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
I am going to make this cake for a baby shower. I have a several questions. Can I bake the cake 2 days in advance and refrigerate it?
Also the recipe calls for regular yogurt… flavored or plain?
Finally, I stink at piping-any other suggestions for creating the border on top to keep the curd in the center?
Hi Katie! Firstly, if baking the cakes in advance then I would recommend frosting the cakes as soon as possible and then placing the cake in the fridge for when you need it. This is because the frosting acts as a barrier which keeps the cake layers from drying out 🙂 once coated in buttercream it can be kept in the fridge for a couple of days until you need it. Alternatively, wrap the cake layers well in cling wrap and then place into an airtight container before placing them into the fridge. In terms of the yoghurt you want to use regular unflavoured yoghurt. And haha you can get creative and do all sorts of things! I would either make it a drip cake (so the lemon curd dripping off the sides – you may need to warm it a little to make sure it’s not too thick) or you could even drizzle it over the buttercream on the top. Hope that helps 🙂
Amazing fluffiest cake ever 😍
Am going to try this for my partner’s birthday soon. Have made loads of cakes but never with yoghurt. Will this cake be ok to freeze?
Hi Jennie! I haven’t tried freezing this cake before myself although I don’t think it would be a problem as long as it’s wrapped well 🙂 hope you enjoy the recipe!
Oh thanks for replying xxxxx
Hi, thank you for sharing this lovely recipe, I have a gas oven so do you think gas 4 ( which is 180/350 equivalent of electric )
Also could I substitute buttermilk for the yogurt, or would it be too thin ?
Many thanks
Jude
Hi Jude! 🙂 Yes that should work fine as long as it’s not fan forced (sorry I don’t know how gas ovens work!). If it does have a fan function then reduce to the equivalent of 160C. And hmm I haven’t tried the buttermilk as a substitute but I do have a feeling that it may be a little too thin 🙂
Thanks for sharing lemon cake recipe. Love it
You’re so welcome! Enjoy 🙂
The best lemon cake I have made. Did not have corn starch so I used all purpose flour instead keeping the meaurements the same. Came out so good. Baked twince in 2 weeks.
So so happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe Tobby! 😀
Made this cake today. Followed the recipe exactly with grams as measurements. Fell in the middle and I wasted all this time . Plus it was for the holiday!
Hi Chuck! Ohh no so sorry to hear your cake sunk in the middle! I’ve had so many great reviews for this cake and I’m sorry you didn’t have the same experience, that can be very frustrating! May I ask if you used two 8 inch cake pans? And was the cake baked with a convection oven at 160c? Other reasons could be the cake was underbaked, the oven door opened too early, under or overmixing, expired leavening agents, or too much liquid in the cake (but if you used gram measurements that shouldn’t be a problem). Hmmm I would love to help solve this problem so any extra details will be greatly appreciated 🙂
I did use the convection oven . It really caramelized the top and sides. I bake all the time and usually never use convection to bake. All my products were fresh. Only thing I can think is your eight pans have very high sides. Mine are 8 inch Wilton pans. I ended up making another lemon cake from Preppy Kitchen with a basket weave and yellow tulips on top with lemon curd in-between. Going to try your coconut cake. Hope it works
Hmmm it sounds like your oven was too hot as the top and sides shouldn’t be over caramelized. This could have also caused the sinking as high heat can cause rapid rising during the initial stages of baking which results in the cake sinking as it continues to bake. If you find that your oven works better without the fan on then simply bump up the temp to 175C and stick to conventional :). Hope you have a better experience with the coconut cake!
Thank you for the lovely recipe! How would you adjust your cake recipes to accommodate 6 in cake pans? Would your standard cake recipe be able to fill 3 6in pans or 2 6in pans? How much frosting/lemon curd would I be needing??
Hi Hailey! 🙂 So usually my recipes make 2×8 inch cake tins. Each 8 inch cake tin will make 2 6 inch cake tins, so the total recipe will make 4 6 inch cake tins 🙂 hope that wasn’t too confusing! I would keep the frosting and lemon curd the same 🙂
He looks delicious,
I love lemon cakes.
Can I have the recipe please ?
Hi Eunice! 🙂 You can find the recipe card just above the comments section, or if you scroll to the top of the page you’ll see a button which says ‘jump to recipe’ and it’ll take you to the recipe 🙂 hope you enjoy it!
Hey,
Made your lemon cake today!
It also sunk in the middle, it was fully cooked 🤔
Hello Saudah! 🙂 Oh noo sorry to hear your cake sunk! This could be due to a few reasons, including too much liquid in the batter (I would recommend using the gram measurements if you didn’t already), undermixing the batter or opening the oven door a little too early to check the cake. Hope these tips help for next time 🙂
Thank you!
I will definitely be trying again keeping this in mind
Hi Shahida
Thank you for sharing your skills and receipes.
Today baked lemon cake, all went well. Cake rose and baked well yet the last 5 min it sunk in the middle.
Unsure why 😒
Hi there! 🙂 Sorry to hear the cake sank at the end – this is most probably because the cake needed a little more time baking and if you open the oven door too early it can cause it to sink 🙂