This homemade lemon cake is loaded with real lemon flavor. Moist and tender lemon cake layers flavored with fresh lemon juice and lemon zest, iced with lemon cream cheese frosting! If you love lemon desserts, this is a must try cake recipe!
Ingredients for Lemon Cake
Lemon cake layers
- All-purpose flour: Be sure to fluff the flour and level the measuring cup!
- Baking powder: Leavening agent to help the cake layers rise.
- Salt: To enhance the flavors in the cake.
- Unsalted butter: Softened butter.
- Vegetable oil: You can also use canola oil or your favorite neutral baking oil.
- Granulated sugar: For sweetness.
- Eggs: Large eggs, room temperature.
- Vanilla extract: Vanilla extract adds great flavor and compliments the lemon.
- Lemon zest: You will need the zest of about 2 lemons for the cake batter.
- Lemon juice: Freshly squeezed. Approximately 2 to 3 lemons. Check for seeds!
- Milk: Room temperature. You can use buttermilk for added tang.
Lemon cream cheese frosting
- Unsalted butter: Room temperature, softened butter.
- Cream cheese: Room temperature, softened cream cheese.
- Powdered sugar: Also known as confectioners’ sugar or icing sugar.
- Salt: To contrast the sweetness of the frosting.
- Lemon zest: Fresh lemon zest. Use a fine grater or zester.
- Lemon juice: Freshly squeezed. About the juice of 1 lemon
Tools & Supplies for Making Lemon Cake
How to Make Lemon Cake
Lemon cake layers
To make the lemon cake batter, I recommend using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or an electric hand mixer.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare three 7-inch round cake pans with nonstick cooking spray and parchment paper circles.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, cream room temperature unsalted butter, granulated sugar and vegetable oil for a few minutes until pale and creamy.
- Add in eggs, one at a time, mixing on low speed in between each addition.
- Add vanilla extract and lemon zest.
- Alternate adding the flour mixture with the lemon juice and milk (1/3 flour mixture, 1/2 wet ingredients, 1/3 flour mixture, 1/2 wet ingredients, 1/3 flour mixture). Mix in between each addition.
- Portion the cake batter evenly among the prepared cake pans. Use a kitchen scale to create even layers.
- Bake the cake layers in the oven for approximately 25-28 minutes until the tops of the cakes bounce back when gently touched.
- Remove the cake pans from the oven. Allow the cake layers to cool in the pans for 10-15 minutes. Remove the cake layers from the pan and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Lemon cream cheese frosting
To make the frosting, I recommend using a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. If you prefer, you can use a paddle attachment as well. If you do not have a stand mixer, a handheld electric mixer will also work!
- Whip unsalted butter and cream cheese for 2 to 3 minutes on medium speed until smooth.
- Add in the powdered sugar in two batches, mixing on low speed in between each addition until the powdered sugar is fully combined with the butter mixture.
- Add in the salt, lemon zest, and lemon lemon juice. Mix on low and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Whip the frosting for an additional 2 to 3 minutes on medium speed until smooth, light, and fluffy.
Assembling the lemon cake
- Level the cake layers with a serrated knife.
- Place one lemon cake layer on a round cake board. Add desired amount of frosting to the top of the layer and spread evenly with an offset spatula. Repeat this process with the second cake layer.
- Add the final cake layer to the top of the cake. Be sure the bottom of the cake layer is facing up.
- With an offset spatula, add a crumb coat, a thin layer of frosting to the top and sides of the cake. Use a cake scraper to remove excess frosting and to smooth the sides. Chill the cake for 20 minutes.
- Add a generous layer of frosting to the chilled cake with an offset spatula. Use a cake scraper to remove excess frosting and smooth the sides of the cake. Chill for an additional 20 minutes.
- Use a piping bag fitted with a Wilton 1M piping tip to create swirls of lemon cream cheese frosting around the top edges of the cake. If desired, add lemon slices or candied lemon for decoration.
Lemon Cake Recipe Tips
Bake perfect cake layers
Check out my baking tips blog post on 10 Tips for Baking Perfect Cakes to learn simple tips and tricks to bake the most delicious lemon cake layers.
Prepare cake pans
My favorite way to prepare cake pans is to use nonstick cooking spray and then laying a parchment circle at the bottom of the pan. The parchment circle prevents the cake from sticking to the bottom of the pan and allows for easy release from the pan.
Change up the pan size
For this recipe, I used three 7-inch cake pans. If preferred, you could use two 8-inch or 9-inch cake pans. The baking time will vary slightly depending on the size of the pans. If you use two pans, increase the time by a few minutes. Check to see if the cake layers are done by gently touching the top of the cake. If it is done baking, the cake will bounce back.
Add even more lemon flavor
If you want to amp up the lemon flavor in this recipe, fill the cake layers with my easy lemon curd! If you are not a fan of cream cheese frosting, check out my recipe for lemon buttercream frosting which would also pair perfectly with this lemon cake.
Storing and serving
Lemon cake can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Be sure to wrap any exposed cake with plastic wrap to prevent the cake from drying out. To serve, bring the cake to room temperature for the best taste and texture.
Click here to see a quick video on how to make lemon cake! Follow Cake Me Home Tonight on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube for more recipe videos and baking tutorials!
Lemon Cake
Equipment
- 3 7-inch cake pans
- Stand mixer or electric hand mixer
Ingredients
Lemon Cake
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter room temperature
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 3 eggs room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp lemon zest approximately 2 lemons
- ½ cup lemon juice freshly squeezed, approximately 2-3 lemons
- ¾ cup milk room temperature
Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
- 2 cups unsalted butter room temperature
- 8 oz cream cheese room temperature
- 7 cups powdered sugar
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 2 tbsp lemon juice freshly squeezed
Instructions
Lemon Cake
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare three 7-inch round cake pans with nonstick cooking spray and parchment paper circles.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or large mixing bowl with an electric hand mixer, cream room temperature unsalted butter, granulated sugar and vegetable oil for a few minutes until pale and creamy.
- Add in eggs, one at a time, mixing on low speed in between each addition until well combined.
- Add vanilla extract and lemon zest and continue to mix on low.
- Add â…“ of the flour mixture to the butter mixture. Mix on low speed until the dry ingredients are combined with the butter mixture.
- Pour in half of the lemon juice and half of the milk. Mix on low speed until combined and smooth.
- Add another â…“ of the flour mixture and mix on low until combined. Add the remaining lemon juice and milk and mix until smooth.
- Add the remaining flour mixture and mix on low speed until just combined. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl and mix an additional few seconds until the cake batter is smooth.
- Portion the cake batter evenly among the prepared cake pans. Use a kitchen scale to create even layers.
- Bake the cake layers in the oven for approximately 25-28 minutes until the tops of the cakes bounce back when gently touched.
- Remove the cake pans from the oven. Allow the cake layers to cool in the pans for 10-15 minutes. Remove the cake layers from the pan and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, combine unsalted butter and cream cheese. Whip for 2 to 3 minutes on medium speed until smooth.
- Add in the powdered sugar in two batches, mixing on low speed in between each addition until the powdered sugar is fully combined with the butter mixture.
- Add in the salt, lemon zest, and lemon lemon juice. Mix on low and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Whip the frosting for an additional 2 to 3 minutes on medium speed until smooth, light, and fluffy.
Assembling the Lemon Cake
- Level the cake layers with a serrated knife.
- Place one lemon cake layer on a round cake board. Add desired amount of frosting to the top of the layer and spread evenly with an offset spatula. Repeat this process with the second cake layer.
- Add the final layer to the top of the cake. Be sure the bottom of the cake layer is facing up.
- With an offset spatula, add a crumb coat, a thin layer of frosting to the top and sides of the cake. Use a cake scraper to remove excess frosting and to smooth the sides. Chill the cake for 20 minutes.
- Add a generous layer of frosting to the chilled cake with an offset spatula. Use a cake scraper to remove excess frosting and smooth the sides of the cake. Chill for an additional 20 minutes.
- Use a piping bag fitted with a Wilton 1M piping tip to create swirls of lemon cream cheese frosting around the top edges of the cake. If desired, add lemon slices or candied lemon for decoration.
Notes
Made This Recipe?
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Comments & Reviews
Love the taste of this cake! Easy to make and perfect for spring/summer.
Of note, this appears to be a smaller in size cake than most of Courtney’s recipes with layers being about 1 to 1-1/2 “ tall.
Happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you so much for the positive review! 🙂