May 13, 2011

Lemon Frosting.



We celebrated my husband's 30th birthday last week. For the party, I made a cake & cupcakes, but wanted to try a new frosting. I saw Pioneer Woman's post for the Best Frosting I've Ever Had a while back, and decided to give it a shot on for his birthday. 

The frosting recipe is just vanilla though, and since I was pairing it with vanilla cupcakes, I wanted to add more flavor. I used lemon curd, since (1) I had it in my refrigerator, and (2) I love lemon. 

And the frosting? It might really be the best I've ever had (cream cheese frosting excluded, which does have place & time). I made a little bit without the lemon curd, too, so I could sample both ways. The frosting is light and sweet. And with the addition of lemon curd, perfectly tart. I received several compliments at the party - It is SO good!, I've never had frosting like this before!, It is so light & almost tastes like whipped cream!.

A new go-to that we will be using again & again.

Lemon Frosting 
Slightly Adapted from Tasty Kitchen  

5 Tablespoons Flour
1 cup Milk
teaspoon Vanilla 
1 cup Butter 
1 cup Granulated Sugar
1/3 C lemon curd

In a small saucepan, whisk flour into milk and heat over medium, stirring constantly, until it thickens. You want it to be very thick - thicker than cake mix, more like a brownie mix. Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature. Stir in vanilla.

While the mixture is cooling, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy and until there is no more sugar graininess.  Add the completely cooled milk & flour mixture and lemon curd. Beat it on high speed, until it all combines and resembles whipped cream. If it looks grainy or separated or weird, beat it longer.

Spread onto a cooled cake or cupcakes.

5 comments:

Uniflame said...

Oooh this looks great! I am always a bit afraid to make frosting. Also because my cupcakes are often to-go and then frosting isn't practical.

Kristi said...

I love your photos. Very beautiful. I love the strawberry on top. I love the idea of lemon frosting and this one looks delicious.

elise said...

Uniflame - This frosting is easy to make. It seems weird, with cooking the flour, but it comes together fast.

Kristi - Thanks! Half the fun of this challenge for me is taking the pictures. :)

Emily C said...

your pictures are gorgeous

Carol said...

Looks so good, especially with the berry, makes such a pretty picture. Lemon frosting, YUM!