Bright, zesty, and irresistibly moist, this Lemon Poppy Seed Cake is a citrus lover’s dream! Fresh lemon juice and zest give it a vibrant, tangy flavor, while poppy seeds add a subtle crunch. The soft, tender cake layers are topped with a luscious cream cheese frosting that adds the perfect touch of sweetness and creaminess—YUM!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Incredibly Soft & Moist – The lemon cake layers are inspired by my popular soft lemon cake recipe, which has earned over 100 five-star reviews! To ensure the perfect texture, I use a combination of butter and oil in the batter, keeping the cake extra moist and tender. I also incorporate the creaming method, where the butter is beaten with sugar until light and airy, creating a super fluffy cake with an irresistible crumb. This method helps to trap air in the batter, making each slice light yet rich.
Packed with Bright, Zesty Flavor – This cake is bursting with bold, fresh lemon flavor! I use both lemon zest and lemon juice in the batter to ensure that citrus lemon flavor really shines through. To elevate the flavor further, I add yogurt, which not only intensifies the lemony goodness but also contributes to the cake’s soft, light texture.
Perfectly Complemented by Cream Cheese Frosting – The cream cheese frosting is luxuriously smooth and rich, providing the perfect contrast to the tangy lemon cake. It’s indulgent without being overwhelming, and the subtle tang from the cream cheese enhances the citrusy flavor without overshadowing it. The frosting is thick and velvety, but still light enough to allow the cake to shine.
Looking for more lemon desserts? Check out my lemon loaf recipe (with a delicious lemon glaze), lemon blueberry cake, lemon brownies or lemon bars!
How to Make Lemon Poppy Seed Cake
You can find the full ingredients list for this recipe in the recipe card at the end of the blog post (for easy navigation, hit the ‘jump to recipe’ button at the top of the blog post). Here is a quick visual breakdown of the recipe (recipe video is also provided in the recipe card below).
Lemon Poppy Seed Cake
Preheat oven to 180 °C (350°F) conventional and grease two 8-inch cake pans (I use my homemade cake release). Also, line the bottoms with parchment paper.
Sift together flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt. Using a whisk, mix until well combined and set aside.
In a large bowl add in butter, vegetable oil, sugar and lemon zest. Using a hand or stand mixer on medium speed, cream together for two minutes until light and creamy.
Add in eggs one by one, mixing well in between each addition. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl every now and then.
Add the milk, yogurt, and lemon juice. Mix until well combined—the batter may look curdled, but that’s okay. Now, set your mixer aside, as the rest of the batter will be finished by hand.
Add your pre-sifted dry ingredients to the wet mixture. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold until just combined—do not overmix. Finally, add two tablespoons poppy seeds and mix until just combined. Again, avoid overmixing.
Pour the batter evenly into the two 8-inch cake tins, and bake for 33 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs on it.
Once baked, allow the cake layers to cool in the cake tins for about 15-20 minutes, and then turn them out onto a wire rack to completely cool.
Cream Cheese Frosting
In a large bowl, add the unsalted butter. Using an electric mixer (a hand mixer or a stand mixer with the paddle attachment), cream it on medium-high speed for a few minutes until light and fluffy.
Add in the powdered sugar in three batches while mixing on low. Ensure that each batch of powdered sugar is mixed into the butter well before adding in the next batch.
Next add in your cold cream cheese, vanilla and fresh lemon juice and mix on a medium speed just until the frosting is smooth. Avoid over-mixing. If using a stand mixer, you may need to mix at a high speed to get everything nice and smooth.
How to Decorate Lemon Poppy Seed Cake
Begin by levelling the tops of the cake layers. They’re already quite flat, so I only trim off a small amount.
Place the first cake layer onto your cake stand/serving plate and spread out a generous amount of frosting (I use my offset spatula).
Place your second cake layer on top and spread out a generous amount of frosting on the top and sides. You can use a cake scraper to smooth out the edges (see video demonstration). If you don’t want any cake crumbs getting into the frosting, then I recommend doing a crumb coat first. Check out this video for more tips on how to do that.
Place the remaining frosting into a piping bag with a 1M piping tip on it and pipe swirls around the top of the cake. For the final touch, I like to sprinkle some poppy seeds on top. Slice and enjoy!
How to Store Lemon Poppy Seed Cake
This cake can be left out at room temperature for about half a day, but due to the cream cheese frosting, it will need to be refrigerated after that/overnight.
Place in an airtight container before putting it in the fridge to prevent the cake from drying out. Allow to come to room temperature before serving.
Lemon Poppy Seed Cake
Print Pin VideoIMPORTANT: For accuracy, I would recommend using the gram measurements provided, as those are the exact quantities I use. Cup measurements are given as estimates (based on US cup measurements) to make it easier for those who do not have a scale.
Ingredients
Lemon Poppy Seed Cake
- 2 cups (240 g) all-purpose flour - plain flour in UK
- ¼ cup (30 g) cornstarch
- 2½ tsps baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ¾ cup (170 g) unsalted butter - room temperature
- ¼ cup (60 g) unflavoured vegetable oil - I use canola oil
- 1½ cup (300 g) white granulated sugar
- 3 tbsps lemon zest - see note 1
- 4 large eggs - room temperature
- ⅓ cup (90 g) milk - room temperature
- ½ cup (115 g) yogurt - unflavored and unsweetened. Low-fat Greek yogurt is okay, but regular type preferred.
- ¼ cup (58 g) fresh lemon juice
- 2 tbsps poppy seeds
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1 cup (225 g) unsalted butter - room temperature
- 3 cups (375 g) powdered sugar - also known as icing/confectioners' sugar. Use more for a thicker frosting (see note 6)
- 1½ cup (335 g) cream cheese - cold. Use a firm/block type, not the spreadable type.
- 1½ tsp vanilla essence/extract
- 1 tsp lemon juice - must be fresh
Instructions
Lemon Poppy Seed Cake
- Preheat oven to 180 °C (350°F) conventional (see note 2 if using a convection oven with a fan) and grease two 8-inch cake tins (I use my homemade cake release). Also, line the bottoms with parchment paper.
- Sift together flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt. Using a whisk, mix until well combined and set aside.
- In a large bowl add in butter, vegetable oil, sugar and lemon zest. Using a hand or stand mixer on medium speed, cream together for two minutes until light and creamy.
- Add in eggs one by one, mixing well in between each addition.
- Add the milk, yogurt, and lemon juice. Mix until well combined—the batter may look curdled, but that's okay. Now, set your mixer aside, as the rest of the batter will be finished by hand.
- Add your pre-sifted dry ingredients to the wet mixture. Using a spatula, gently fold until just combined—do not overmix. Finally, add the poppy seeds and mix until just combined. Again, avoid overmixing.
- Distribute the batter evenly into the two 8-inch cake tins, and bake for 33 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs on it.
- Once baked, allow the cake layers to cool in the cake tins for about 15-20 minutes, and then turn them out onto a wire rack to completely cool.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- In a large bowl, add the unsalted butter. Using an electric mixer (a hand mixer or a stand mixer with the paddle attachment), cream it on medium-high speed for a few minutes until light and fluffy.
- Add in the powdered sugar in 3 batches while mixing on low. Ensure that each batch of powdered sugar is mixed into the butter well before adding in the next batch.
- Next add in your cold cream cheese, vanilla and fresh lemon juice and mix on a medium speed just until the frosting is smooth. Avoid over-mixing (see note 4). If using a stand mixer, you may need to mix on a high speed to get everything nice and smooth (see note 5 if your frosting is lumpy).
Assembly
- See the end of the blog post above for assembly instructions or check out the recipe video for a visual demonstration 🙂
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information are estimates only as they are automatically calculated by a third party application. Actual values may differ based on brands and types of products used.
24 Comments
Hey mk. Thanks so much for all the recipes. Every time I make one of yoyr cakes it turns out incredible. Im looking to make this one soon and was wondering if you could tell me where you bought your round cake tins please. I cant seem to find one deeper than 5cm. Thank you.
Also do you have any cookbooks? Thank you
Hi Darcey! So happy to hear you’re loving the recipes 😀
I got my pans from a local shop here in New Zealand called Gilmours, but you can usually find them online too (I’ve ordered many great cake pans online when I can’t find them in person – just search 8×3 inch cake pan).
No cookbooks yet unfortunately, but would love to do something like that in the future 😀
Thanks Maryam,
this was the most delicious cake! I followed your recipe without any change at all. Well actually I added a bit of lemon curd on top! It was devine, I made it for a special occasion at church and everyone was asking who made it! so now I think you have quite a few new fans! and I have added it to my list of cakes for special occasions!
xx LInda
Awww so so happy to hear that Linda! The extra lemon curd on top sounds sooo goood 😀
Hi there
Love this recipe question, I am wanting to do a lemon poppy sheet cake , so instead of round cake tin can I pour batter into a sheet pan
So glad you loved the recipe Amanda! 🙂
Yes that will work fine in a 9×13 inch pan (for 1x the recipe). Just reduce the cook time – I usually check around the 28 min mark and then bake more if needed 🙂
hi Maryam,
i tried to make this delicious cake and it it was so yummy, amazing……my boss loved it., not too sour and balanced sweetness….make her keep slicing and eating😂😂……it will be added to our menu at our bakery….thanks Maryam for sharing this amazing recipe🥰
Aww so happy to hear you and your boss loved the recipe Florence and I hope your customers love it just as much! 😀
This was SO AMAZING. That cream cheese frosting was so good I kept on snacking on it and had to restrain myself since I hadn’t frosted the cake yet! Amazing recipe!
Haha awww so glad you loved the recipe Aly 😀 The frosting is so addictive!!
Hello Maryam,
I bake this cake last week and it was gone in a day! Fabulous! Beyond delicious! I followed the recipe just as you instructed and it was perfect. So delicious. Thank you for sharing your gift with the world.
Awesome! So glad to hear you enjoyed the recipe Eileen 😀
Hello Maryam,
I’ll leave a brief review. Fabulous! Beyond delicious! I didn’t change a thing in the recipe and it was so so good (as you say!) baked it last week and it was gone one day later! Everybody was raving about it. Thank you for sharing your wonderful gift with the world!
Yay! So glad to hear you enjoyed the recipe Eileen 😀
This cake imparted a wonderful lemon flavor, not over powering but just right.The cake is moist with substance. This will go on my “favorite list” and I will make it for every special occasion! .
Thanks Pat! So glad you loved the recipe 🙂
Great flavor
Thanks Nancy! 🙂
It’s very easy to make and it comes out super moist!
So glad to hear you enjoyed the recipe Ingrid! 😀