Lemon Cake Recipe with Lemon Buttercream
This lemon cake recipe makes two soft layers flavored with fresh lemon zest and juice, stacked and frosted with a homemade lemon buttercream. It’s a straightforward layer cake: no filling to make, no syrup to brush on, just two cakes, one frosting, and a lot of real lemon flavor.
Lemon Cake Recipe
Buttermilk keeps the crumb tender, and the lemon comes from two places at once. Zest goes into the batter for aroma and flavor, while the juice is mixed into the buttermilk. The buttercream repeats the lemon with more zest and juice, so the frosting tastes like the cake instead of just sweet.
Three details decide how this cake turns out: grating the zest finely, adding the flour and buttermilk in alternating additions so the batter stays smooth, and letting the layers cool completely before any frosting touches them. Each one is easy to do and noticeably affects the final texture.
What Makes This Lemon Cake Work
The finished cake should have two tender, moist, pale-yellow layers with a fine crumb and visible flecks of lemon zest. Those flecks aren’t just for looks; zest carries most of the lemon’s aroma, so it’s what makes the cake smell and taste like lemon rather than just taste a little tart.
Buttermilk does a lot of the texture work. Its acidity helps produce a soft, tender crumb, and combining it with the lemon juice before it goes into the batter spreads the lemon flavor evenly through the cake. The buttercream is creamy and spreadable, with a natural pale-yellow tint and small zest flecks of its own.
What You’ll Need
For the cake
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
For the lemon buttercream
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
- 2 to 3 tablespoons heavy cream, as needed
- Pinch of salt
Equipment: two 8-inch round cake pans, mixing bowls, electric mixer, whisk, spatula, measuring tools, cooling rack, offset spatula.
A few notes on ingredients and substitutions:
- Lemons: About 3 lemons should cover all the zest and juice, for the cake and the buttercream together. Wash them, zest them before you juice them, and take only the yellow outer layer. The white pith underneath tastes bitter.
- Buttermilk: If you don’t have any, stir 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar into a measuring cup, add enough milk to make 1 cup, and let it stand for about 10 to 15 minutes before using.
- Butter and eggs: Softened butter should give slightly when pressed without looking greasy or melted, and eggs at room temperature blend into the creamed butter more evenly than cold ones.
- Heavy cream: It’s only there to adjust the frosting’s consistency. If you don’t have any, a little whole milk can be added the same way, a spoonful at a time.
How to Make This Lemon Cake Recipe
Step 1: Prepare the pans. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease two 8-inch round cake pans and line their bottoms with parchment paper.
Step 2: Mix the dry ingredients. Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.
Step 3: Cream the butter and sugar. Beat the softened butter and granulated sugar until pale and fluffy, about 3 to 4 minutes. The mixture should look noticeably lighter in color and fluffy, and it’s worth the full time, since this is where the batter picks up the air that helps the layers rise.
Step 4: Add the eggs and flavorings. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Mix in the lemon zest and vanilla extract.
Step 5: Finish the batter. Combine the fresh lemon juice with the buttermilk. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture in alternating additions with the lemon-buttermilk mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Mix just until combined. Stop as soon as you no longer see dry flour. Overmixing at this stage is what turns a tender cake tough.
Step 6: Bake. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the centers spring back lightly and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs. Gently press the center with a fingertip: it should spring back instead of leaving a dent. Ovens vary, so start checking at 25 minutes.
Step 7: Cool the layers. Let the cakes cool in their pans for 10 minutes. Turn them out onto a wire rack, remove the parchment, and cool completely before frosting. A layer that’s still warm will melt the buttercream and make it slide, so wait until the cake feels cool all the way through.
Step 8: Make the frosting and assemble. Beat the softened butter until creamy. Gradually beat in the powdered sugar, then add the lemon juice, lemon zest, and salt. Add heavy cream a little at a time until the frosting is spreadable. Place one cooled cake layer on a serving plate, spread frosting over it, add the second layer, and frost the top and sides. Add the cream gradually and stop as soon as the frosting spreads easily without looking loose. An offset spatula makes it easier to smooth the top and sides.
Baking Tips for Tender Layers
- Measure the flour carefully. Spoon it into the measuring cup and level it off rather than scooping straight from the bag, which packs in extra flour and can make the layers dry.
- Divide the batter evenly. If you have a kitchen scale, weigh each pan, or compare the batter depth in the two pans by eye. Equal layers finish baking at the same time and stack evenly.
Serving and Storage
The cake cuts into 12 slices. For the best lemon flavor, let it sit out and come close to room temperature before serving, since a very cold cake can taste muted.
Cover the finished cake and keep it at room temperature for a couple of days. If your kitchen is warm, or you want to keep it longer, store it covered in the refrigerator and take it out about an hour before serving so the buttercream softens again.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why did my lemon cake turn out dense?
The usual causes are overmixing once the flour goes in, or not creaming the butter and sugar long enough. Beat the butter and sugar for the full 3 to 4 minutes until pale and fluffy, then stop mixing the batter as soon as the dry flour disappears.
Why is my buttercream too stiff or too soft?
If it’s stiff, add the heavy cream a little at a time, as the recipe directs, and beat after each addition until it spreads easily. If it’s soft and loose, the butter was probably too warm to begin with, so refrigerate the bowl for a few minutes and beat it again.
Can I bake the layers ahead of time?
Yes. Let the baked layers cool completely, wrap them tightly, and keep them at room temperature for about a day. Make the buttercream and assemble the cake when you’re ready to serve.
Can I use bottled lemon juice?
Fresh lemon juice is the better choice. The cake relies on lemon for its flavor, and bottled juice usually tastes flatter than fresh. You’ll also need the lemons for zest anyway, so juicing them takes little extra effort.
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Lemon Cake Recipe with Lemon Buttercream
Ingredients
Cake
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs room temperature
- 2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup buttermilk room temperature
Lemon Buttercream
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
- 2–3 tablespoons heavy cream
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease two 8-inch round cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper.
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a bowl.
- Beat the softened butter and granulated sugar for 3–4 minutes until pale and fluffy.
- Add the eggs one at a time, then mix in the lemon zest and vanilla.
- Combine the lemon juice and buttermilk. Add the dry ingredients and lemon-buttermilk mixture in alternating additions, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Mix just until combined.
- Divide the batter between the prepared pans. Bake for 25–30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.
- Cool the cakes in the pans for 10 minutes. Turn them onto wire racks and cool completely.
- Beat the butter for the frosting until creamy. Gradually add powdered sugar, then mix in the lemon juice, lemon zest, and salt. Add heavy cream a little at a time until spreadable. Fill and frost the cooled cake layers.
Notes
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Use room-temperature eggs, butter, and buttermilk for a smoother batter.
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Avoid overmixing once the flour is added.
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Cool the cake completely before frosting.
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Store covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
