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).
- 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.
- 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
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
Hi! Just wanted to say that I used this recipe as a filling for my daughter's birthday cake and oh my goodness it tastes amazing!! It was easy to make too! Thanks for sharing :)
Hi Alexina, I am so happy you like the recipe!! Thank you so much for posting your thoughts.
Every time I make lemon curd the curd is nice and smooth. After refrigeration over night I have to whip again. The butter and perhaps the liquid separates but the butter solidifies in small pieces. Unfortunately whipping it does. not smooth the filling out. Do you have any suggestions why this happens. Therefore the filling after refrigeration is never smooth but has little clumps in it. Thank You
Hi Pat, If the butter solidifies in small pieces, the mixture was not hot enough when the butter was mixed in. Since you said the curd was smooth right after making it, I think possibly to much of the egg white might be going into the mixture with the egg yolks and the pieces you see are actually pieces of cooked egg. Do you have an egg separator for separating the yolk from the white? Some people pour the curd through a strainer after it is cooked to get out any solid pieces, though this does not seem to fit your problem since yours is smooth upon completion. Do you think either of my suggestions could be a possibility?
Hi Bebe . Thanks for your suggestions on the lemon curd. I tried to be very careful about the whites being left with the yolks. The curd I take from the burner pull it aside and then add the butter and vanilla or lemon flavoring . The chunks appear after it's refrigerated .hard like little chunks like butter which I don't understand because the butter was melted into the lemon card right off the burner.
I googled the problem to find other possible causes. One suggestion was that overcooking can cause the problem, also not stirring the mixture constantly. When refrigerating, press plastic wrap onto the surface of the curd so a thin crust won't form on the top. If a crust did form, I don't think you would refer to it as chunks but I wanted to add this possibility also.
have you made a strawberry or rasberry filling
Hi Sarah, This is a strawberry filling that I have used.
Strawberry Filling
1/2 to 3/4 cup water
3 T. cornstarch
2 1/2 cups strawberries, frozen or fresh, cut into thin slices
1/4 to 1/2 cup depending on the sweetness of the strawberries
Whisk the water and cornstarch in a saucepan. Add the sugar and strawberries. Cook over medium heat until the mixture thickens 10 min. or more, depending on the amount of berries. Cool completely before using. Can be kept in the refrigerator 4 or 5 days.
Do you have an estimate in grams for the amount of yolks? I have few from yesterday in the fridge, I would like to use them for this.
Hi Nair, one large egg yolk is approximately 18 grams this recipe has 2 yolks so 26 grams.
Hello, I was wondering how to add this curd to the lemon cake recipe. Do you spread it between the two layers of cake and then refidgerate? I am new to baking!
Hi Felicia, yes, between the two layers. You can spread the cream cheese frosting over the bottom layer and then spread on the lemon curd add the top layer of cake. You can reverse the process for the top layer.......spread a thin layer of curd on the top layer for added lemon flavor, it will need to be thin so you can spread the cream cheese frosting over it easily. The recipe for lemon curd makes 1 1/4 cups so you can half the recipe if you like. Any leftovers can be covered and refrigerated for at least a week, we haven't tested beyond that.