Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Perfectly balance Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting. It’s silky, slightly tart, and a little sweet. Everything you’d expect with cream cheese and lemon flavored frosting!

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

I’ve been working hard to build up my frosting archive. So far, the most post popular frosting is the pineapple frosting. You guys love it! It’s creamy and full of pineapple bits.

My 7 Minute Frosting has also been a huge hit!

My latest and most favorite is lemon cream cheese frosting. This one took several tries to get right. It’s finicky because cream cheese frosting is already soft. It’s not a frosting that holds up well against intricate piping. Then, if you add lemon curd to the mix, it can get all sorts of soupy.

To counterbalance the soupiness, you have to add a billion pounds of powdered sugar. Then you end up with a frosting that’s overly sweet and toothachey.

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I was on a mission to have a happy balance of creamy, tangy, and sweet.

I chose lemon curd because it offers the most natural lemon flavor without being too wet. Lemon juice simply wouldn’t work here. You can add some lemon zest if you find the frosting isn’t quite lemony enough, but I was pleased with the lemon curd alone.

My biggest tip for frosting success is to make sure the cream cheese, butter, and lemon curd are at room temperature. It’s so much easier to get them mixed together that way.

What you’ll get with this Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting:

• Creamy & silky
• Not too sweet
• Real lemon flavor
• Kind of tastes like lemon cheesecake!

The printable recipe card with full ingredient amounts and instructions can be found at the bottom of this post.

 Let’s go over the full list of ingredients and how to combine them.

Cream cheese and butter. Mix these two together first. Make sure they are at room temperature and beat them together until they are smooth and creamy.

Powdered sugar, lemon curd, vanilla extract, and salt. Toss all of these in at the same time once the cream cheese and butter are smooth. Start the mixer on low speed so the powdered sugar doesn’t go flying all over the place then once it’s almost combined, turn the mixer up to high and beat for a couple minutes.

Get the flavor just right:

Taste it here and if you feel like it’s just not lemony enough for you, add the zest of one lemon. But, resist adding more lemon curd as this could throw off the texture and consistency of the frosting.

Everyone raved about this frosting and claimed that it tasted like cheesecake. I’ll agree to that!

The cupcakes pictured with the frosting are my favorite vanilla cupcakes. They pair so wonderfully with lemon cream cheese frosting. I bet these lemon cupcakes would also be to die for!

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Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Perfectly balance Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting. It’s silky, slightly tart, and a little sweet. Everything you’d expect with cream cheese and lemon flavored frosting!

5 from 1 vote

Print Rate

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Yields: 16 servings

Calories: 173

Ingredients

• 8 ounces (226 g) cream cheese , softened
• 1/4 cup (56 g) unsalted butter , softened
• 3 cups (360 g) confectioners’ sugar , sifted
• 1/4 cup (56 g) lemon curd , room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• zest of one lemon

Instructions

• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or with a handheld electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter together until smooth and creamy.
• Add the sugar, lemon curd, vanilla, and salt. Beat on low until just incorporated then turn the mixer to high speed and beat for 2 minutes. Mix in lemon zest if desired.
• Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

Notes

This recipe yields about 2.5 cups which is enough to frost 12-16 cupcakes or one 9×13 sheet cake.

The lemon zest is completely optional and may not be needed depending on your taste preference.

Nutrition Facts

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Amount Per Serving (2 tablespoons)

Calories 173 Calories from Fat 72

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 8g 12%

Saturated Fat 4g 20%

Cholesterol 23mg 8%

Sodium 75mg 3%

Potassium 19mg 1%

Total Carbohydrates 25g 8%

Sugars 24g

Vitamin A 5.6%

Calcium 1.5%

Iron 0.4%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Since different brands of ingredients have different nutritional information, the values shown are just an estimate.

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keywords: frosting, lemon cream cheese frosting

Author: Jen Sobjack

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