Lemon cream cheese frosting is a creamy, silky-smooth frosting that's bursting with fresh lemon flavor. Top your next batch of lemon cupcakes with this easy homemade lemon frosting!
Recipe summary
Flavor: Fresh, lemony, tangy, sweet.
Simple ingredients. Butter, cream cheese, and confectioner's sugar are flavored with real lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla extract.
Makes frosting for: 18 or more cupcakes, a 13x18 or 9x13 sheet cake, or a two-layer 8-9 inch round cake.
Great for: Lemon Sheet Cake, Lemon Cupcakes, and Vanilla Cupcakes
Similar to: Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting and Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
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Ingredients and substitutions
- Cream cheese - For this recipe, it's very important to use the correct type of cream cheese. You'll need one half of an 8-ounce block of full-fat original cream cheese. Low-fat cream cheese or spreadable cream cheese in a tub will not work for this recipe. Using whipped or spreadable cream cheese will result in a runny frosting.
- Butter - I only recommend making this recipe with a stick of real butter, not margarine or vegetable oil spread (commonly found in a tub). I recommend unsalted butter so that you can control the amount of salt in your buttercream, but salted butter can be substituted (and the listed salt omitted) if desired.
- Vanilla extract - Enhances the flavor of the frosting.
- Confectioner's sugar - Sometimes called powdered sugar or icing sugar. Confectioner's sugar sweetens and stabilizes the frosting, making it thick and pipeable. I don't recommend blending granulated sugar to make confectioner's sugar because you often can't achieve the superfine texture of manufactured confectioner's sugar at home.
- Lemon - You'll need one medium lemon for this recipe. Zest the entire lemon, then juice it into a small bowl. You'll use all of the lemon zest (where the most concentrated lemon flavor comes from), and part of the lemon juice.
- Salt - Enhances the flavor of the frosting and helps balance with the sweetness. I don't recommend omitting the salt unless you're using salted butter.
How to make lemon frosting
- Add room temperature cream cheese and butter to a large bowl and beat with a hand mixer until creamy and smooth.
- Add confectioner's sugar, half at a time, and mix slowly until incorporated. Whip on high speed for 2-3 minutes, or until fluffy.
- Add lemon zest, lemon juice, vanilla extract, and salt.
- Whip until ingredients are incorporated and frosting looks fluffy, another 1-2 minutes.
Tips and tricks
Use a hand mixer or stand mixer - This frosting must be whipped with a whisk attachment for several minutes, so I recommend using a mixer instead of trying to mix it by hand.
Use room temperature ingredients - Your butter and cream cheese need to be room temperature (not melted, not cold) before beginning. Set your ingredients out on the counter top about 1 hour before beginning and they should be the perfect consistency for mixing.
To bring ingredients to room temperature - Need to bring ingredients to room temperature quickly? Unwrap your butter and cream cheese and slice them into pieces. Small pieces warm up faster than one large cube.
Don't be tempted to use the microwave - Microwaves can soften butter unevenly and create melted spots. Any melted butter in the recipe can ruin the texture of the frosting.
Don't skip the salt - The salt listed in this recipe helps balance with the sweetness of the frosting and enhances the flavor.
Frequently asked questions
Despite popular belief, the juice of the lemon isn't where you'll find the most concentrated lemon flavor. The zest of the lemon actually contains the most concentrated lemon flavor and it won't thin your frosting out like lemon juice does. For more lemon flavor in your frosting, zest an additional lemon and add more zest to taste.
This recipe makes enough frosting to frost the following cupcake quantities and cake sizes:
- 6-inch three layer cake
- 18 cupcakes with piped frosting
- 24 cupcakes spread with a knife
- 9x13 sheet cake
- 13x18 sheet cake
- 8-inch or 9-inch two layer cake with thin frosting on the tops, sides, and middle.
If your baked goods are being prepared and served in the same day (within 2 hours), your cream cheese frosting can sit out at room temperature. After 2 hours, it is recommended to store your cream cheese frosting in the refrigerator.
Lemon cream cheese frosting will keep in the refrigerator for up to 1 week and in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Troubleshooting
Cream cheese frosting will melt in hot summer heat or direct sunlight in warm weather, between 90 and 95 degrees Fahrenheit (32 to 35 degrees Celsius). I recommend displaying frosted cakes indoors or in the shade during warmer weather.
Lemon cream cheese frosting can turn out runny if block-style cream cheese is substituted with a whipped cream cheese or cream cheese spread (purchased in a tub). Frosting can also turn out runny if the cream cheese and/or butter has been melted or if too much lemon juice has been added. If your frosting turns out runny, try refrigerating it for 15 minutes or more to firm it back up. More sugar can be added (this will make your frosting sweeter) to help stabilize the frosting if needed.
Confectioner's sugar can sometimes contain lumps. If your confectioner's sugar looks lumpy after measuring, give it a sift before incorporating it with the rest of the ingredients.
Cream cheese frosting is a form of buttercream frosting, which is one of the sweetest types of frostings. You likely chose it because it's made with two main ingredients, butter and sugar, and it requires no cooking. The trade-off for being so easy to make is that it is very sweet. Buttercream frosting relies on the confectioner's sugar to stabilize it, making it thick and pipeable. If you reduce the amount of sugar in the recipe, your frosting will get too soft to pipe and taste a lot like sweetened butter. I don't recommend reducing the sugar in this recipe for those reasons. Don't skip the salt in this recipe - it helps balance the sweetness of the frosting.
Recommended
📖 Recipe
Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
- 4 ounces (113 g) block-style cream cheese, room temperature
- ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 4 cups (454 g) confectioner's sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- In a large bowl, add room temperature cream cheese and butter and beat with a hand mixer (or stand mixer) until creamy, about 1 minute.
- Add confectioner's sugar, half at a time, and slowly mix until ingredients are fully combined. Then, whip at high speed for 2-3 minutes, or until light and fluffy.
- Add lemon zest, lemon juice, vanilla extract, and salt, then whip until fluffy, another 1 to 2 minutes.
- Pipe onto cooled cupcakes or spread onto cooled cake and serve.
Equipment Recommendations
Notes
- Cream cheese: Original, full-fat block-style cream cheese cannot be substituted with low-fat cream cheese, whipped cream cheese, or spreadable cream cheese in a tub. Any of these substitutions can cause your frosting to turn out runny.
- Want more lemon flavor?: Add additional lemon zest, not lemon juice. Lemon zest has a more concentrated lemon flavor and lemon juice will thin the frosting.
- Refrigerating baked goods: Cream cheese frosting needs to be refrigerated if it sits out for longer than 2 hours. Store frosted baked goods in the refrigerator in a tightly sealed container. Remove and bring to room temperature 1 hour before serving.
- Leftovers: Leftover frosting will keep for 1 week in a sealed container in the refrigerator or up to 3 months in the freezer. Bring to room temperature before spreading onto baked goods.
- Makes enough frosting for: Recipe makes enough to frost up to 18 cupcakes with piped frosting, 24 cupcakes spread with a knife, a 9x13 sheet cake, a 13x18 sheet cake, or an 8-inch or 9-inch two layer cake with thin frosting on the tops, sides, and middle.
Made it and it was wonderful. I plan on using the recipe again 😋
This recipe was easy and great