Lemon Curd Recipe

If you like lemon, you are going to LOVE this easy and delicious homemade Lemon Curd for your cakes and cupcakes!

It has a wonderful silky smooth consistency and flavor with just the PERFECT amount of lemony tartness.

This delicious lemon curd is our favorite lemon filling for cakes and cupcakes, and it is so simple to make! We have several variations including orange curd and lime curd!

Table of Contents

Why we Love It

There are so many reasons to love this lemon curd recipe! Here are just a few:

Easy to Make with just a few simple ingredients
Delicious lemon flavor
Works as a great cake or cupcake filling
Perfect filling for citrus or white cakes, including orange cake, white velvet cake, lemon cupcakes and more!

How to Make Lemon Curd

*Find the full, printable recipe at the bottom of this post!

Curd fillings for cakes and cupcakes are so easy to make and they taste amazing! This luscious lemon curd filling has so much flavor! It all starts with a saucepan and a few simple ingredients.

First, combine the sugar, cornstarch and water in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir constantly, until mixture thickens and comes to a boil (3-4 minutes).

Saucepan with whisk, sugar,cornstarch, and water

Heating sugar, cornstarch, and water in saucepan until thickened. Stir constantly with whisk.

Next, continue stirring as it boils for one minute more. Remove the pan from the heat.

Spoon about a half cup of the hot mixture into a small bowl with egg yolks and stir quickly until combined. Continue stirring, while pouring the egg mixture back into the saucepan. The egg yolks are what give the curd its lovely yellow color.

Pouring egg mixture into cornstarch, sugar, and water mixture.

Finally, return pan to medium heat and cook, stirring, until the curd is thickened and lemon colored (1-2 min). Remove from heat and stir in the butter, lemon juice, and lemon zest.

Let the lemon curd cool, then press plastic wrap onto the surface and refrigerate. The plastic wrap will prevent a skin from forming on the top. The lemon curd will thicken a bit as it cools.

What Cake Flavors go with Lemon Curd?

Lemon curd pairs wonderfully with White Cake, Yellow Cake, and Coconut Cake , but my FAVORITE is with our homemade Lemon Cake!

I just love lemon desserts, and everything about this filling is heavenly.

This lemon curd has a delightful silky smooth consistency, and you'll love how easily this light and flavorful lemon filling comes together!

Delicious Lemon Cakes

If you love lemon cakes, look no further! We have so many delicious lemon recipes to share with you.

You can find the full roundup here: Best Lemon Cakes, Fillings, & Frostings. Some of our most popular are Lemon Cake from Scratch, Lemon Velvet Cake, and Lemon Cupcakes!

Thanks for stopping by! If you give this recipe a try, we would love for you to leave a comment and photo below.

You can find our full collection of favorite recipes and free cake decorating tutorials in our Cake Recipes & Tutorials Section!

FAQs

When using this lemon filling for cupcakes, try injecting the lemon curd into the unfrosted cupcakes with a disposable piping bag!
I usually use a tip 12 for this. Simply insert the piping tip into the top of the cupcake and push it about halfway down. Then, give it a little squeeze for a second or two.
You can do a practice run on a plate to get an idea of how quickly the lemon curd comes out of the bag and adjust accordingly since you won't be able to see the amount of curd inside of the cupcake until you take a bite of it ;0)
Everyone is sure to love this instant boost of lemony goodness! Top off your cupcakes with a swirl of Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting (linked below) for an incredible dessert.

When using a soft filling such as lemon curd, mousse fillings, whipped cream fillings, etc. you'll want to first pipe a dam of frosting around the edge of the cake layer (about ¼ inch from the edge).

I usually pipe the dam with a medium sized round piping tip, or you can simply snip the end of the disposable piping bag away to create a medium sized opening. Then, pipe your dam.

Next, spread the soft filling within the dam and add the next layer of cake. The dam will prevent the lemon curd or other soft filling from escaping and oozing from the sides of the cake once the next layers are added.

If you've ever had this happen to you, you know how difficult it can be to fix! Not only will it mess up the look of your cake, but it can also cause bulging or sliding cake layers. Frosting dams are always worth the extra minute or two of time to make one.

There are so many cakes that pair perfectly with lemon curd! Homemade white cake, white velvet cake, lemon cake, and orange cake are just a few examples!

Our homemade Lemon Coconut Cake is another great example! We often pair our lemon curd cake fillings with homemade whipped cream!

Yes, homemade lemon curd as well as cakes with lemon curd filling should be refrigerated.

While this Lemon Curd recipe is at the top of our list, we also love Lemon Whipped Cream Filling, Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting, and an Easy Lemon Cream filling from our Lemon Cream Cake (which is a pudding-based "mousse")!

Lemon Curd Recipe

This easy, silky smooth lemon curd recipe tastes amazing and makes a wonderful filling for cakes and cupcakes!

Ingredients

¾ cup (150g) sugar
¼ cup (30g) cornstarch
1 cup (236g) water
2 large egg yolks, lightly beaten
2 Tablespoons (28g) butter
1 Tablespooon grated lemon zest
4 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Instructions

Combine sugar, cornstarch and water in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir constantly, until mixture thickens and comes to a boil (3-4 minutes).
Boil, stirring, for 1 minute more.. Remove the pan from the heat.
Spoon about ½ cup of the hot mixture into a small bowl with egg yolks and stir quickly until combined. Continue stirring, while pouring the egg mixture back into the saucepan.
Return pan to medium heat and cook, stirring, until the curd is thickened and lemon colored (1-2 min). Remove from heat and stir in the butter, lemon juice, and lemon zest.-- Let the lemon curd cool, then press plastic wrap onto the surface, this will prevent a skin from forming on the top. Refrigerate.
This will fill a 2-3 layer 8 or 9 inch cake with some leftover. The recipe can be halved.
I have refrigerated the lemon curd for a week and it was fine....I'm not sure how long it will keep beyond that
Makes 1 ¼ cups

116 Comments

Jenelle says:

February 1, 2022 at 7:03 pm

I made this, paired with lemon cake and homemade strawberry ice cream, for my daughter’s birthday last summer. I whipped the lemon curd to give it a little more substance and used it to top the cake (the strawberry ice cream was between the layers of lemon cake). It was absolutely delicious! No one missed the buttercream and the strawberry ice cream was the perfect amount of sweetness to balance with the tart lemon cake and the whipped curd.

BeBe says:

February 1, 2022 at 7:39 pm

Hi Jenelle, Thanks for posting how you changed and made this recipe work for you, it does sound good.

Paula shaw says:

March 11, 2023 at 10:29 pm

Hello I made your curd recipe tonight.. fabulous thank you? I will have to hide it from my son 😃😃😃

1. Melissa Diamond says:
  
  March 12, 2023 at 4:09 pm
  
  Hi Paula! So glad to hear that you loved it. Thanks for your feedback! :0)
  
Teresa Shaw says:

August 17, 2023 at 5:21 am

I have 2 questions, I dislike zest in anything. It's a texture thing. Can I substitute lemon extract? My next question is, I have made curd once before. Not this recipe. It had an eggy taste to it. What did I do wrong? Is it supposed to have that taste? Does the type of egg make a difference?
Sorry, I went over 2 questions. I just don't want to mess this up if I can help it. TIA