Luscious English Lemon Curd Recipe

The most delicious lemon curd recipe for your amazing wedding cakes and lemon cupcakes.

This wonderfully delicious custard is a favorite of all of my cake filling recipes and it will be yours too. It is so easy to make and very versatile.

The recipe is awesome! I've been looking for a curd recipe that was good and tangy and this one fit the bill nicely.

~Julie~

Lemon Cake Filling and Topping

The Video

Watch the video to see how to make lemon curd or see the photos with instructions below.

Link to the video on YouTube

Ingredients for the Lemon Curd Recipe

A Note of Caution- Make sure, if you are using this as a filling for a cake, that you dam the edge with buttercream to hold the curd in place to prevent leakage.

I recommend adding the lemon curd to buttercream to use as a filling for a stacked tiered or pillared wedding cake. (shown in the video above) Or serve the curd as a side to the cake. It is so slippery and has a tendency to leak out the sides even with a dam.

4 whole eggs
4 egg yolks
1 cup of sugar
12 Tablespoons of lemon juice (3/4 cup)
4 teaspoons of lemon zest (2 lemons) You can use more if you like. I used two tablespoons in the video which is equal to six teaspoons.
8 ounces of unsalted butter

Method

Start by zesting (not pictured) and straining your lemons.

Use a simple lemon juicer for juicing.

A mesh strainer to strain the tiny lemon seeds out.

Mix the eggs, lemon juice, rind and sugar together in a pot. Place the pot over low to medium heat and stir constantly until it it hickens. Be careful not to use too high of a heat as the curd will curdle. (the eggs will cook too fast and turn into a scrambled mess)

Mix all together

Stir constantly

It will coat the back of a wooden or metal spoon if it is done.

One last step for the lemon curd recipe

Lastly add the chunks of cold butter and stir until the butter is all melted in. (the cold butter will help to stop the cooking process.)

Put the mixture into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap that has holes poked into it to let some of the steam out. The covering will help to prevent the curd from forming a crust. Refrigerate for a few hours or overnight before using.

Other Uses For Lemon Curd

wedding cake filling
lemon cheesecake topping
for lemon cupcakes (filling or topping)
to make lemon buttercream (add it to taste to your favorite butter cream frosting recipe)
topping over toast pancakes or waffles

QUESTION from a visitor:

How much buttercream should I mix in with the curd to make a stable filling and frosting? My crusting buttercream didn't crust very well with the curd mixed in, which made it hard to achieve the nice smooth finish I was aiming for. But the stucco look I ended up with looked like I meant to do that, and ya know what… that can be our little secret, ok? :-)

ANSWER: Hi Julie, Thanks !!!Well the stucco look is not a secret anymore :-) I like the textured frosting personally. I am so happy that you like the English lemon curd recipe I don't measure how much curd I put in. I just add a little to the frosting and taste until I find it to be just right.

Enjoy! All of the other recipes on the website.