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.
289 Comments
Hello Maryam,
Can I halve this recipe and bake it in a brownie tin ? In that case, should I reduce more than half for the frosting? TIA 🙂
Hi Shanaz! 🙂
Yes that should be fine, though you may need to reduce the cook time slightly if using an 8 inch square cake tin 🙂
Yes I would recommend making only 1/3 of the frosting if you’re comfortable with the calculations, otherwise half will be fine as well and any left over frosting can be used for some extra piping if you like 🙂
Hope you enjoy the recipe!
Very moist, very lemony. JAk
Awesome! So glad you enjoyed the lemon cake Eman 😀
I’m making this cake for the second time and I love it thanks
Aww yay! So glad you’re loving the recipe Sushila 😀
Love you cakes
For 10 x2 round pan one layer would you recommend the x2 Measurements
Thanks so much Elonna! 😀 Yes for two 10 inch cake layers I would make 2x the recipe 🙂
Enjoy!
Hey so do you have any idea of how many cupcakes one batch of batter can make
Hi Jenna! 🙂 You can usually get about two trays from this recipe (about 24 cupcakes). Just be sure to reduce the cook time to about the 18 min mark 🙂
Would this work in 2 9-inch pans? And would this go well with blueberry ganache and vanilla buttercream or is that a bad combination?
Heya! 🙂 So you could make two 9 inch cake layers but the layers may be a bit thin. I would recommend making 1.5x the recipe for slightly thicker layers 🙂
Oooohhh that sounds like an incredible flavor combo! Blueberries go so well with lemon, so I think anything blueberry flavor should work 🙂
Hope you enjoy the recipe!
I made this cake this last weekend and it was a hit !! Thank you so much.
I used the Berry Jam filling, fresh berries & Chantilly Whipped Cream frosting from your Chantilly Cake recipe.
It was really good.
Awesome! So glad to hear you loved the recipe Andre 😀 pairing this lemon cake with chantilly whipped cream and berries sounds INCREDIBLE! I’ll have to try that sometime – maybe next year I’ll share a ‘lemon chantilly cake’! 🙂
This is a perfect balance between sweet and tart, I will not change anything which is unusual for me instead I will make a note on your printed recipe that reads follow exactly! Thank you for sharing and your video is a huge plus. I look forward to trying some of your other recipes.
Thank you so much for the wonderful feedback Cindy! 😀 So so happy to hear you loved the recipe and hope you enjoy some of the other recipes just as much 🙂
I made this twice already, the first time I used the original recipe , yes my cakes sunk but it was the most delicious lemon cake I ve tried.
The second time I used the updated version, my cakes didn’t sink but the flavor wasn’t the same. So I’m about to make it again but using the original recipe 🤞 😃
What is the original recipe?
Hi Bayda! 🙂 The original recipe can be found in the recipe notes (method is the same as the current recipe – just changed around some of the quantities in the recipe and removed the baking soda) 🙂
Haha love it!! So glad you’re enjoying the recipe Ily 😀
For extra tips on how to prevent the original recipe from sinking, check out this blog post 🙂 https://cakesbymk.com/recipe/why-did-my-cake-sink-in-the-middle/
I’ve made this cake twice following the recipe to the letter using the “new” version and both times my cakes collapsed in the center.
Any ideas?
Hi Jerry! 🙂 So sorry to hear the cakes seem to keep collapsing on you – that can be frustrating! So my top tips to prevent this would be to first use the gram measurements (if you haven’t already) as it could be because there is a little too much fat/liquid in the batter. Secondly, mix a little more at the end when incorporating the flour to give the cake a little more structure. Thirdly, try not to check the cakes too early (make sure atleast 3/4s of the cook time has passed) as this can cause them to collapse. Lastly, is the batter being distributed between two 8 inch cake pans? If not (and all the batter is in one cake tin), then it means there is too much batter in one cake tin which is causing it to collapse 🙂
I do have a blog post on this too which may be helpful: https://cakesbymk.com/recipe/why-did-my-cake-sink-in-the-middle/
One last thing – make sure all ingredients are at room temp otherwise this can impact how the batter comes together at the end.
Hope that helps for next time Jerry 🙂