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Easy Homemade Lemon Curd in the Microwave

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Lemon curd is so simple to make and it is such a great way to add bright lemon flavor to yogurt, cake, ice cream, scones and more. This recipe is quick and easy to make with the help of a microwave.

Bowl of yogurt topped with a swirl of homemade lemon curd and granola next to spoons, ready to eat.

Bright and delicious lemon curd is so easy to make at home. This recipe only takes a few minutes and really simple ingredients. You’ll wonder why you haven’t been making it yourself all along!

When my brother and his new wife asked me to make their wedding desserts I was so excited. They probably hadn’t been gone and hour and I already had the first draft of a menu planned.

hand holding instant thermometer reading 185F in bowl of lemon curd.

I like to do that when I’m planning for an event. Having a rough draft of a menu makes wrapping my head around it easier. There are usually lots of edits as time goes, but the initial menu gives me a chance to visualize how it will come together.

By that evening I was peppering them with questions. Do you have a style in mind? What about a topper? What flavors do you want?

They picked out a cute topper from Etsy that had their initials in it and both responded white or vanilla cake with white frosting.

glass bowl of lemon curd.

While I do love the classic white on white wedding cake combo, I wanted to do something special for them.  In an attempt to calm my nerves a bit about doing my first wedding cake and find the perfect white cake to make them, I did a few tester cakes.

I had done my sister’s wedding desserts as well, but they didn’t want a cake. They requested a cheesecake for cutting, dirt pudding jars and a chocolate peanut butter dessert I need to make again so I can share it with you.

So I wanted to be sure this cake lived up to the moment and made a good showing for the pictures, but of course I wanted it to taste great too!  The first attempt was good, but not quite the great I was going for.

I could tell by looking at them that I liked the second try better.  After torting the layers, I filled one with lemon curd and covered it in Italian meringue buttercream. The second layer was filled with a seedless raspberry filling and frosted in American buttercream that was made a little less sweet than normal.

three small bowls of lemon curd and granola topped yogurt.

Luckily they were really well received by my guinea pigs and especially the couple. They preferred the American buttercream and were happy with whatever from there.

So a two days before the wedding I whipped up more lemon curd. I ended up doing two layers of lemon curd and one layer of raspberry in each cake for this round.

I really wish I would have taken a picture of a slice. It was so good, if I do say so!

But even with four layers of lemon curd in the cake, I still had quite a bit left. Not to worry, it’s not going to waste.

Bowls of vanilla yogurt with lemon curd and granola on top, ready to eat.

We’ve been enjoying a bit stirred into plain yogurt. It would also be a great filling for cupcakes or whipped up with cream cheese for a dessert dip or tart/pie filling. What are your favorite uses for lemon curd?

Bowl of yogurt topped with a swirl of homemade lemon curd and granola next to spoons, ready to eat.

Homemade Lemon Curd in the Microwave

Carlee
Lemon curd is so simple to make and it is such a great way to add bright lemon flavor to yogurt, cake, ice cream, scones and more! This recipe is quick and easy and it’s made in the microwave!
5 from 7 ratings
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 5 minutes
Total Time 10 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 24 Servings
Calories 74 kcal

Ingredients
 

  • 1 cup lemon juice
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • ½ cup butter softened*

Instructions
 

  • In a very large microwave safe bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, sugar and eggs. Add the stick of butter.
    1 cup lemon juice, 1 cup granulated sugar, 2 large eggs, ½ cup butter
  • Microwave the the mixture in 30 second intervals, with vigorous whisking between each round in the microwave.
  • You will feel the curd start to thicken as you go. Take the temperature with an instant read thermometer and stop when the temperature reaches 185℉. Cook time will vary based on your microwave but should be somewhere around 5 minutes.
  • If there are any bits of cooked egg whites in your mixture, you can pass it through a fine sieve. (Hopefully the short bursts of cooking and vigorous stirring prevented them altogether!)
  • Cover and refrigerate until firm. Store covered in the refrigerator for up to a couple of weeks or freeze a portion of it if desired.

Notes

*If you don’t have softened butter, go ahead and melt it a bit and then add it to the remaining ingredients. If it is straight from the fridge, it will take a while to melt and incorporate into the remaining ingredients.

Nutrition

Serving: 1ServingCalories: 74kcalCarbohydrates: 9gProtein: 1gFat: 4gSaturated Fat: 3gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 26mgSodium: 39mgSugar: 9g
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Recipe Rating




Anonymous

Wednesday 4th of July 2018

Mmmmm! Lemon curd is one of my favorites. There are so many things you can make with it. Thanks so much for sharing this recipe with us at the Whimsical Wednesdays Link Party!

Carlee

Friday 6th of July 2018

There really are! Thank you!

Erlene

Saturday 30th of June 2018

I don't know why I've never mixed lemon curd with yogurt. Sounds like an awesome way to eat lemon curd. Hopefully our lemon tree will give me some good lemons this year :-)

Carlee

Friday 6th of July 2018

It came to me out of necessity. A big thing of plain yogurt and some leftover lemon curd... now I'm hooked!

Amy

Tuesday 26th of June 2018

How impressive that you made your own lemon curd. I loved reading about your wedding cake. The lemon and raspberry sound fabulous to me. I wish that you had taken a picture of a slice so I could have seen it too.

Carlee

Friday 6th of July 2018

I will have to make a replica one of these days so I can take better pictures!

Val

Thursday 21st of June 2018

This looks delicious and so simple!

Carlee

Sunday 24th of June 2018

It really is so easy to make and the flavor is so bright and yummy!