I was never a lemon fan growing up, but when I met my now husband his favorite cake was lemon cake. We used to make the boxed lemon cake and I have to tell you, I fell in love!! As the years went by I started developing a homemade version and this cake absolutely nails it. It’s made with lemon juice, zest and paired with a smooth vanilla buttercream. If you like light lemon flavor with a tender cake, give this recipe a try 🙂
RECIPE TIPS
Room temperature ingredients: Always bake with room temperature ingredients! This is not something you can rush, otherwise the ingredients will not incorporate evenly.
Vanilla: Although this is a lemon cake, I like to always add vanilla to balance out the acidity and sharp lemon flavor! You can skip this if you prefer, however I love the lemon/vanilla flavor combination.
Lemon: For this recipe I use both lemon juice and lemon zest. It is a light lemon flavor, however if you’d like a more intense flavor feel free to add 1/2 teaspoon of lemon extract.
Even layers: Before layering you want to trim the tops of your cakes to make sure they are all even before stacking. Otherwise the cake can be lopsided or fall while you are stacking it.
Chill your cakes: Before trimming the cakes I like to freeze them for 30 minutes. This will make trimming easier, as well as layering. Once you layer the cakes apply a thin coat of the buttercream and freeze again for 20 minutes.
This recipe is one of my favorites, and it’s such a fun version for a birthday cake! If you’re looking for more cake recipes, click here!
Lemon Layer Cake
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 1 cup salted butter room temperature
- 1 ¾ cups granulated sugar
- zest of 2 large lemons
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup lemon juice about 2 large lemons
- 1 cup whole milk room temperature
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 3 eggs room temperature
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp corn starch
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp kosher salt
Instructions
For the cake:
- Preheat oven to 350°F and grease and line three 8 inch cake with parchment paper rounds. This will ensure the cake easily comes out of the pans!
- In a food processor pulse the granulated sugar and lemon zest for 15-20 seconds. This creates a more intense lemon flavor, however if you don't have a food processor you can skip this step and just add the zest in at the same time as the sugar!
- In the bowl of a stand mixer or using a hand held mixer, beat the butter and lemon sugar together on high speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Add in the eggs and vanilla extract and mix on low until combined.
- With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients until just combined. With the mixer still running on low, add the milk, vegetable oil and lemon juice and mix just until combined. The batter will be thick!
- Evenly distribute the batter into cake pans and bake for around 23-28 minutes or until the cakes are baked through. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pans for 10 minutes before flipping out onto a cookie rack to cool completely.
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