Question: Last night I had dessert at a restaurant and my friend had this lemon cake. I tasted it and the cake was plain...the icing is what was lemon. I could tell that this was not a usual buttercream. I am betting it is a meringue type...I would like to try to duplicate it (that is always my challenge). So what I would like to know is...would I make a meringue buttercream and just add lemon flavoring?? What do you think?

perhaps swiss meringue buttercream (or italian meringue buttercream) flavored with lemon curd.
diane

I never had lemon curd, but that is what the recipes I found said. I can't just use lemon extract and zest??? I never made a meringue buttercream before.

to me, lemon extract does not work well. i normally love lemon extract, but was really yucked out by the way in tastes in buttercreams.
lemon zest would not give you the amount of flavor needed in a smbc/imbc.

you will have leftover egg yolks from the bc, so it is fairly handy to make the curd from there. curd is easy, but it does take a bit of time constantly stirring. when i don't have the time, i have used Dickinson's lemon (and lime too!) curd in my buttercream. i use 1/4 cup curd to 4 sticks butter/5 egg whites/1 1/4 cups sugar/dash of salt. if you want more lemon taste, you can add up to 2 more tablespoons of curd.

diane

When I make lemon buttercream I subsitute lemon JUICE for most if not all the liquid in the recipe. It's tart, tangy and deeeelcious!

I mix store brought lemon curd (MacKay's brand, sold near the jam & preserves) into SMBC, DELICIOUS and easy.

Thank you so much for your help. The lemon taste was very subtle in the frosting on the cake. I am not an expert on IMBC, so thanks. I really want to make it!