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
Select an option below to calculate how much batter or frosting you need. Adjust the servings slider on the recipe card to change the amounts the recipe makes.
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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.
Renee says
This is an excellent recipe. I wanted to be sure I thanked you for it. You really know what you are doing and I appreciate your knowledge! Awesome cake! Thank you!
The Sugar Geek Show says
Thanks so much! Glad you enjoyed it <3
Sue K says
Yikes! Just realized I left the lemon buttercream on the counter overnight. Will it still be ok with the lemon curd in it or should I scrap it?
The Sugar Geek Show says
I don't know for sure, I don't think I would risk it.
Sandra says
Hello this will be my first time trying to bake this cake can you tell me how do I pasteurize my eggs Never heard of this before thank you so much
The Sugar Geek Show says
Pasteurized eggs are already heat-treated so that they are food safe (similar to what is done to milk to make it safe to drink). It is sold with the eggs, typically in a box. I assume you are wanting to make the easy buttercream.
Pooja says
I m in love with your cakes.. I would love to try this recipe. Can you please tell me what to substitute for egg in this cake as I am pure vegetarian.
Would really appreciate your input. Thank you ?
The Sugar Geek Show says
Sorry Pooja but I am not familiar with using egg replacements so I can't way what would work. I think there are commercial egg replacers you can buy but I haven't tried any of them.
Ann Roth says
This cake looks amazing, however I am curious about the recipe, it is calling for 2tps lemon extract and then another teaspoon of lemon extract, is that correct, for a total of 3 teaspoons ?
The Sugar Geek Show says
No that was a typo, I have updated it 🙂
Ann Roth says
So is it 2tsp lemon extract, and what is the other extract, Is it vanilla ? The recipe does not reflect the update, sorry to be a pest, I am making this cake tomorrow and just want to make sure. I love all of your recipes and tutorials. Thank you so much.
Peggy says
Did you ever get an answer to this question?
It lists lemon extract twice?
The Sugar Geek Show says
The recipe has been updated.
rudolph j loehndorf says
how many cups of cake batter are required to put into a 6 inch round pan to make a perfect cake? thank you for the information.
The Sugar Geek Show says
Fill your pan no more than 3/4 of the way full
Kathy says
Sorry, one more question. The lemon cake picture shows 3 layers but the recipes states 2 8" cake pans. Is the batter enough for 2 or 3 layers? Thanks again.
The Sugar Geek Show says
Either two 8" layers or three 6" layers 🙂
Grammie says
Hi all I am making a wedding cake and they want a lemon cake and a pineapple cake . I will be using the lemon recipe but will need to double it for the amount of batter I will need. Do I need to change any thing or just double the weights. Also can I use this recipe for the pineapple cake by using pineapple juice and maybe rum flavoring. Leavening out the lemon juice.??? Thank You
The Sugar Geek Show says
Yes you can double the weights. For pineapple cake the flavor is very hard to make inside a cake. Your best bet is to use a pineapple cake filling
NIcole Rehm says
Hello,
I am so interested in trying this recipe, but was curious what sort of adjustments I need to make for high altitude. I recently moved to 8750' and have read lots of different ways recipes might need to be adjusted. I haven't done much cake baking since I've been here, so I was curious if you had a go-to adjustment for a cake like this. Thanks!
The Sugar Geek Show says
Sorry I don't know, I live in the Oregon Valley so very low. I think you can google some instructions on how to adjust for high altitude. I think you have to reduce leavening.
Syra says
Hey love your recipes , can you please make authentic ferror rocher cake.
I would be really grateful
Thanks in advance
Xoxo
Donnita Waters says
I got ahead of myself and put the lemon curd in before getting the butter and eggs whipped. It is a curdled effect.( although it still tastes good, its not going to frost right,) Is there any way to repair this?
The Sugar Geek Show says
just add in the rest of your ingredients and whip it all up, should be fine.
Amita says
Thank you Liz
Lemon cake was hit yesterday, every one enjoyed it
Cake flour was not available I used your white cake recipe and replaced vanilla and almond with lemon essence and lemon zest
It was too yummy
Lydia Lee says
Is this cake stackable?
Amariah says
Hi! Can I use lemon juice instead of lemon extract for the cake?
The Sugar Geek Show says
Lemon juice does not have the same strength as lemon extract 🙂
Jennifer says
Hi, I love this cake recipe, but both times I made the lemon curd it didn’t thicken and was far too runny to use on the cake. Any ideas what the problem might have been?
The Sugar Geek Show says
Sounds like it just wasn't cooked to the proper temperature to thicken it. You can also add cornstarch after the fact to thicken it up.
suzanne says
Hello - Thanks for such a yummy looking recipe - I actually have 3 different cake orders right now that all want a lemon cake.I am trying to figure out how much I would need for (3) 12x2 layers. How many cups of better will your (2) 8x2 layer yield - I could use that as a multiplier.
Suzanne
The Sugar Geek Show says
1 1/2 batches will make one 12" cake. So for three 12" cakes you would need 4 1/2 batches.
Sharon Cieciala says
Hi Liz
Will this cake withstand fondant please?
The Sugar Geek Show says
Yes, all my scratch cakes have been covered in fondant. I also chill my cakes before serving them to keep them from sagging.
Dnyee' Schierholz says
Can this be made GF by substituting Bobs Red Mill 1-1?
The Sugar Geek Show says
Sure can 🙂
Alisha says
Hi 🙂
How come there is lemon juice used in the batter in the video but not listen in the cake batter ingredients?
The Sugar Geek Show says
Sorry about that! I updated the recipe.
fran says
I haven't tasted the cake yet ( it was given for an event I didn't attend) but the consensus was that the cake was great and the frosting was awful. I did taste the frosting and I agreed but was too late to make another. It had way too much butter so the frosting had the consistency of sweetened butter. I'll do the cake again but with a different frosting
The Sugar Geek Show says
Sounds like your frosting was not whipped enough. If you haven't made it before it can be hard to know what to look for but truly when it is whipped properly, it tastes like ice cream. Whip until it's super light and fluffy and then taste it. If it still tastes like butter, keep whipping to incorporate more air.
Salena Keese says
I usually don't comment, but this cake was amazing. It was so fluffy and lemoney a great cake. And I love this mixing method over the cream method. Thank you.
The Sugar Geek Show says
Thank you so much! I love this lemon cake recipe too!
Kathryn Walker says
Hi! I was wondering if so could replace the lemons with key lines for a key lime cake.
The Sugar Geek Show says
Yes you could 🙂
Kathryn says
Hi Liz. I’m really late, but I just wanted to tell you how it turned out. I replaced the lemon zest with lime zest, the lemon juice with Nellie and Joe’s Key Lime Juice, and the lemon extract with lime extract. I have always struggled with finding the perfect key lime cake recipe that doesn’t call for jello. This was it! It was perfect in flavor and texture! I got so many compliments. Thank you so much for an amazing recipe!
The Sugar Geek Show says
yay! That is awesome!! Now I want to try! I recently made a bunch of lime curd 😀
Angela says
Hi Liz,
Thanks for sharing your recipe. I want to try the recipe with the addition of the lemon curd to the batter. Do I just add it in, substitute it for another ingredient or reduce one of the liquids?
The Sugar Geek Show says
Just add it in 🙂
Ramona says
I want to use the lemon cake for a wedding cake...6,9, and 12 inch layers. Do you have receipes for larger layers?
The Sugar Geek Show says
Just make more batter for bigger pans 🙂
Angelica says
Hi liz im making this cake right now as we speak , Just curious what brand butter do you use for this lemon cake? Also for your white cake ?