When I say this lemon cake recipe kept me up at night, I really mean it! After hours and hours of recipe testing, I present to you the most incredibly delicious and soft lemon cake recipe! With delicate, moist lemon cake layers, filled with a zesty lemon curd and topped with a super delicious cream cheese frosting, this lemon cake is TO DIE FOR!
What makes this the best lemon cake?
I know it’s bold to claim something as ‘the best’, but here is why I truly feel this cake stands out! I bet you’ll be making it over and over again for dessert once you try it out 🙂
Ingredients
This recipe uses a few key ingredients to ensure the cake layers are soft and moist. Some notable mentions include cornstarch (used in conjuction with all purpose flour to act as a cake flour substitute). Cornstarch doesn’t have any gluten in it, and so substituting some of the all purpose flour with cornstarch results in a wonderfully soft cake (read more about this here)!
Secondly, this recipe uses a combination of butter and oil to provide moisture to the cake. Further to this, milk and yoghurt are used to thin out the cake batter and provide additional moisture. I LOVE using yoghurt in lemon cakes as I find the tartness found in yoghurt helps to amplify the lemon flavor in the cake.
Lastly, this recipe uses HEAPS of lemon zest and lemon juice, to make sure you’re getting that lemon flavor in every bite!
Fillings & Toppings
In addition to the lemon cake layers, this recipe also boasts an incredibly delicious lemon curd filling, and cream cheese frosting.
The lemon curd used in this recipe is literally the best I’ve ever had. It’s an eggless lemon curd too, so you don’t need to worry about the eggs scrambling or the lemon curd tasting eggy! Best of all, the lemon curd is like a literal hit of lemon – but in a good way! It works perfectly in this cake.
My frosting of choice for this cake is my all time favorite cream cheese frosting. It’s not too sweet, has a wonderful tangyness from the cream cheese, and adds another layer of flavor to this cake.
Updated Recipe
This recipe was updated on April the 24th, 2024. Some readers were having problems with the cake layers sinking in, so I decided to update the recipe to make it a little sturdier. Additional structure to the cake layers help to prevent the cake layers sinking in. I promise it still has the same great flavor and texture as the original 😀
The main changes I made was adding in more eggs and replacing some of the oil in the recipe with butter.
I know many of you love the original recipe too, so I have left the original quantities in the notes section of the recipe card.
How to make Lemon Cake
Begin by preheating your oven to 180 °C (350°F) conventional (see note 2 if using a convection oven with a fan) and grease two 8 inch round cake pans (I use my homemade cake release) and line the bottoms with parchment paper.
Sift together flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt. Mix together using a whisk and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl add in butter, vegetable oil, sugar and lemon zest. Using a hand or stand mixer on a medium speed, cream together for 2 minutes until light and creamy. If using a stand mixer then you want to do this with the paddle attachment.
Add in eggs one by one, mixing well in between each addition.
Add in milk, yoghurt and lemon juice. Mix until well combined – the batter may look curdled, but that’s okay. Now set your mixer aside as the remainder of the batter will be finished by hand.
Add your flour mixture to your wet ingredients, and using a spatula, fold together until just combined. Do not overmix.
Distribute the batter evenly into the prepared pans, and bake for 33 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean (or with a few moist crumbs).
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.
Lemon Curd and Cream Cheese Frosting
In addition to the lemon cake layers, prepare the eggless lemon curd and cream cheese buttercream. I have both of those recipes on my blog and you’ll just want to make 1 batch of each recipe 🙂
How to decorate this lemon cake
You can decorate this cake however you like, but if you’re new to using a filling then checkout the steps below of how I decorated my cake so that the filling doesn’t seep out of the edges 🙂
So I started off by placing my first cake layer onto my cake stand and spreading out a generous amount of frosting using my offset spatula. I then piped a thin (double) border of frosting around the edges, and I used a 1M piping tip for this.
I then filled the middle with a layer of lemon curd, and then placed my second cake layer on top.
I then went ahead and covered the entire cake in frosting. I used a cake scraper to smooth out the edges, and then used my offset spatula to bring the top lip of frosting into the middle of the cake so that I had some nice smooth edges.
I then used a 1M piping tip to pipe a border on the top of the cake, and then filled the middle with more lemon curd.
And that is it! The cake is ready to serve 🙂
Commonly Asked Questions
How do you store lemon cake?
This cake can be left at room temperature for the day, however overnight it will need to be refrigerated due to the cream cheese in the frosting. The fat and sugar in the frosting will prevent the cream cheese from going off immediately, which is why you can keep it out at room temperature for an extended period of time.
When storing, place it into an airtight container, and into the refrigerator. Allow it to come to room temperature before serving.
Can I use lemon extract or essence in the cake layers?
The cake layers do have a lot of lemon flavor, so I personally feel there is no need to add in more. This is particularly true if you make the lemon curd, which has a very bold lemon flavor 🙂
Soft Lemon 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 Cake
- 2 cups (240 g) flour - regular, all purpose
- ¼ cup (30 g) cornstarch
- 2½ tsp 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 cups (300 g) white granulated sugar
- 3 tbsp lemon zest - see note 1
- 4 large eggs - room temperature
- ⅓ cup (90 g) milk - room temperature
- ½ cup (115 g) yoghurt - unflavored and unsweetened. Greek yoghurt okay but regular type preferred.
- ¼ cup (58 g) fresh lemon juice
Lemon Curd
- 1 batch of my eggless lemon curd recipe
Cream Cheese Frosting
Instructions
Lemon 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) and line the bottoms with parchment paper.
- Sift together flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt. Mix together using a whisk and set aside.
- In a large bowl add in butter, vegetable oil, sugar and lemon zest. Using a hand or stand mixer on a medium speed, cream together for 2 minutes until light and creamy.
- Add in eggs one by one, mixing well in between each addition.
- Add in milk, yoghurt and lemon juice. Mix until well combined - the batter may look curdled, but that's okay. Now set your mixer aside as the remainder of the batter will be finished by hand.
- Add your pre-sifted dry ingredients to your wet mixture, and using a spatula, fold together until just combined. Do not overmix.
- 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).
- 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.
Assembly
- See the end of the blog post above for assembly instructions or watch 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.
295 Comments
I love lemons… your Lemon Cake recipe is to die for. I followed the tutorial to the letter, I promised it’s worth the effort. The cake is amazingly delicious… I had a slice everyday with my tea. I love you Maryam. Please keep it coming. 😘😘
Awesome!! So so happy to hear you loved the recipe Rozita – really appreciate the wonderful feedback 😀
I’m wondering about using this recipe with gluten free flour and making a jello poke cake out of it as I can’t find a gluten free lemon cake mix…
Hi Elizabeth! 🙂 I have never tried this recipe as a poke cake myself, and I have a feeling the crumb may become too soft/mushy as the cake itself is already quite soft/has a delicate crumb so may not be ideal for soaking in a liquid. So sorry I couldn’t be of more help!
Hello! I would love to make this cake but I only have a 6″ cake tin. What is the correct timing for baking using a smaller cake tin?
Hi Ashley! 🙂 You would need to reduce the quantity of the batter for 6 inch cake tins. Half the recipe will make two 6 inch cakes. I wouldn’t recommend adding too much batter into one cake tin otherwise the cake may not bake properly. For a smaller 6 inch cake the cooking time is likely to be less – maybe check around the 25min mark and then bake more if needed 🙂
Hope you enjoy the recipe!
This cake is amazing! I made it a couple days ago and my partner and I ate over half of it in the first day…
Go ahead and judge me 😂
It took me a while to get all the ingredients weighed and ready, but once that was done it went quickly and it was really fun! This is my favourite cake I’ve made from this channel!
The ONLY thing I would change it the sweetness of the icing. I always find it too sweet, and it’s a personal preference, not necessarily a fault. It it possible to cut the icing sugar in half without compromising the structure of the icing? I’m 1,000,000,000,000% making this again!
Hi Jasmine! So so happy to hear you loved the recipe 😀 and haha no judging here!! You will often find me eating waaaaaay more cake than I should be 🤭🤭
With the frosting, you can reduce the powdered sugar by about 1/4 cup (30g) max, but I wouldn’t recommend anymore otherwise the frosting will become loose 🙂
Also not sure if you used cups or grams, but if you used cup measurements, then try the frosting out using the gram measurements as sometimes when using cups you may be adding in a bit more powdered sugar than what’s required 🙂
Hope that helps and thank you so much for the feedback, I’m so so happy you enjoyed the recipe 😀
Hi MK, your updated recipe (version 24.04.2024) does not include baking soda in the ingredients, but does in the instructions. Can you please clarify?
Hi Emily! 🙂 My apologies for the confusion – the updated recipe has no baking soda but I must have forgotten to omit it from the written recipe! Have amended this now. Thank you for bringing this to my attention 🙂
Hello dr..
Can you please do a bento cake recipe for chocolate and vanilla and also an almond cake recipe.. hope you will revert back ..thank you in advance..
Hi Cheetra! 🙂 I’ll be sure to keep a bento cake recipe for chocolate and vanilla cakes in mind for future recipes 🙂
You can find my almond cake recipe here: https://cakesbymk.com/recipe/easy-almond-cake-recipe/
Hope you enjoy the recipe!
Can this recipe be made into cupcakes? I looked and didn’t see that cupcakes were discussed with this recipe. If it was, my apologies now! Thank you!
Hi Robin! 🙂 Yes you could totally make these into cupcakes :D. I don’t believe I discussed it as an option (I’ll need to update this blog post soon!), but many readers have commented that they’ve turned this recipe into cupcakes with great success so it should work great – I would just reduce the cooking time to about 18 mins 🙂
Enjoy!
Wanting to make for my daughter’s birthday but with a strawberry frosting? Do you have a recipe or think this could work? Thanks!!!
Hi Athena! 🙂 You could try the strawberry frosting from my strawberry cake recipe. Hope that helps and happy birthday to your daughter! 🙂
My husband said it was the best cake I’ve ever made.
Oh wow!! So happy to hear you and your husband loved the recipe Cathy 😀 sounds like you did an incredible job of making it!
Hello,
Will this recipe work using a rectangle sheet pan and just making it a single layer cake?
Hi Sam! 🙂 Yes this should work well in a 9×13 inch cake pan 🙂 you may just need to adjust the cooking time slightly. Hope you enjoy the recipe 😀
First time trying the recipe. Really delicious and simple to make. I didn’t make the frosting properly (too thin) but the cake is superb just with a layer of curd in the middle.
So so happy to hear you loved the recipe Alex 😀 in terms of the frosting being thin, this could be due to the type of cream cheese used or not enough powdered sugar. So glad you were still able to enjoy the cake with the lemon curd 😀