Time for another layer cake! Not quite 14 layers like my no-bake s’mores cake or Smith Island cake, but just as fabulous as both. If you’re a lemon dessert lover like I am, meet our crowning glory.
This lemon layer cake recipe is adapted from the most popular cake recipe on our website: lemon blueberry cake. Lemon blueberry cake has consistently been in our top 10 recipes. It’s moist, sweet, buttery, and loaded with fresh lemon. Since its publish date, we’ve received many questions about leaving out the blueberries to make it plain. We decided a plain lemon cake needed its own separate blog post. Enveloped with lemon cream cheese buttercream and garnished with whipped cream, this towering beauty stands up to its blueberry studded sister!
Behind the Recipe
Besides the flavor and texture, this cake is loved is because of its ease. Very basic ingredients including a base of creamed butter + sugar, eggs, lemon, milk, and flour. We left out the brown sugar and replaced with more granulated sugar. No rhyme or reason here—just didn’t feel like reaching for both types of sugar this time. Between the cake and frosting, you’ll need 2-3 lemons. Both the juice and zest.
Let’s chat about the flour for a second.
The key to this recipe is using sifted all-purpose flour. Sifting the flour aerates it, creating an overall fluffier cake. Just like we found in our 6-inch citrus cake, cake flour is too light for this lemon cake; our cakes were squat and flimsy. All-purpose flour is great, sifted all-purpose flour is much better. Sift flour in a large bowl, then measure 3 cups. Whenever the word “sifted” comes before an ingredient, that means you sift before measuring. (Alternatively, if the word “sifted” comes after an ingredient, sift after measuring.) Here’s our set of sifters. Love them. We’re using the medium one in this photo.
The lemon cake batter is velvety and thick. Divide evenly between three 8-inch round cake pans. For a 2-layer cake, divide batter evenly between two 9-inch cake pans. Bake time will be longer, but you can use a toothpick to test for doneness. This lemon cake batter will fit into a 9×13-inch pan. Bake time will be close to 40 minutes. And while we’re on the subject of different size cakes, this recipe yields at least 30 lemon cupcakes. For 1 dozen cupcakes, here is our lemon cupcakes recipe. They taste identical to the cake!
Lemon Cream Cheese Buttercream
We were torn between cream cheese frosting and lemon buttercream, so we combined the two by adding 8 ounces of cream cheese and a little extra confectioners’ sugar to lemon buttercream. The result is an infinitely CREAMY and BUTTERY lemon cream cheese frosting that we know you’ll love!!! Look at this stuff!!! Glides on effortlessly.
The raspberry frosting from my lemon raspberry jam cupcakes would also be fantastic here.
Optional Garnishes!
- Homemade whipped cream (I used Wilton 8B piping tip)
- Food-safe or edible flowers
- Lemon slices
- Fresh berries
- Fresh herbs
- Candied citrus
You could also add a filling between the layers: this raspberry cake filling would be delicious!
The cake stand you see in my pictures is the brand Juliska. I can’t find it anywhere online anymore! Here is a similar one.
Others I love:
- Wood slice cake stand
- Stoneware white cake stand
- Marble & wood cake stand
- Glenna cake stand
- Glass covered cake stand
If you love lemon cake, you’ll adore my lemon bars and lemon meringue pie! Be sure to check out our other favorites in the The Lemon Dessert Collection!
Print
Lemon Layer Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Buttercream
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 4 hours
- Yield: serves 10-12
- Category: Cake
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This 3-layer lemon layer cake is made completely from scratch with real lemons. It’s deliciously moist and light and is remarkable paired with tangy cream cheese buttercream.
Ingredients
- 3 cups (354g) sifted all-purpose flour* (spooned & leveled)
- 2 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (16 Tbsp; 226g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 and 3/4 cups (350g) granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup (240ml) whole milk, at room temperature
- 1 heaping Tablespoon lemon zest (about 2 lemons)
- 1/3 cup (80ml) fresh lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting
- 1 cup (16 Tbsp; 226g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 8 ounces (226g) full-fat brick cream cheese, softened to room temperature*
- 4 and 1/2 cups (540g) confectioners’ sugar
- 2 Tablespoons (30ml) fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- pinch salt, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Grease three 8-inch cake pans, line with parchment paper rounds, then grease the parchment paper. Parchment paper helps the cakes seamlessly release from the pans. (If it’s helpful, see this parchment paper rounds for cakes video & post.)
- Make the cake: Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together. Set aside.
- Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, beat the butter and sugar together on high speed until smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Beat in the eggs and vanilla extract on high speed until combined, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl as needed. With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients just until combined. With the mixer still running on low, add the milk, lemon zest, and lemon juice and mix just until combined. You may need to whisk it all by hand to make sure there are no lumps at the bottom of the bowl. The batter will be a little thick.
- Divide the batter evenly between the prepared cake pans. Bake for around 21–26 minutes or until the cakes are baked through. To test for doneness, insert a toothpick into the center of the cake. If it comes out clean, it’s done. Allow cakes to cool completely in the pans set on a wire rack. The cakes must be completely cool before frosting and assembling.
- Make the frosting: In a large bowl using a hand-held mixer or stand mixer fitted with a whisk or paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the cream cheese and beat until completely smooth and combined. Add confectioners’ sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla extract with the mixer running on low. Increase to high speed and beat for 3 minutes. Add more confectioners’ sugar if frosting is too thin, more lemon juice if frosting is too thick, or add a pinch of salt if frosting is too sweet. (I always add a pinch of salt!)
- Assemble and decorate: Using a large serrated knife, slice a thin layer off the tops of the cakes to create a flat surface. Discard (or crumble over ice cream!). Place 1 cake layer on your cake stand, cake turntable, or serving plate. Evenly cover the top with about 1 cup of frosting. Top with 2nd cake layer and evenly cover the top with about 1 cup of frosting. Top with the third cake layer. Spread the remaining frosting all over the top and sides. I like to top mine with homemade whipped cream (I used Wilton 8B piping tip).
- Refrigerate for at least 30–45 minutes before slicing. This helps the cake hold its shape when cutting.
- Cover leftover cake tightly and store in the refrigerator for 5 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: The cake layers can be baked, cooled, and covered tightly at room temperature overnight. Likewise, the frosting can be prepared then covered and refrigerated overnight. Let the frosting sit at room temperature to slightly soften for 10 minutes before assembling and frosting. Frosted cake or unfrosted cake layers can be frozen up to 2-3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature before decorating/serving. See How to Freeze Cakes for more information, and a helpful video tutorial.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 8-inch Cake Pans | Glass Mixing Bowl | Whisk | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Cooling Rack | Citrus Zester | Citrus Juicer | Cake Turntable | Icing Spatula | Piping Bag (Reusable or Disposable) | Wilton 8B Piping Tip | Cake Carrier (for storage)
- Flour: Sift all-purpose flour before measuring.
- Whole Milk: You can use lower-fat or nondairy milks in a pinch, but the cake won’t taste nearly as rich and moist.
- Recipe updated in 2022: The amount of leaveners are now 2 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon baking soda. (Increased from 2 teaspoons and 1/4 teaspoon, respectively.) The amounts listed above amount help provide extra rise, which creates a lighter cake. I also now recommend whole milk instead of buttermilk, so the cake batter is slightly less acidic.
- Vanilla Cream Cheese Buttercream: For a vanilla cream cheese buttercream, replace lemon juice with milk or heavy cream in the frosting. Add an additional 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract.
- 2-Layer Cake: For a 2-layer cake, divide batter evenly between two 9-inch cake pans. Bake time will be longer; use a toothpick to test for doneness.
- Lemon Cupcakes: This recipe yields about 30 lemon cupcakes. Bake for 18–22 minutes. Use a toothpick to test for doneness. For 1 dozen cupcakes, here is my lemon cupcakes recipe. They taste identical to the cake!
- 9×13-inch Cake: This batter will fit into a 9×13-inch pan. Fill 2/3 full. If there’s extra batter, you can make a few cupcakes. Bake time will be around 40 minutes; use a toothpick to test for doneness.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Do you think this is lemony enough to pair with a strawberry frosting? I’m pregnant and have been craving lemon and strawberries, and wanted to do it as a cake, but I want to find a recipe that is strong enough on lemon and doesn’t require a lemon frosting to get the lemon flavor, if that makes sense 🙂 my sweet friend made me a lemon cake but it just didn’t cut it (was not your recipe).
Hi Morgan, You can taste the lemon in this cake even without the lemon frosting. It uses both the juice and the zest of lemons to really amp up the flavor. If you are looking for a strawberry cream cheese frosting instead of lemon you will love the frosting from my strawberry cake!
Hi sally, I baked your vanilla cake for our wedding anniversary and it was the best ever. Thank you!! My daughter asked me for lime cake for her bday.
Would you please help me with the following questions.
Can I make this recipe with lime instead of lemon?
Can I beat the egg whites separately and mix to the batter?
Thanks again!
Hi sally,
Can’t wait to try this recipe
I’m wondering if you ever use cultured buttermilk powder in your recipes that call for buttermilk?
Hi Kolina, I haven’t but many readers report back saying that the powdered buttermilk works wonderfully.
Thank you so much for an amazing recipe! Cake turned out lovely. The lemon flavor was just right and not too overpowering.
Hi I love your recipes! I’m making this cake with vanilla pods instead of extract, how many would you recommend to use? Thanks 🙂
Hi Chloe, Typically 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract is equal to one 2-inch piece of vanilla bean, so 1 typical vanilla bean will equal 3 teaspoons extract.
Hi Sally!
I LOVE this cake and plan to make this cake next week for a birthday (I put your lemon curd between the layers and it’s amazing)- I want to bake it in 6 9” pans instead of 3 pans and then dye each layer a different color for a rainbow effect. Will the six layers be too thin? What would you recommend for baking time?
Thank you!
Hi Lili, The layers will be very thin but you can bake it that way. 8 inch pans may help make them a bit thicker if you have them. I’m unsure of the bake time they will need.
Hi Sally! I want to make this frosting for a 6 inch 3 layer cake. Would halving the recipe make enough?
It should be. Enjoy!
I made this cake for my mothers birthday and everyone loved it. It was light and fluffy. I actually put lemon curd in between the layers of the cake and I did a lemon buttercream instead of a cream cheese frosting! Very good!
I’m glad you enjoyed the flavor, Faiza. This is too much batter for using 6 inch pans. If you use all of the batter in smaller pans they will not rise properly. However my lemon cupcake recipe produces the perfect amount of batter to make a three layer 6-inch cake!
Hello Sally,
If I wanted to add poppy seeds to this cake, how much would you recommend?
Hi Diana, I would add 1 Tablespoon of poppy seeds to the dry ingredients. That’s usually plenty, but feel free to add a little more if you think the batter needs it. No need to adjust anything else.
So delicious. Made it for a birthday n everyone wanted seconds
Hi Sally, I made this cake and it was delicious the only query I have is on measurement of 3 cups of flour 345G. I thought a cup of flour was 125g which means this should be 375G? Just want t be sure I am doing it right.
May I say I have tried numerous sites their recipies but yours is by far the best, every cake I have made has been loved by everyone,
Thanks John, I’m so glad to read that! 3 cup of sifted flour is close to 345g. Make sure you sift, then weigh or measure it.
PS- Do you happen to know how many cups of batter this recipe yields?
Thx
Hi Karen, about 7 cups of batter.
Hi, the recipe says, “3 cups (345g) sifted all-purpose flour* (spoon & leveled).” I sifted then weighed 345g of flour on a food scale (again, weighed it after I sifted), and it was no where near 3 cups (more like 2 or maybe 2.5 cups). The cake was moist, but very dense. Can you confirm that it should be 3 cups after sifting or stick with the weight? Either way, it was absolutely delicious. Thank you!!
Hi Michelle! I weigh 3 cups of sifted flour (that is then spoon and leveled) to be about 345g. Are you spooning and leveling it?
Made the cake following the recipe exactly as written and it turned out perfectly! They turned out perfectly level so no need to level them off. Best lemon cake ever. Thanks so much for another awesome cake recipe!
Wow, I made this cake for Memorial Day and brought it to a friends house…everyone loved it! I confess I used cake flour (didn’t see the note about it til now), and made one large 9×13 cake so I could decorate it like a flag with raspberries and blueberries. It was the lightest, fluffiest cake I have ever made! Thanks for the great recipe!
Hi there,
How would I adjust this recipe to make a 2-layer 8-inch and 2-layer 6-inch?
Thanks
Hi Lori! My Cake Pan Sizes and Conversions page will help here.
My oven is not big enough. Instead of baking it twice,can I bake all of the batter in a 9 inch pan and once it is done, slice it to half to make the layer?
Hi Cheryl, there is too much batter for one 9-inch pan. You can bake the batter in batches. Keep the unused batter lightly covered at room temperature.
A lovely light and very moist lemon cake and great icing. I would like to make this again using lemon curd as the filling between layers and the cream cheese recipe as frosting. To me the only thing it needed was an extra lemon punch and the lemon curd would do that. Otherwise the lemon flavor is quite delicate in this recipe. Do not overmix or your cake could be dense, do weigh and sift the flour, it makes all the difference (you will use too much flour otherwise) and do not overbake. You can use an instant read thermometer (take out between 190-200F) and the clean toothpick trick to test for doneness. If you follow this, your cake will be moist and light and not dry and dense. A keeper recipe!
Hi Sally,
This is a really great cake…Rich and a real lemony flavour which we love. We found the sponge slightly heavy. With our next try we will reduce the butter and increase the eggs to lighten the sponge.
I added to the recipe one more egg and 2 Tbsps of oil and it was just perfect, fluffy, airy, moist and delicious… love the taste of the cake
Hi! I’m going to make this for my husbands birthday and I was thinking of adding a strawberry filling (no seeds) to make it like strawberry lemonade. Any suggestions on the filling?
Hi Perryn, You can use my Homemade Strawberry Sauce as a filling. Or if you don’t want the cake to be too sweet you can always just layer sliced fresh berries between the cakes!
This is a great lemon cake. I’ve made it several times. I made it before with the 4 eggs but noticed the new 3 eggs recipe note. It’s excellent with 3 eggs and you’re right, not as heavy. Thank you for always working hard to guarantee your recipes are successful. Especially for baking beginners like me.
Made this for Mothers Day after a whole 6-ish months without baking – so needless to say, I was feeling pretty rusty and was scared of how it was gonna turn out. I’m not sure why I thought that because this cake was so amazing, I could cry. The texture was so fantastic and light! I pulled a page out of the Lemon Coconut Cake’s book and used regular cream cheese frosting with lemon curd between the layers (and tried my hand at candying lemon slices for the top!), and it was terrific. I feel like I could bake a thousand cakes after this success, it was such a beautiful recipe!
Total hit! I loved the cake and the frosting was so good!!!!!
I LOVED this recipe! I only made the cake because I not very fond of cream cheese frosting, but the cake was delicious! I would highly recommend this and will definitely be making it again. Also for anyone making this, before you bake it, the batter will be thick, and if you don’t put it in the oven right away, it will have a weird texture from the buttermilk and lemon. Don’t let this alarm you though! It happened to me, and my cakes turned out amazing.
Instead of using unsalted butter and then adding salt, I just used salted butter all round. Came out great and not overly sweet.
The cakes turned out great ! Thanks for the recipe .. it was easy and delicious, and the cakes were nice and fluffy !
I followed another reviewer and put lemon curd between the layers and whipped cream frosting on top .
Can I make this in a Bundt pan or in a square pan?
Hi Trinity! This batter will fit into a 9×13-inch pan. Fill 2/3 full. If there’s extra batter, you can make a few cupcakes. Bake time will be close to 40 minutes; use a toothpick to test for doneness. For a Bundt cake I recommend my Lemon Poppy Seed Bundt Cake. You can leave out the poppy seeds if you wish!
Very disappointing, i saw other comments about it being too dense but i ignored them giving it the benefit of the doubt. I spent half a day baking this for my birthday only for it to turn out so dense that my siblings refused to eat it. I followed the recipe EXACTLY, including the flour sifting.
Hi Sally
Making this for my mums birthday as she loves lemon cake and meringue. Wondering how you would recommend incorporating other flavours like raspberry and white chocolate into this recipe?
Hi Katie, I haven’t tested this recipe with raspberries or white chocolate but you could certainly fold 1 cup of raspberries into the batter. I also have a white chocolate ganache you could try. It’s posted with my Tuxedo Cake.