, we all knew that I had to add lemon. Because that’s what I do to everything and anything I can. Add lemon.
Because lemon makes life better.
You’d better hold on to your spoons.
Because this one is irresistible.
Ingredients needed:
1 cup of salted butter
4 cups of icing sugar
2 tablespoons lemon zest
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons cream
NO vanilla even though it’s in my picture.I changed my mind. I’m like that.
Whip your butter with the paddle attachment if you have one, or just a general beater with your mixer.
Add in your icing sugar, one cup at a time, beating continously. Now 2 tablespoons lemon zest worked wonderfully for me. Zested peel should not be done on a regular grater, by the way, you need a smaller size, a zester grater, in fact. The size is perfect without being overwhelming chunks in your cooking.
The 3 tablespoons of lemon juice was just perfect for my tastes, zingy and zippy with a sweet background of pure sugar and butter. I then added the 2 teaspoons of cream to thin it out.
And THEN….then, I put it on my lemon blueberry coffee cake, (recipe coming in the next couple of days) took half to my work, where the ladies promptly raved over the icing and demolished it all, and half went to my son’s school for the teacher’s lunchroom.
What’s not too like about lemon buttercream icing? Looks delicious!
I’m drooling over this…but I cannot make it because I will eat it all!
just what i was looking for…but do you think i could add buttermilk instead of cream? i don’t want to make a trip to the store just for 2 teaspoons of cream…
To be honest, I used SO little cream ( a mere two teaspoons, not tablespoons!) because the lemon juice really thins it out beautifully. I would think it would work just fine. You might not even need it, depending on the consistency you arrive at.
This buttercream looks and sounds fantastic. I love the additions you made. I make a similar buttercream, so I’m sure I can remember the lemon part.
@Melinda – you could also use milk. I’ve used whole and skim milk in buttercream frosting.
P.S. I have the same mixer as you! I won it on pioneerwoman.com.
This looks amazing and I’m always interested in a recipe with lemon. I’ll be trying this out very soon. I can even buy those exact same brands in my grocery stores.
I rarely have time to bake, but since we are snowbound in Western Maryland, I’m going to play with your recipe on my 4 layer buttermilk cake. My family wants me to alternate layers of whipped cream, vanilla ice cream and lemon frosting, and after checking out a LOT of lemon icing recipes, this one looks just perfect! (The photo didn’t hurt either!) Thanks a bunch!