How to Make Lemon Frosting

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Lemon frosting is best made with fresh lemon juice and lemon rind. Lemon frosting should be both sweet and have a bit of tartness to it.

Lemon frosting is has a burst of sharp lemon flavor, and is nicely paired with foods like vanilla cupcakes, macarons, etc.

How to make lemon frosting

To make lemon frosting, cream 1/3 cup room temperature butter on high until light and fluffy.

Slowly add 1 cup of icing sugar to the butter. Beat on low while it’s mixing together.

Add 1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice and 1 tbsp of lemon rind. You can add the full amount of lemon rind you get from a whole lemon. The lemon rind releases tart lemon flavor giving it a flavor punch. It will really elevate the lemon frosting.

Add 1/3 cup icing sugar to thicken up the icing.

Taste test the icing and see if you like the thickness. If you need it thicker, add a small amount (1-2tbsp) of icing sugar. If you need the icing a bit thinner, add more lemon juice 1 tsp at a time.

If your icing is a bit too tart for your liking, you can add 1/2 tsp vanilla extract which will counteract the lemon flavor and tone it down so it’s a bit more creamy.

Making lemon frosting is simple and easy, but make sure you adjust it to your liking. You can make your icing as thick as you want it for cupcakes, or a bit thinner for piping on macarons.

How to make lemon frosting

Can you use lemon extract instead of lemon juice

You can use lemon extract instead of lemon juice. Use about 1/16-1/8 of a tsp of lemon extract to your frosting.

How do you make yellow icing

To make your icing yellow, you can add

  • 1/8-1/4 powdered yellow food coloring
  • a small bit of yellow gel food coloring on the end of a toothpick
  • 3-8 drops of liquid yellow food coloring

If you’re using liquid yellow food coloring, add 3 drops initially and mix together. Only add 1 extra drop at a time and mix together to make sure you don’t overdo the coloring.

If your icing becomes too thin using liquid food coloring, add 1-2 tbsp of icing sugar to your icing to thicken it up to your liking.