Lemon zest and lemon juice assure this lemon cake recipe is bursting with lemon taste! The cake batter bakes up gentle and fluffy. And when you slather the highest of the cake with cream cheese frosting and lemon curd, it’s able to serve. No fussing with a number of cake layers!
I Love Lemon Cake (And You Will, Too)
One factor you must find out about me? I’m a die-hard lemon lover who takes her lemon desserts very critically! I like lemon cake recipes particularly as a result of they’re gentle, refreshing, and ideal for nearly any event. And any time of yr.
Sunday brunch… Mom’s Day… Easter… Christmas… or an informal picnic within the park. Lemon cake matches the invoice! I take advantage of conventional lemons for this recipe, however should you’re fortunate sufficient to have meyer lemons available, by all means, use them! They’ll work nice and can give this cake an additional candy and vibrant lemon taste.
Why this Lemon Cake Recipe is a Winner
- Gentle and fluffy cake texture
- Sunshiny candy lemon taste due to lemon extract, lemon zest, and lemon juice
- Bakes in a 9×13-inch baking pan, making it excellent for serving a crowd
- The flat cake layer makes adorning a breeze!
- Topped with cream cheese frosting AND lemon curd, it’s scrumptious and exquisite
- One million instances higher than boxed lemon cake combine (ew)
Methods to Make Lemon Cake
- Make the Lemon Cake Batter: Use an electrical mixer to make the cake batter. Ensure to not over combine the cake batter. Pour the batter into the ready baking pan and clean the highest.
- Bake the Lemon Cake: Place the cake within the oven and bake till gentle and fluffy. And a toothpick inserted in the course of the cake layer comes out clear. Take care to not over bake this cake! Over baked desserts might be dry and dense.
- Cool the Lemon Cake: Place the entire cake – pan and all – on a wire cooling rack. Cool at room temperature. As soon as cool, you possibly can embellish within the pan or take away the cake from the pan.
- Make the Cream Cheese Frosting: About quarter-hour earlier than you propose on adorning your cake, make the frosting. You’ll want an electrical mixer for this step.
- Enhance the Lemon Cake: As soon as the cake layer is totally cool, slather cream cheese frosting all around the tops of the cake. Then add dollops of lemon curd and swirl. You possibly can even add some recent blueberries or raspberries, to essentially make it further.
Lemon Cake Batter
- You’ll want a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or a big bowl and an electrical mixer for this recipe.
- Sadly, you possibly can’t make this lemon cake batter with out an electrical mixer. You want to beat the granulated sugar and butter with this instrument till gentle and fluffy.
- Not like lots of lemon cake recipes, there’s no want to mix the sugar and lemon zest collectively earlier than use. Simply add these substances individually, when the recipe requires them.
- You’ll want a 9×13 baking pan and parchment paper for this recipe. Not like lots of lemon sheet desserts, I don’t use a sheet pan as a result of this cake has a lot batter.
- I don’t advise utilizing this recipe to make layer desserts or cupcakes.
- I HIGHLY suggest utilizing a kitchen scale to weigh your all-purpose flour. I examined this recipe 8 instances and it’s not tremendous forgiving. An excessive amount of and your cake might be bone dry.
- Be certain that your flour, baking powder, and baking soda are all recent and never expired.
- Your moist/strong substances are butter, eggs, lemon extract, vanilla extract, lemon juice, bitter cream, and buttermilk. I do know buttermilk is a ache, but it surely’s important.
- You possibly can all the time make a home made buttermilk if want be. Merely mix one scant cup of milk and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. Put aside for about 5 minutes. This may enable the combination to curdle.
Flour Speak: Can I Use Cake Flour?
- Sure, you should utilize cake flour as an alternative of all function flour if desired. This cake is gentle and fluffy with out it. And since all-purpose flour is each cheaper and extra simply obtainable, I selected to make use of it on this recipe.
- However if you need the softest cake doable, cake flour is a superb alternative! You possibly can merely sub cake flour for the all-purpose flour. That swap doesn’t require every other adjustments on this recipe.
- I don’t recommend utilizing every other number of flour, similar to almond flour, coconut flour, or entire wheat flour.
- A 1-for-1 Gluten free flour may work happy with this recipe. However I haven’t examined this, so it will likely be an experiment.
Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting: Yum!
- This lemon cream cheese frosting is to-die-for! Made with butter, cream cheese, lemon juice, lemon zest, and lemon extract. Plus, a ton of powdered sugar, which binds every thing collectively and sweetness issues up!
- I don’t recommend decreasing the quantity of confectioners’ sugar known as for. Decreasing the quantity will end in a runny cream cheese frosting.
- You’ll want a big bowl and an electrical handheld mixer or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment for this recipe.
- If you happen to don’t like cream cheese frosting, attempt a white chocolate frosting as an alternative.
Enhance the Lemon Cake
- You realize I like making issues fairly, so clearly I needed to doll this lemon cake up and make it a showstopper!
- To try this I merely added some dollops of lemon curd and recent lemon slices on high! I used about 1/2 cup of lemon curd in complete. Use roughly as you see match!
- I made the swirls utilizing an extended wood skewer, however a pointy skinny knife or toothpick would additionally work effectively.
- Add skinny lemon slices on high for much more pizzazz! Contemporary lemon slices work nice however so do candied orange slices.
- After all, you too can skip all these steps and easily serve with the cream cheese frosting on high. This cake doesn’t require any garnish or adorning!
Methods to Retailer Lemon Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
- Uncut, this cake will hold at room temperature for 3 days. Cowl with a cake keeper or loosely cowl with plastic wrap.
- As quickly as you are taking a slice out of this cake, moisture begins to flee. That is what causes cake to get dry and rancid.
- Shield the sliced edges by urgent a chunk of plastic wrap straight onto the sliced space of the cake. Be certain that it clings firmly to the reduce space.
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Extra Lemon Truffles:
Lemon Cake for a Crowd
My lemon cake for a crowd is moist, fluffy, and loaded with recent lemon taste! Topped with silky clean lemon cream cheese frosting, dollops of lemon curd, and recent lemon slices, that is certainly one of my hottest lemon desserts. Bonus: this lemon sheet cake is really easy and feeds a crowd!
Substances
For the Lemon Sheet Cake:
- 2 and three/4 cups all-purpose flour (343 grams)
- 2 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2 cups sugar granulated sugar
- 4 massive eggs, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon lemon extract
- 1/2 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup bitter cream, at room temperature
- 1 and 1/2 Tablespoons lemon zest, finely grated
- 1/2 cup recent lemon juice
For the Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 8 ounces cream cheese, VERY delicate
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, VERY delicate
- 3 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
- 2 and 1/2 Tablespoons lemon recent lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon lemon extract
Directions
For the Lemon Sheet Cake:
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Preheat oven to 350 levels. Line a 9×13-inch baking pan with parchment paper. Spray parchment paper, and any uncovered pan, with non-stick baking spray. Put aside till wanted.
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In a big bowl sift collectively the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Put aside.
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Within the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a big bowl utilizing a handheld electrical mixer, beat the butter and sugar on medium-high pace till gentle and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the edges and backside of the bowl with a rubber spatula, then beat for one more 30 seconds.
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Add within the eggs, one after the other, beating effectively after every addition, and scraping down the edges and backside of the bowl typically to make sure the entire substances are being evenly included.
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Beat within the vanilla extract and lemon extract.
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On low pace, add within the sifted dry substances and beat till simply barely mixed, about 20 seconds right here. Don’t over combine right here or your cake might be dry! Cease mixing when you possibly can nonetheless see lumps and streaks of dry substances.
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Flip the mixer off. Add within the buttermilk, bitter cream, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Flip mixer on lowest pace and blend simply till the entire substances are mixed.
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Flip the mixer off and, utilizing a rubber spatula, give the batter a mild fold, scraping from the underside of the bowl up. That is simply to make sure the mixer blade didn’t miss something!
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Pour the batter into the ready baking pan and use a spatula to softly clean the highest.
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Bake in preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes, till the highest is agency, golden brown, and a toothpick inserted in the course of the cake comes out clear, or with a couple of moist crumbs hooked up.
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Place cake pan on a cooling rack and funky utterly earlier than frosting.
For the Cream Cheese Frosting:
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Within the bowl of a stand-mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a big bowl utilizing an electrical handheld mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter on medium-high pace till utterly clean; about 2 minutes.
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Scale back the pace to low and step by step add within the sifted confectioners’ sugar. As soon as the entire sugar has been added, add within the lemon juice and lemon extract and beat till mixed.
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As soon as mixed, enhance pace to medium- high-speed and beat for two minutes.
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As soon as the cake has utterly cooled, unfold the frosting over the cake and embellish with lemon curd and recent lemon slices, if desired.
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Leftovers needs to be coated tightly and saved within the fridge for as much as 3 days.
