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

BeBe says:

January 31, 2013 at 8:21 pm

Hi Paula, you are so lucky to have a lemon tree in your back yard.

I have kept lemon curd a week in the refrigerator and it was fine........ I'm not sure beyond that number of days. I have read that it could be frozen but I haven't tried that yet.

Paula M. says:

January 31, 2013 at 10:59 pm

Thanks very much for your reply BeBe...you are right..having a lemon tree in the backyard really comes in handy!! :-)

Ansa Hogan says:

April 25, 2013 at 8:29 pm

Im making a 6 inch cake with lemon curd filling. Will this be too much?
Can this be halfed?
Ansa

BeBe says:

April 25, 2013 at 9:17 pm

Hi Ansa, this will fill a two layer 8 or 9 inch cake with a bit left over. I'll add this information under the recipe.

Yes, you can half the recipe. Hope you like it.

James Mundy says:

May 11, 2013 at 1:08 am

I made this previously and had no problems but after trying to make it tonight I ran into something that I did not remember from the last time. I mixed the sugar, cornstarch and water together and stirred it but it ended up thickening into a gel type of mixture that I don't remember happening before. I know the mixture should thicken before adding the eggs in but I didn't think it should it should be that thick. Can you let me know if I went wrong with this and possibly where?

BeBe says:

May 13, 2013 at 10:43 am

Hi James, I'm not sure what happened, possibly too much cornstarch was added is my best guess.

melissa poua says:

May 28, 2013 at 8:28 am

Used this with fresh strawberries for a strawberry lemonade filling. Fabulous!

BeBe says:

May 28, 2013 at 9:26 am

That's great, thanks for letting us know.

janeckasz says:

June 25, 2015 at 1:23 pm

just made this for strawberry lemonade cupcakes, and I don't think I will have enough by the time I need to use it for frosting... its soooo good, thank you :)

MARYlOUISE says:

March 12, 2016 at 1:20 am

Made this tonight---YUM!!! and so very easy. Thanks so much for sharing this recipe.
This note is probably much too late to help James, but if you follow the instructions exactly, it will turn out great. Make sure to whisk constantly. Mine was thick also but once it was finished on the heat, I added the butter, zest, lemon juice and whisked it a bit, it was fine--did I mention it was YUMMY!!!
Again, thanks for sharing.

Debbie Tracy says:

August 10, 2016 at 10:19 am

I just love all the recipes, ideas and information your cake school site provides. You are the best!!!
I have a question....If i make the white cupcakes and fill them with the curd filling, can I freeze them until I need them? Also can I freeze the cupcakes if I frost the ahead of time with the cream cheese frosting?
Thank You for your guidance!

BeBe says:

August 10, 2016 at 10:57 pm

HI Debbie, Thank you for your nice comments about the site. Yes, you can freeze the cupcakes filled with lemon curd. We usually do not freeze our frosted cupcakes. It is easier to freeze unfrosted, there is no worry about damaging the swirl of frosting, just our preference. You can freeze your cupcakes, the important thing is for them to be air tight while frozen.