Lemon Cream Horns

Lemon Cream Horns with puff pastry and lemon custard filling, a super easy dessert to make at home without the horn moulds. It's quick and the lemon kick makes this dessert perfect for Easter too. 

The term horns might be a bit confusing when it comes to a dessert, but it's just some pastry strips wrapped around a metal horn and baked until golden. They are then filled with a delicious cream to make this popular sweet treat that is a family favourite.

If you do happen to have the horn moulds, that's perfect, otherwise you can make your own horns using kitchen foil.

The common filling for the horns is the vanilla cream or custard, but any flavours can be added too. For my lemon cream I used lemon zest and lemon juice, and the taste was divine. I added some yellow food colouring, although that's entirely optional, no need to buy some specially for this recipe, the taste will still be the same.

Alternatively, you can go for other flavours like orange, mint, strawberry, chocolate, coffee and the list is endless. Or just go for the traditional version of the simple, yet delicious vanilla flavour.

Jump to:

• Ingredients used to make the cream
• Step-by-step photos and instructions to make the lemon cream
• Step-by-step photos and instructions to make the pastry horns
• How to assemble the cream horns
• Expert tips
• Lemon Cream Horns

Ingredients used to make the cream

• butter - it doesn't need to be at room temperature, as it gets mixed with the warm cream to melt
• sugar - either caster or granulated
• flour - just regular flour to thicken the cream
• milk - full-fat milk works the best, but semi-skimmed is also ok
• lemon juice and zest - I used half of the juice and all the zest of a lemon
• yellow food colouring - optional, for a yellow hint

Step-by-step photos and instructions to make the lemon cream

• pour half of the milk into a pan set over a medium heat
• add the sugar to it, and let to simmer for the sugar to dissolve
• the other half will be mixed with the flour - whisk well to avoid lumps forming, if that happens, pass the mixture through a sieve to get rid of the lumpy bits
• add the flour mixture to the sugar one, together with the lemon zest and lemon extract
• whisk well until the mixture thickens into a cream
• leave to cool for 5-10 minutes, then add the cubed butter and yellow food colouring, and mix well to incorporate them
• allow the cream to cool completely

Step-by-step photos and instructions to make the pastry horns

• cut the puff pastry into strips of 2 cm wide, and 15-20 cm long
• starting from the bottom up, roll the strips around the cone making sure there are no gaps in between 
• bake in the preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius (350 Fahrenheit)  for 20 minutes until golden
• leave to cool completely, then remove the moulds carefully

How to assemble the cream horns

It is crucial for both pastry and cream to be completely cooled off before assembling, otherwise the cream will make a proper mess. Simply add the cream to a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle, and fill the horns well.

Sprinkle with icing sugar for a nicer touch, but you can also leave them just as they are. Store the horns in a cool place, and consume within 2 days.

And that's all, a simple dessert to make, but divinely delicious, and perfect for any celebration. Happy Spring!

Expert tips

My lemon cream has been tweaked from a vanilla cream that I used for the yummy Chocolate Eclairs Recipe. This cream works wonderfully well here: it's thick enough not to make a mess, but still the right consistency to fill the horns well. There is nothing more frustrating that horns with not enough cream, and not filled till the very end.

Puff pastry works the best with this recipe - it's flaky and golden, and very easy to work with too. Especially if you use ready-rolled puff pastry. Alternatively, the puff pastry block is as good, just roll it to the desired thickness and length.

Make sure the spoons of flour are levelled rather than heaped, too much flour will make the cream thick and inedible.

If you’ve liked my LEMON CREAM HORNS or any other recipe on the blog then don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know how you got on in the comments below, I love hearing from you! You can also FOLLOW ME on FACEBOOK, and PINTEREST to see more delicious food and what I’m getting up to.