Lemon Curd Recipe

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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.

Bowl of Lemon Curd with a spoon.

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!

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.
Lemon Curd in a saucepan with whisk.

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.

Bowl of Lemon Curd with a spoon.

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!

Simple and DELICIOUS Lemon Curd Recipe by MyCakeSchool.com! The perfect lemon filling for cakes and cupcakes! Online cake tutorials, recipes, videos, and more!

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

Lemon curd in a white bowl with a spoon

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

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116 Comments

  1. Hi Bebe,

    I just made the lemon curd and it is cooling now. I made it to use as a filling layer in a birthday cake for tomorrow. Once it’s cooled and I place it between my layers (with a frosting dam I read) will I need to refrigerate my finished cake because of the lemon curd or will it be fine at room temperature?

  2. Hi Stephanie, The lemon curd is perishable so the cake will need refrigeration. Take it out of the refrigerator 1 to 2 hours before serving so the chill will be off the cake.

  3. Could I substitute milk for water in this recipe? I would like this filling to be a bit more custardy if that makes sense. I am not a fan of that “watery” custard taste I have tasted in the UK.

    Thank you very much in advance for your advice?????

  4. Hi Emmie, We have not tried using milk so I'm not sure of the outcome. Please let us know if you give it a try.

  5. I made the curd and put it in the fridge. How do I warm it up so I can spread it to fill my cake? It is really thick and it’s not spreadable right out of the fridge

  6. Hi Corinna, You should be able to leave in out of the refrigerator maybe 10 minutes, then put some on the cake layer and spread out using a spatula or the back of a spoon. Don't microwave to warm it. Hope you like it.

  7. Mine ended up quickly becoming a thick goop before I even mixed it with the egg yolks. The yolks and the butter/lemon/zest mixture combined together smoothly, but even out of the fridge it's more of a ... it's not spreadable... you can break it into chunks like a jelly.. more like cranberry sauce when it's cold. What did I do wrong?

  8. I made this today to put in my vanilla cake. So far it turned out great, taste and consistency. I can't wait to fill my cake with it.

  9. I would like to make this curd, but am confused about the weight of the butter. When I weigh two tablespoons it is not 18 grams...it is 28 grams. Which should I go with...18 grams or 28? Thank you.

  10. Hi Pat, The gram weight is 28. I must have made a typo years ago when the recipe was posted. We have had lots of positive comments on the post so the weight the butter must not be that vital to success of this recipe. I do want it to be correct so thank you for letting us know.

    1. Thank you for your quick reply, Bebe. I actually ended up making this for the lemon cake from this website. I used 28 grams, but I agree, no one has ever mentioned the discrepancy before, so it must not make a huge difference in the outcome. I used the curd in the lemon cake from this website and it was absolutely delicious. Thank you for a wonderful recipe.

    1. Hi Linda, I don't see a problem with doubling the recipe but I wouldn't recommend lemon curd as a frosting. It's really not a good consistency for frosting.

      We have lemon buttercream frosting and lemon cream cheese frosting in our recipes section if you'd like to try those! (Some people even use a bit of lemon curd in their buttercream recipes like our Classic Vanilla Buttercream (in place of most of the liquid the recipe) but we still prefer to use lemon extract in flavor for the strongest lemon flavor without adding a lot of additional liquid.