There's nothing quite as refreshing or satisfying as lemon cake. This cake brought back a lot of memories of my childhood and baking with my grandma. I really likes this recipe because it made a beautiful sheet and did not sink in the center like some of my chocolate cake recipes (which I hide with a lot of buttercream!). For this reason, it's great for stacking and will hold up nicely.
I've made many variations of this cake as you can see in the slideshow. My standard lemon cake is 2 layers with lemon buttercream, and if you want to make the candied lemons in the photo, recipe is here - it's not as hard as it looks! Other variations include adding a 3rd layer, adding fresh berries (strawberry, blueberry, blackberry) and either mint or kiwi for some green. On May 8th, 2019, I had a special order for a "Mommy to Bee" baby shower cake, so I made some special decorations to go along with the cake.
Ingredients (cake):
2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 eggs
2/3 cup oil
2/3 cup fresh lemon juice
3/4 cup sour cream
Ingredients (buttercream)*:
3/4 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/2 tsp fresh lemon zest
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp lemon extract (optional, I didn't use it)
*For a 2-layer cake I 1.5x the recipe and I have a little left over for decorating. For a 3-layer cake I 2x the recipe (see pictures 2 and 3) and I don't have enough to cover the whole cake, but I like the look.
Directions (cake):
Pre-heat oven to 350 and line two 8" or 9" pans. I lined the bottom of a 9" pan with parchment paper and used butter to make it stick (I didn't need to line the edges). Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl and whisk together. Add eggs, oil and lemon juice. Beat until smooth. Add sour cream and beat until smooth. If you're using the 8" pan, bake for about 25 minutes. For the 9" pan bake for 22 minutes. The cake is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cakes cool for a bit in the pan, then flip them over onto a drying rack to let it cool completely before decorating.
Recipe modified from Life Love and Sugar.
Directions (buttercream):
Whip butter with lemon zest on medium-high speed until the color is very pale and texture is fluffy, maxing sure to occasionally scrape the sides. Mix in 1 cup of powdered sugar, then mix in lemon juice, milk, vanilla and lemon extract (if using). Add in the remaining powdered sugar and beat. Whip the buttercream until very fluffy, about 2-3 minutes or longer if you want. Once your cake has completely cooled, decorate away!
Recipe modified from Cooking Classy.