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This is a fluffy, moist, and easy Lemon Cake recipe with a lemon buttercream frosting. I made it a lemon sheet cake but you can also make this as a layer cake or even cupcakes. If you love lemon desserts this will be a favorite recipe!
Homemade Lemon Cake
I love love love lemon cake! Lemon desserts in general, really. I spent so many years thinking I hated lemon in dessert that I’m making up for lost time, which is why my Lemon Cake recipe is SO full of flavor. I want it for my birthday cake pretty much every year.
I decided to make this a lemon sheet cake instead of layer cake because while layer cakes are gorgeous they’re kind of difficult and hard to serve. Sheet cakes are faster and easier – so I get to eat it sooner!
This lemon cake recipe has tons of lemon flavor in the moist and tender cake but it also has a lemon buttercream frosting – so much citrus flavor in every bite! Learn how to make lemon cake the easy way – from scratch!
Ingredients Needed
- Flour – The recipe uses all-purpose flour.
- Unsalted butter – Make sure that your butter is softened properly.
- Milk – It’s best to use full fat milk but you can swap nondairy as well. The more fat the milk has the moister your cake. While my normal cake recipes use buttermilk, this recipe doesn’t need it because the lemon juice activates the baking soda.
- Fresh lemon juice – About 2-3 large lemons will do – don’t use bottled lemon juice. Fresh is best for baking and flavor.
- Lemon zest – about 2 large lemons. The lemon zest is where all the lemon flavor comes from – your cake will not be lemony enough if you don’t add it!
How to make lemon cake
- To start, preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 9×13” pan with nonstick cooking spray- the kind that has flour in it. Or grease the pan with butter. You can also use shortening and flour.
- Cream the butter, granulated sugar, and lemon zest in a large mixing bowl with a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mixing the sugar and lemon zest at the beginning infuses the sugar with tons of lemon flavor.
- Add the milk, lemon juice, and eggs to a large measuring cup or bowl. Whisk thoroughly until the ingredients are combined.
- Add the wet and dry ingredients into the creamed butter in two separate parts. Alternate adding the milk mixture and flour mixture, beating on low speed until they’re all combined.
- Pour cake batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 25-43 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Make sure you cool completely before frosting.
- To make the buttercream frosting: cream together butter and powdered sugar until crumbly. Add salt, lemon juice and 1 tablespoon of milk. Mix until it’s completely smooth, adding more milk 1 teaspoon at a time until you’ve reached the desired spreading consistency. Frost the cooled cake.
Expert Tips
- Make sure to use fresh lemon juice, this will make your cake nice and moist.
- Before mixing the batter, it’s best if your eggs are room temperature. This is a trick that helps you batter ome together quicker and helps the eggs stick to the other ingredients!
- If you want even more lemon flavor, feel free to add 1 teaspoon lemon extract to the cake and/or 1/2 teaspoon to the frosting. You can also add 1/2 teaspoon vanilla to the cake if you want.
- Never forget the zest! That’s where the most lemon flavor comes from in any lemon recipe.
- If you want to remove the entire lemon cake from the pan, be sure to line the base of the pan with parchment paper and grease and flour it.
- For even more flavor, frost this with my lemon curd recipe!
Storage
- Store lemon cake in an airtight container to preserve freshness.
- Lemon cake will last around 2 days on the counter or 4 days in the fridge.
- You can freeze cake, make sure you keep it in an airtight container in the freezer!
FAQs
Usually when a cake isn’t fluffy it’s because the butter and sugar weren’t creamed properly together. When butter is creamed, air is pushed into it which makes it fluffy and aerated- hence a cake that is nice and fluffy.
I don’t recommend it – I have only tested this recipe with all-purpose flour and it comes out light and fluffy.
If wrapped well or stored in an airtight container, it will last 2 days on the counter or 4 days in the refrigerator.
You can definitely freeze cake! Freeze in an airtight container or well wrapped with plastic.
Lemon Cake Recipe
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 3 cups (372g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (226g) unsalted butter , softened
- 2 cups (400g) granulated sugar
- 1 cup (237ml) milk
- ½ cup fresh lemon juice (about 2-3 large lemons)
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest (about 2 large lemons)
- 4 large eggs
For the Frosting:
- ½ cup (113g) unsalted butter , softened
- 3 cups (339g) powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1-3 tablespoons milk
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 9×13” pan with nonstick cooking spray (the kind with flour) or grease the pan with butter or shortening and flour.
- Stir the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.
- Cream butter and granulated sugar in a large bowl with a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Cream until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add the milk, lemon juice, zest, and eggs to a large measuring cup or bowl. Whisk until combined.
- Add the wet and dry ingredients into the creamed butter in two additions, mixing between each, just until the mixture is combined. Don't over mix!
- Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 25-43 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.
- To make the frosting: cream butter and powdered sugar until crumbly. Add salt, lemon juice and 1 tablespoon milk. Mix until smooth, adding more milk 1 teaspoon at a time until you've reached desired spreading consistency.
- Frost cooled cake and serve.
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
- Store cake loosely covered on the counter for up to 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- Cake can be frozen for up to 2 months.
- Make sure to use fresh lemon juice, it tastes much better than bottled.
- Don’t omit the lemon zest – that’s where all the lemon flavor comes from.
- Want even more lemon flavor? Add 1 teaspoon lemon extract to the cake and/or 1/2 teaspoon to the frosting.
- It’s best if your eggs are room temperature before mixing.
- This cake can also be baked in three 8-inch pans or two 9-inch pans.
Recipe Nutrition
Variations
- You can also bake this recipe in two 9-inch round cake pans or three 8 inch cake pans.
- If you’re looking for lemon pound cakes I have that recipe too, and it’s got a lemon glaze with lemon syrup!
- You can swap out the frosting recipe for cream cheese frosting if you want!
My son wanted to make a Lemon cake for his 17th birthday. I searched google until I found a recipe that looks good with simple ingredients that we had. We took our time and followed the steps. He was thrilled that the cakes (we 2- 9 inch rounds) came out of the oven looking amazing! The icing was easy to make. This cake turned out so soft, moist & delicious!! I’ll be making this one again! Thanks for a good recipe!
It took much longer to prepare but overall it wasn’t too tiring. I made cupcakes with mine and got 36. I found the cake baked up nicely and tasted good but not lemony enough for my taste. I also found it to be a bit dry. I followed the recipe to the letter. I used my own icing recipe and added a dash of extract with the zest and juice which was delicious. Most of these are for the kiddos and I’m sure they are going to love it! Thanks for sharing it!
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