Lemon Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

My mother, Ms. Gloria, was known for making some *ahem* showy desserts. She was not a competitive woman by any means, but she just loved the jaw-dropping reactions from the crowd every time she removed a lid from one of her decorative cake plates. I loved those moments – seeing people’s faces positively light up from the sudden sensory delight that was the dessert she’d unveiled. This Lemon Cake, with its luscious cream cheese frosting, Friends, is an homage to the woman who raised me, and who to this day is my greatest inspiration.

Enjoy this one, Besties. She’s a beauty.

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About this Lemon Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Besides being a visual masterpiece, this Lemon Cake just tastes absolutely amazing. Real, balanced lemon flavor is featured in every level of this cake, rendering it perfect for lemon lovers. For those who simply love dessert, this cake is so beautiful and delicious that it will make them reconsider everything they think they know about lemon.

Speaking of levels, this cake has lemon in the sponge, a glorious lemon curd, and a lemon cream cheese frosting. Yes, it’s a lot of lemon, but it’s also balanced by vanilla bean and the tang from the cultures in the cream cheese.

The lemon cream cheese frosting featured in this cake has to be tried to be believed. It’s impossible to believe that such a frosting could come out of a home baker’s kitchen. But with the easy instructions that I give you in this recipe, it absolutely can. You, BB, can be the one of your peers who has perfected cream cheese frosting that is perfectly smooth, dotted with beautiful vanilla bean, and pipe-able at the same time. A lemon cream cheese frosting that absolutely melts on your tongue when you eat it.

Oh, and about the Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting…if you want to pipe rosettes onto the cake like I did, make sure you have the positively obscene amounts of frosting ingredients that I have in the recipe. You’ll need them.

How do I know?

Lemon Cake Ingredients

Cake Flour: The flour in a cake recipe impacts the final texture of a cake in a big way. Flour is the primary ingredient that is responsible for the amount of structure and chew in your cakes, cookies, and breads. The higher the protein content in a particular type of flour, the more structure and chew in the final product. For this cake, I wanted a very soft, moist crumb, so I use cake flour here. My caveat: my fave “cake flour” is actually White Lily’s All-Purpose Flour, which has a lower protein content than most cake flours!

Baking Soda: This Lemon Cake contains sour cream, which is naturally acidic, so baking soda is the proper leavening here.

Kosher Salt: Salt is very important in any dessert; it balances the sugar and keeps the dessert from becoming overly sweet. Salt is very important in this particular cake recipe, as it helps to balance both the sugar and the lemon in this recipe.

Cornstarch: This cake has an almost ethereal crumb. That is because the cake flour has a lower protein than typical all-purpose flour, yes, but it is also because we added another ingredient whose only job was to tenderize the crumb even more. A big thank-you to cornstarch for understanding this important assignment.

Unsalted Butter: As usual, butter has a starring role in this cake! It gives wonderful special flavor, and also the creaming process creates the absolutely necessary air pockets that help this cake to rise. Additionally, the fats in the butter are needed to tenderize the powerhouse protein molecules in your cake flour and egg whites, giving it a marvelously moist, light crumb. This ingredient does a lot of work! Make sure that your butter is room temperature before you begin. I set my butter out for at least 1.5-two hours before baking time. Also, buy a LOT of butter for this recipe. 😂 Like, a lot A LOT.

Neutral Vegetable Oil: Vegetable oil adds additional moisture to this cake, and it also helps the cake stay moist longer. One tablespoon is more than enough to make sure that this beautifully moist cake stays that way. I love avocado oil for baking, but any vegetable oil will do.

Granulated Sugar: The sugar in this recipe adds a nice sweetness to this cake, and it also helps with caramelization (browning). Additionally, granulated sugar helps to balance the tartness from the lemon juice and lemon zest in this cake!

Lemon Zest: You’ll use the lemon zest and the vanilla beans to make lemon vanilla sugar for your cake. The technique of rubbing the lemon zest into the sugar releases the oils from the zest even better, which gives a big boost of lemon flavor.

Whole Vanilla Bean: This cake uses the beans from an entire vanilla bean pod. The amped-up vanilla flavor is necessary to help balance the sweetness from all of the sugar and the tartness of the lemon so I strongly recommend using this ingredient for this cake. If you don’t have access to a whole vanilla bean, you can sub a tablespoon of pure vanilla extract.

Eggs: The protein in the eggs adds structure to the cake, while the fatty yolk adds delicious flavor, and also tenderizes the proteins in the egg whites and the cake flour. It’s a true multi-tasker and I couldn’t love it more. ❤️

Sour Cream: I loved the final texture that sour cream lent to this cake. In a pinch, you can also use 250 g (1 c) of buttermilk. Subbing buttermilk will give you all of the tang that sour cream will; however, you’ll be sacrificing on the additional tendering properties of the sour cream, as buttermilk contains substantially less fat. (On that note, make sure to use full-fat sour cream for this recipe. 😊)

Lemon Juice: The cake calls for 63 grams (1/4 c) of freshly squeezed lemon juice, on top of the sour cream. The lemon juice and lemon zest combo means that you will never need to use lemon extract in this cake. Please don’t use the lemon juice in a bottle. It has additional preservatives that can impact the taste of the final product.

Beginners Start Here

If you’re new to baking, or if you want to learn how to do some of the more tricky baking techniques, here are a couple of super helpful articles from the BwB site that will help you get set up for success with this unbelievable Lemon Cake.

• Meet Your Kitchen BFF–Your Digital Kitchen Scale!
• How to Cream Butter and Sugar (With New Video!)
• Baking 101: How to Measure Ingredients
• Knowing When to Stop a Technique
• Sifting: Quick Technique. Huge Impact.
• Three Tips for Amazing Home Cooks Who Want to be Amazing Bakers

These resources are super helpful to help you build consistency and confidence on your baking journey, and specifically with this special cake. Happy Reading!

Important Tools Used in this Lemon Cake

I am so happy to announce that Begin with Butter has its own Amazon Storefront, where you can find all of the amazing equipment that I used in this special cake! Want even more specific links? Check out the recommendations, below.

I do get paid a commission when you purchase, but these are the tools that I use all the time in my own kitchen.

If you have these tools already, great! Think of this as a checklist to help you build the confidence that you’ll need to execute this recipe!

• My Favorite 8″ Layer Cake Pans
• Oven Thermometer
• Digital Food Scale
• KitchenAid Hand Mixer
• KitchenAid Stand Mixer
• Stainless Steel Mixing Bowl Set
• OXO Spatula Set
• Sifter
• Fine Mesh Strainer
• Cake Decorating Turntable

I do love a beautiful cake, BB. I hope you enjoy making this cake, and that it becomes a favorite in your household like it has in mine. And don’t forget to tag me on Instagram @beginwithbutter so that I can shout out your success!

Until next time!

Lemon Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

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This Lemon Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting is a positive showstopper.  There is balanced lemon in every bite of this cake, and an ethereal crumb that will have friends and family coming back for more.

• Total Time: ~4 hours
• Yield: 24 servings 1x

Ingredients

Units MUS Scale 1x2x3x

For the Cake:

• 320 g (2.5 c) cake flour (White Lily all-purpose is my favorite for this cake, as it is scientifically closer to cake flour than traditional all-purpose flour)
• 1 tbsp corn starch
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 227 g (1 c) butter, room temperature
• 2 tbsp neutral oil (I like avocado oil, but vegetable oil, canola oil, or even grapeseed oil work well too)
• 300 g (1.5 c) granulated sugar
• 1/2 tbsp lemon zest
• 4 eggs, room temperature
• 1/2 vanilla bean pod or 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
• 227 g sour cream
• 63 g (1/4 c) freshly squeezed lemon juice
• Edible flowers, for garnish (optional)

For the Lemon Curd:

• 125 g (1/2 c) fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tbsp lemon zest
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 4 eggs
• 200 g (1 c) granulated sugar
• 114 g (6 tbsp) unsalted butter

For the Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 454 g (2 c) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 454 g (2 c) cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 vanilla bean pod or 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
• 1.5 tbsp lemon zest
• 1 tsp fine sea salt
• 1800 g (15 c) confectioner’s sugar

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Instructions

To Make the Lemon Curd:

1. Add lemon juice, lemon zest, sugar, kosher salt, and eggs to a medium bowl.  Whisk well to combine before turning on the heat.
2. Add the butter and heat the mixture over medium heat, stirring at regular intervals.  This is a slow process; best not to rush it or you’ll scramble the eggs and get a gritty, grainy curd. The curd should reach the consistency of loose pudding on the stovetop.
3. When the mixture coats the back of a spoon, it is done. 
4. Remove immediately to a non-reactive bowl.  Use a fine mesh strainer to remove any remaining bits or chunks in the curd.
5. Cover the top of the curd immediately with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator. Allow to cool completely before using to fill your cake.

To Make the Cake:

1. Set your oven to a true 325°F.  An oven thermometer is very useful to help you determine whether your oven is at the correct temperature.
2. Combine the sugar, vanilla beans (if using) and lemon zest in a medium bowl or deli cup.  Use your fingers to scrunch the combination together (or, alternatively, put the top on the deli cup and shake away!) until the mixture is combined.  The sugar will get clumpy from the release of the oils in the lemon zest, and that is a great thing!
3. Add the sour cream and lemon juice to a small bowl or deli cup.  Stir to combine.
4. Sift cake flour, baking soda, cornstarch, and kosher salt in a medium bowl and set aside.
5. Add room-temperature butter and oil to a large mixing bowl, or to the bowl of a stand mixer.  Mix until combined.  Add the sugar/vanilla/lemon mixture and cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, scraping the bowl regularly to ensure even mixing.
6. Add the eggs, one at a time.  Add the next egg only once the previous egg has been fully incorporated.
7. Add the pure vanilla extract (if using) and mix thoroughly to combine.  Scrape the bowl regularly to ensure even mixing.
8. Add half of the flour mixture and mix until nearly combined.
9. Add all of the sour cream/lemon juice mixture and mix until nearly combined.
10. Add the other half of the flour mixture and mix until nearly combined.  Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, and then gently fold the mixture together until it is fully combined.
11. Prep three 8” cake pans (I use butter and flour to do this).  Fill each cake pan with 1/3 of the batter.
12. Bake for 20-27 minutes, or until an instant-read thermometer reads 205°F in the center of the cakes.
13. Allow the cakes to cool on cooling racks for 5-7 minutes, then turn place the cakes onto cooling racks to finish cooling.

To Make the Cream Cheese Frosting:

1. Add the room-temperature butter to the bowl of your stand mixer, or a large mixing bowl.  Mix with the flat beater attachment until very smooth.
2. Add the cream cheese, vanilla beans, and lemon zest and blend together until smooth.
3. Add fine sea salt and 1.5 cups of the confectioner’s sugar.  Blend on low speed until there is no evidence of the confectioner’s sugar.  Add the confectioner’s sugar, 1.5 cups at a time, and repeat the process of blending until the confectioner’s sugar is invisible each time.
4. Once the confectioner’s sugar is completely incorporated, blend on medium speed until the frosting has notably increased in volume, about 2-4 minutes. 
5. You can use immediately, or you can refrigerate and re-whip when ready to use.  This frosting should be slightly softer than American Buttercream, but it should still pipe-able with the Wilton star piping tip! 
6. To build the cake, place a generous amount of frosting on the bottom layer. Create a dam around the outer edge of the cake, and fill with a couple of tablespoons of lemon curd.  Repeat the process with the second layer, then cover the entire cake in a thin coat of frosting.  If you’re making a naked cake, you’re done! If not, you’ve completed the crumb coat.
7. When building the cake, make sure to do a crumb coat before doing the final frosting layer, and allow the crumb-coated cake to stay in the refrigerator for at least four hours (preferably 8) before finishing. Also, after crumb coating, I put four dowels in the middle to stabilize while the crumb coat is setting in the refrigerator.
8. Enjoy!

Notes

• You can learn how to make this cake right alongside me at the Begin with Butter Home Baking Academy! Check out the class here:

  

• To pipe rosettes onto this cake, you’ll absolutely need to make all of the frosting recipe.  You can also halve the frosting recipe and do a much less involved presentation!
• The flowers on this cake are edible, freeze-dried flowers purchased from FreshlyPreserved.com.  I loved how they made my cake look!
• When building this cake, the crumb coat is vitally important.  Allow the crumb-coated cake to stay in the refrigerator for at least 4 (but preferably 8) hours before finishing. That gives the middle of the cake time to firm up so that you can remove the dowels.

• Author: Shani
• Prep Time: 2 hours (active)
• Cook Time: 24 minutes
• Category: dessert