Super soft and velvety lemon cake with homemade lemon curd, lemon ganache drip, and a truly delicious lemon cream cheese frosting! This lemon cake literally melts in your mouth it is so soft and tender. You won't ever need another lemon cake recipe after trying this one!
This lemon cake is a reader favorite and always gets rave reviews! If you're not familiar with making a layer cake, then you should check out my video on how to make your first cake to get the basics and terminology down.
When I make this cake, I make my curd one day in advance so that it has time to cool down in the fridge. You can also bake your cakes in advance if you want, and then wrap them in plastic wrap and freeze them until you are ready to decorate.
What's in this blog post?
Lemon cake ingredients
This lemon cake has tons of natural lemon flavor thanks to lemon juice, lemon zest, and some pure lemon extract. If you plan on making the lemon curd (which you TOTALLY should,) make sure you have at least 8 large lemons for the cake and curd combined or you can buy lemon juice to use in the curd if you don't want to juice a bunch of lemons.
We will also be making a lemon ganache drip but instead of cream, we are using lemon juice! Did you know you can make ganache with lemon juice? Mind blown!
You will also need cream cheese and unsalted butter for the frosting. See the full list of ingredients in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
What makes this lemon cake so moist?
This lemon cake recipe, much like my vanilla cake and white velvet buttermilk cake recipes, has some key ingredients for maximum moistness and melt-in-your-mouth velvet texture.
- Buttermilk - breaks down the gluten in cake flour and reacts with acidic ingredients to create a very light and fluffy cake that is extremely tender! No buttermilk? No problem, you can make your own buttermilk substitute.
- Cake flour - cake flour has less gluten in it than AP flour, resulting in a very tender cake crumb. **Note, you can't do that trick where you replace AP flour with cornstarch or you'll end up with cornbread. If you live in the UK, try searching for Shipton Mills soft cake and pastry flour, or any flour that has a protein content of 9% or less.
- Reverse mixing method - The reverse creaming method is the process of coating your dry ingredients with butter before you add the liquids. This butter "shortens" the gluten strands and gives the cake its velvet crumb.
- Oil - Very important in butter cakes to keep your cakes from drying out. When a cake is cold, the butter in the cake get's hard and can make the cake taste dry. Cakes should always be consumed at room temperature for the best results.
Lemon curd step by step
Once you make your own lemon curd, it's hard to ever go back to buying it. Nothing compares to that pure, bright, fresh lemon flavor. I prefer to make my lemon curd one day in advance and then have it ready to go the next day.
- Zest your lemons then slice then juice them. Make sure you strain out any seeds or lemon bits.
- Place the egg yolks, cornstarch, and salt in a medium-sized heatproof bowl and whisk together until smooth.
- Add your lemon juice, sugar, and lemon zest to a saucepan and bring to a simmer while whisking occasionally.
- When your lemon mixture reaches a simmer, scoop out one cup of the hot liquid (carefully) and pour it into the egg mixture while whisking at the same time so you don't curdle your eggs.
- Now add the tempered egg mixture back into the lemon mixture in a slow stream while whisking constantly to prevent over-heating the eggs.
- Continue cooking over medium heat while mixing constantly until it thickens or reaches 170 - 180ºF on a thermometer.
- Remove the lemon curd from the heat and add your butter. Whisk until smooth.
- Pour the finished lemon curd into a heatproof container and cover it with plastic wrap (make sure the wrap is touching the surface of the curd) and refrigerate. Let it cool down completely before you use it.
Lemon cake step by step
- Bring all your ingredients to room temperature or even a little warm (eggs, buttermilk, butter, etc) to ensure your batter does not break or curdle.
- Use a scale to weigh your ingredients (including liquids) unless otherwise instructed (Tablespoons, teaspoons, pinch etc). Metric measurements are available in the recipe card. Scaled ingredients are much more accurate than using cups and help ensure the success of your recipe.
- Preheat your oven to 335º F/168º C Prepare your cake pans with cake goop or another pan release. For square pans or cakes over 12", I also use parchment paper.
- Combine the 4oz of buttermilk with the oil and set aside.
- To the remaining 6oz of buttermilk, add your eggs, lemon zest, lemon extract, and lemon juice. Whisk lightly to break up the eggs and set it aside.
- Place the cake flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda into the bowl of your stand mixer with the paddle attachment attached.
- Turn the mixer onto the lowest speed. Add in your softened butter in small chunks and mix on medium until the flour mixture resembles coarse sand. About 1 minute.
- Add your oil/milk mixture all at once to the dry ingredients and mix on medium (speed 2 on a bosch, speed 4 on your KitchenAid) for two full minutes to develop the cake's structure.
- Slowly add in the milk/egg mixture in 3 parts, letting the batter mix for 10 seconds between additions. Stop to scrape the bowl once more halfway through. Your batter should be thick and not separated. If it is separated, some of your ingredients could have been too cold or you added your liquids too quickly.
- Fill your cake pans ¾ full with cake batter. You can also weigh your cake pans to ensure that each pan has the same amount of cake batter.
- Bake your cakes for 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out from the center cleanly.
- After removing your cakes from the oven, I give them a quick tap on the countertop to release air and prevent shrinking.
- After cakes have cooled for 10 minutes or the pans are cool enough to touch, flip the cakes over onto a cooling rack and let cool until barely warm. Wrap your cakes in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator before frosting so they are easier to handle. You can also put them in the freezer if you are in a hurry for them to cool down.
- Once the cakes are chilled you can now trim, fill and decorate your cake as you wish.
Cream cheese frosting
- Make sure your butter and your cream cheese are both softened but not melted. Cold butter or cold cream cheese will not cream together properly and you'll get lumps in your frosting. You can soften by cutting into chunks and leaving at room temperature or you can microwave for 15 seconds until softened.
- Place your butter into your stand mixer with the whisk attachment and cream until smooth (you can also do this by hand or with a hand mixer).
- Add your cream cheese and cream on low until smooth and combined.
- While mixing on low, start adding in your powdered sugar one cup at a time until its all in and everything is smooth.
- Then add in your extract and salt. Cream until just combined and you're done!
Lemon cake assembly
Now that we've got our curd, cream cheese frosting and lemon cake baked, it's time to assemble! If you need more basic instructions on how to make your first cake, you can watch my beginners cake tutorial.
- Trim the domes off the tops of your cakes to level them and trim off the brown edges if you wish.
- Place your first layer of cake onto a cake board or cake platter. Add a dam of buttercream around the outside edge of the cake and fill the center with about ¼" of lemon curd.
- Place your second layer on top and repeat the process and add the third layer on top.
- Apply a thin coat of buttercream to the whole cake (crumbcoat) and place into the fridge for 15 minutes.
- Apply the final layer of buttercream and smooth it out with a bench scraper and offset spatula.
- Place the cake in the fridge to continue chilling while you make the lemon water ganache.
- Microwave your chocolate and lemon juice in 30 second increments (or place on a double boiler) until melted. Add a drop of yellow food coloring and white food coloring and whisk until smooth. Let the ganache cool to 90ºF before you use it or it might run down the sides of the cake too much.
- Pipe the lemon ganache on top of the cake using a piping bag. Smooth out the top with an offset spatula.
- After the ganache sets (about 10 minutes) add some more swirls of buttercream on top of the cake using an open start tip and some lemon slices.
This lemon cake is literally bursting at the seams with so much lemon flavor! I love this cake so much! The cake is so so soft and fluffy but combined with the lemon curd and the lemon ganache, this cake is far and above the best lemon cake ever.
Lemon Cake FAQ
Lemon juice actually does not have a lot of lemon flavor and adds a lot of water to the recipe. If you don't have lemon extract, it's better to use more lemon zest to add lemon flavor.
You can turn most cake recipes into cupcakes but leave out the oil since it makes the cupcakes too greasy. Not all cake translates into cupcakes well. These are the steps I use to test a cake recipe out for cupcakes.
Preheat your oven to 400ºF.
Fill your liner ⅔ of the way full (about 3 Tablespoons of cake batter). Over-filling your liners can cause them to overflow and collapse.
Bake cupcakes for 5 minutes then reduce the temperature to 350ºF. This helps set the dome.
Continue baking the cupcakes for an additional 12 minutes and check the centers. If they are still soft and not set, continue baking. Most cupcakes are done between 18-25 minutes.
Once your cupcakes are done baking, remove the pan from the oven and let them cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes before taking them out of the cupcake pan.
Inspect your results. If the cupcake didn't rise enough, put more batter in next time. If it over-flowed, put in less. Take note of how long it took for the cupcakes to bake.
Use grease-proof liners to help combat the liners becoming transparent after baking.
Yes you sure can! If you want to make this lemon cake into a lime cake, just replace the zest and juice with lime. I haven't been able to find lime extract so I just used lemon. Call it a lemon lime cake.
Other Lemon Recipes You'll Love
Moist and fluffy lemon raspberry cake
Cake Batter and Frosting Calculator
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Cups of Batter Needed
8 cups
Cups of Frosting Needed
5 cups
Note: measurements are estimated based off the vanilla cake recipe using standard US cake pans and sizes. Measurements used are for 2" tall cake pans only. Your results may vary. Do not overfill cake pans above manufacturer's recommended guidelines.
Recipe
Equipment
- Stand Mixer
Ingredients
Lemon Cake Ingredients
- 13 ounces Cake flour
- 13 ounces granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 8 ounces unsalted butter Softened but not melted
- 10 ounces buttermilk Or regular milk with 1 tablespoon white vinegar added
- 3 ounces vegetable oil Or canola oil
- 3 Large Eggs 1 large egg weighs about 1.67oz
- 1 Tablespoon Lemon Zest About one lemon
- 2 teaspoons Lemon Extract
- 2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice Fresh or bottled is ok
Lemon Curd
- 8 ounces Lemon Juice Fresh or bottled is ok
- 1 Tablespoon Lemon Zest About one lemon
- 6 ounces Granulated Sugar
- 5 large Egg Yolks
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 4 ounces Unsalted Butter
- 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
- 16 ounces cream cheese softened
- 8 ounces Unsalted Butter Softened but not melted
- 36 ounces Powdered Sugar sifted
- ½ teaspoon lemon extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
Lemon Juice Ganache
- 1 ounce lemon juice + 1 Tablespoon
- 6 ounces white chocolate I use Ghirardelli candy melts
- 1 drop white food coloring optional
- 2 drops yellow food coloring optional, I use Americolor lemon yellow gel color
Instructions
Lemon Cake Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 335º F/168º C Prepare three, 6"x2" or two, 8"x2" cake pans with cake goop or another pan release. For square pans or cakes over 12", I also use parchment paper.
- Combine the 4oz of buttermilk with the oil and set aside.
- To the remaining 6oz of buttermilk, add your eggs, lemon zest, lemon extract, and lemon juice. Whisk lightly to break up the eggs and set aside.
- Place cake flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda into the bowl of your stand mixer with the paddle attachment attached.
- Turn the mixer onto the lowest speed. Add in your softened butter in small chunks mix until the flour mixture resembles coarse sand.
- Add your oil/milk mixture all at once to the dry ingredients and mix on medium (speed 2 on a bosch, speed 4 on KitchenAid) for 2 full minutes to develop the cake's structure.
- Scrape the bowl. This is an important step. If you skip it, you will have hard lumps of flour and unmixed ingredients in your batter. If you do it later, they will not mix in fully.
- Slowly add in the milk/egg mixture in 3 parts, letting the batter mix for 10 seconds between additions. Stop to scrape the bowl once more halfway through. Your batter should be thick and not separated. If it is separated, some of your ingredients could have been too cold or you added your liquids too quickly.
- Fill your cake pans ¾ full with cake batter. Give the pan a little tap on each side to level out the batter and get rid of any air bubbles. You can also weigh your cake pans to ensure that each pan has the same amount of cake batter.
- Bake at 335º F/168º C for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out cleanly from the center of the cake and the top of the cake bounces back when you touch it.
- After cakes have cooled for 15 minutes or the pans are cool enough to touch, flip the cakes over onto a cooling rack and let cool until barely warm. Wrap your cakes in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator before frosting so they are easier to handle. You can also put them in the freezer if you are in a hurry for them to cool down.
- Once the cakes are chilled you can now trim, fill, and decorate your cake as you wish.
Lemon Curd Instructions
- Zest the lemons, then slice them in half and juice them into a measuring cup. Use a small colander or a lemon juicer to keep out any seeds.
- Place the egg yolks, cornstarch, and salt in a large bowl. Whisk well to combine and set aside. (You will be adding more to this later, so make sure it's a large enough bowl.)
- Add your lemon juice, granulated sugar, and lemon zest to a large, shallow sauté pan.
- Stir constantly with a whisk and bring to a simmer over medium heat.
- When it has reached a simmer, scoop about 1 cup of the lemon juice mixture and slowly add it into the egg yolk mixture while whisking.
- Add the tempered egg mixture back into the lemon mixture while whisking constantly. Keep an eye on it and keep whisking, if you walk away for even a minute, the eggs can curdle.
- Whisk constantly and cook over medium heat until desired thickness. I cook mine for about 2 minutes because I like thick lemon curd. Use a thermometer to check the temperature of the lemon curd. Removing the curd at 170ºF (76ºC)will yield a thinner consistency while removing at 180ºF (82ºC) will be thicker.
- Add your butter in chunks to the lemon curd and whisk until the buter is melted and combined. Remove the lemon curd from the heat. It will continue to thicken as it cools.
- Pour the finished lemon curd into a heat-proof jar or bowl. Cover the curd with plastic wrap so that it is touching the surface of the curd without any air bubbles in between, this will prevent a skin from forming on the top of the curd. Store it in the fridge for up to one week or freeze it for up to a year.
Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
- Place softened butter in the bowl of your stand mixer with whisk attachment and cream on low until smooth. Or you can use a hand mixer!
- Place softened cream cheese in the bowl with butter in small chunks and blend on low until smooth and combined
- Add in sifted powdered sugar one cup at a time until combined
- Add your lemon extract and salt and mix until just combined. Do not over-mix or your frosting will separate and get watery.
Lemon Ganache
- Microwave your chocolate for 1 minute and lemon juice for 30-seconds. (Or place on a double boiler.) Pour the lemon juice over the chocolate and let sit for 5 minutes. Whisk until smooth.
- Add a drop of yellow food coloring and white food coloring and whisk until smooth. Let the ganache cool to 90ºF before you use it or it might run down the sides of the cake too much. Make sure your cake is chilled as well before dripping.
Video
Notes
- Weigh your ingredients to avoid cake failure. Using a kitchen scale for baking is super easy and gives you the best results every single time.
- Make sure all your cold ingredients are room temperature or slightly warm (butter, milk, eggs, to create a cohesive batter. Curdled batter causes cakes to collapse.
- No buttermilk? You can make your own buttermilk
- Do not fall for the “just add cornstarch to regular flour” trick. It does not work for this recipe. Your cake will look and taste like cornbread. If you can’t find cake flour, use pastry flour which isn’t quite as soft as cake flour but it’s better than all-purpose flour.
- If you’re in the UK search for Shipton mills cake and pastry flour. If you’re in another part of the country, search for low protein (about 9%) cake flour.
- Need more help with making your first cake? Check out my how to decorate your first cake blog post.
- Make your own pan release (cake goop!) The best pan release ever!
- Chill your cakes before frosting and filling. You can cover a frosted and chilled cake in fondant if you wish. This cake is also great for stacking. I always keep my cakes chilled in the refrigerator before delivery for easy transporting.
Angie says
Hey Liz can you tell me what brand butter you use in your recipes? Tried your vanilla cake it is amazing everyone loved it! I used kerrygold butter like in the video, i am a new baker and would apreciate your insight.
Thanks.
Leslie says
This is an outstanding flavored cake, with a super delicate crumb. Everyone raved about it. Today I am making your white velvet cake recipe.
Thank you for posting!
The Sugar Geek Show says
Thank you so much for the review!
Monique says
Hi Liz.
Thanks for a fantastic recipe. My family and friends all loved it. I did have some issues with the curd not thickening when I cooled it, so I had to reheat and add cornflour to thicken, which worked well. I noticed in you other recipe for lemon curd you add cornflour to that. Has the cornflour been left out of the recipe above by accident?
The Sugar Geek Show says
Yes the curd recipe is updated to include the cornstarch because of people wanting it thicker
Christina says
Hi! If you get to this comment, thank you so much for your time! I have made your white velvet cake twice now and it was a huge success both times. SO GOOD!
I am planning to make this lemon velvet cake next week. However, I am making a quarter sheet cake. I know I will need to double the cake batter recipe for my pans, but I was wondering how many cups of frosting the lemon buttercream recipe makes? Will I really need to double the recipe and use 64 ounces of butter? It is fine if that is the case, I just didn't want to end up with so much extra frosting. I am not doing super involved piping on it, just a border, maybe a couple rosettes, and I need to write a happy birthday message. Hope that gives you enough information! Thank you for your insight!
The Sugar Geek Show says
I'm so glad you are enjoying the recipes! If you're going to frost the outside of the cake only I wouldn't double the frosting, if you are going to fill the cake with frosting then I would do a 1 1/2 batch
Christina says
Thank you so much for taking the time to respond! It came out wonderfully! Everyone was a big fan of your recipe. ?
Katherine T says
This cake is soooooo good!!!!
Erin H says
Hi. I made your moist vanilla cake and it was perfect, finally found a recipe that produces the perfect texture. Will the texture of this cake be the same? It seems every time I make a cake with lemon in it the texture is off (heavier, drier crumb) and have always wondered if it is because of the acidity in the lemon juice or if I’m over mixing or over baking.
The Sugar Geek Show says
This cake is very very moist. I think you'll be happy with the result 🙂
Erin says
I made this today and you were right, very moist and I am very happy with the result! Thanks for sharing your recipes and techniques!
Shayna says
On the printed recipe, step 7 says to add milk mixture (I added the milk mixture from step 4 (w/lemon, etc). After I made the cakes, I realized there was a video so I now know it was supposed to the milk & oil “milk mixture.” Will the order mess it up? Other than that, I’ve followed it to a T. This is only my 2nd scratch cake, and I don’t know baking 101. Lol. My finished cake appears dense but I can’t test it until after tomorrow when it’s served.
The Sugar Geek Show says
I think your cake will be ok if that is the only thing that went wrong. Good for you for learning to bake from scratch! I will update the recipe instructions to be more clear. Let me know how it turns out 🙂
Carol says
Hi Lisa
LOVING this recipe! The cake is super soft, fluffy, and flavorful! I baked them in a 10"x15"x1" pan at 335 degrees for 22 minutes and the rest I baked them in 12-cupcake pans following your instructions for cupcakes! They both came out awesome!
KUDOS to you! BTW, I also made your goop and applied it on the rectangular pan and with parchment, flipped over so nicely and clean...no crumbs.
Thank you!
Carol
PS I also made your strawberry cake last week and everyone in my family and friends loved it!
Anne Schow says
No doubt about it, three Sugar Geek site is the best site for recipes. I found a cute Lemon meringue cupcakes recipe on another site. The lemon curd was very easy and tastes good, and the meringue is fine too. But the lemon cake I found to be sorely lacking. Your cake is hands-down a five star recipe. No other cake recipes will do!
The Sugar Geek Show says
Thank you so much! That means a lot <3
Jess says
Hello, what would the recipe be for 3 x 8” pans?
The Sugar Geek Show says
Do one batch plus a half batch for three 8"x2" round cakes
Angie says
Can i Leave out the lemon juice?
The Sugar Geek Show says
You can but the lemon cake wont have a strong lemon flavor
huyen Trinh says
Hi Liz,
I just made this today. It's so delicious, tangy, soft, moist. I love all your recipes. Thank you!
Stacey Verley says
Hi Liz, I made your lemon cake, curd, and buttercream...a couple of things...#1 your curd recipe on here does not mention cornstarch, so I didn't add it, will my curd thicken? #2, the buttercream recipe turned out to be too soupy. I'm not sure why, it called for 32 oz of powdered sugar which now thinking about it, should have been the entire 2 lb bag however, I went by grams and the 454 grams of powdered sugar was only about half of the bag. Like I said, I am truly not at all sure what happened but that is what I did. I'm sure by the time you have time to answer this, I will have figured out if the curd will thicken but I just wanted to tell you the issues I ran into while using the recipe!
Thank you so much..as always!
Elizabeth Marek says
Hi there. Unfortunately, your measuring is incorrect. One ounce is = to about 28 grams so if you go by grams, it would be 922 grams not 454. yes your curd will thicken, the cornstarch is kind of a way to make it a bit thicker for cake decorating purposes.
Kim says
This lemon cake recipe is great. I have tried quite a few lemon cakes this one is light and fluffy perfect lemon flavor.
Christal W says
Should this cake be stored in the refrigerator?
Elizabeth Marek says
yes because it contains fresh fruit but bring it out of the fridge a few hours before you eat it to give the butter a chance to soften before you eat it. Cold butter doesn't taste good.
Angela says
Hello! What if I want to make 3 8” cakes? Thanks!
Elizabeth Marek says
You can divide the batter into three pans, they will be slightly thinner than if you made two layers.
namrata bajaj says
can i use AP flour instead of cake flour ?
Elizabeth Marek says
You can but the texture will not be the same, it will be more like cornbread
Lori Kenzel says
What changes are needed for baking at higher altitude
Thank you
Elizabeth Marek says
https://sugargeekshow.com/high-altitude-baking-hacks/
Siobhan says
Can i use powdered buttermilk?generally I keep that on had since I dont bake with buttermilk that often. Btw I made your strawberry cake recently and I really enjoyed it(haven't heard back from the customer)but everyone else I shared it with enjoyed it.that strawberry reduction is amazing my 9yr old made it for me again for mothers day.Thank you for your time
Elizabeth Marek says
Yes you can 🙂 Check out my blog post on buttermilk substitutes https://sugargeekshow.com/buttermilk-substitute/
Brooke says
If you were adding the 1/4 c of lemon curd to the cake, at what stage would it go it? Would I need to add a little more of the dry ingredients? (I also live at a high altitude in the mountains.)
Elizabeth Marek says
You might be able to replace 4 oz of milk with lemon curd but I have not tested that and cannot say if the cake would turn out or not.
saniya a says
can I use fresh white eggs instead of pasteurized white eggs? because it's not available in my country
Elizabeth Marek says
For the frosting no, you can use my swiss meringue buttercream recipe instead though
Liz says
For lemon cupcakes you mentioned no oil, do we sub it with butter. Or just omit the oil and continue w the recipe as is? Thank you
Elizabeth Marek says
Just remove the oil
Nicole Bamba says
I would love to use this recipe for a wedding cake. I've tried this out once and it was perfect! It was very similar to your vanilla cake. I'm assuming that I probably should leave out the lemon curd filling, as it is going to be a 3 tier cake (I'm so frightened as I'm inexperience and I'm doing this as a favor to my niece). Should I still add lemon curd to the buttercream? I'm leaning more towards your easy buttercream without the lemon, as it is a wedding cake and doesn't necessarily need to scream LEMON. I really appreciate any feedback you can offer.
Elizabeth Marek says
Yes you can still put the curd in the buttercream, I would definitely skip the curd. Here is a tutorial on making a two-tier cake https://sugargeekshow.com/marbled-fondant-tutorial/
Nicole says
Thank you so much for the tutorial!
Tammy Gaudin says
I made this the other day for my family but made cupcakes. Oh my, it was a huge hit. Husband said it was the best cupcake I ever made. Wondering if I could add an extra egg yolk, mostly out of curiosity, for more moisture.
Elizabeth Marek says
I do not think an extra egg yolk would hurt