Lemon Cake

The BEST homemade Lemon Cake with Lemon Buttercream

Hooray for Friday, and hooray for CAKE! I use weekends as an excuse for baking something delicious. If we’re having friends or family over for a meal I like to make something special, like a beautiful cake. It’s just as easy as any other dessert, and super impressive. 

When baking cakes I usually bake the cake a few days in advance. I let it cool completely, then wrap it well in plastic wrap and place it in a freezer ziplock bag. Freeze until the day it will be served. I like to make my frosting fresh, the day of serving, but you can also make it in advance and refrigerate it for a few days. 

By preparing the two parts of the cake this way it makes it super easy and stress-free to put together a beautiful cake!

I’ve provided two recipes for this cake for you guys, and I gotta tell you–BOTH are awesome!

FIRST is a “from scratch”, delicious homemade lemon cake

SECOND is a, dare I say it, equally as amazing doctored cake-mix version. Ghasp! it’s not completely from scratch! I wont lie to you, I love a good doctored-up cake mix recipe when baking cakes. Pair it with an amazing homemade frosting recipe and no one would guess it’s not from scratch 🙂

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Lemon Cake

Author: Lauren Allen

Ingredients

1. Lemon Cake (FROM SCRATCH):

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups cake flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter softened
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 Tbsp lemon zest from about 4 medium lemons
• 2 large eggs
• 4 large egg whites
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup buttermilk

2. Lemon Cake (CAKE MIX version):

• 1 box lemon cake mix I use the betty crocker brand
• 1 small package lemon instant pudding
• 1 cup Greek yogurt or sour cream
• 3/4 cup water
• 3/4 cup oil
• 4 eggs

Light Lemon Frosting:

• 1 cup 2 sticks butter, room temperature
• 6 cups powdered sugar
• 1/3 - 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

Instructions

Lemon Cake (FROM SCRATCH):

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Grease and flour two 9'' round baking pans. Set aside.
3. Sift all-purpose flour and cake flour into a mixing bowl. Add baking powder, baking soda and salt and stir to combine.
4. In a separate mixing bowl add the butter, sugar and lemon zest and mix with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes. Add the whole eggs and mix well. Add the egg whites one at a time, mixing after each. Stir in the vanilla.
5. Alternately add in a little bit of the flour mixture and then the buttermilk stirring between each addition.
6. Divide batter evenly between the two prepared round cake pans. Bake in preheated oven until toothpick inserted into center of the cakes comes out clean, about 24-29 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool several minutes in the pans, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Lemon Cake (CAKE MIX version):

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Grease and flour two 9'' round baking pans. Set aside.
3. Add the cake mix and pudding mix to a large bowl and stir to combine. Add Greek yogurt, water, oil, and eggs and mix with an electric mixer on medium speed until well combined, about 2 minutes. Pour evenly into prepared round pans. Bake in preheated oven for 24-29 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Don’t overbake or the cake will be dry!

For the frosting:

1. Place the butter in a large mixing bowl and beat with electric mixers for 1 minute. Add 4 cups of powdered sugar, half of the lemon juice and the lemon zest. Beat well until smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes. Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, and the remaining lemon juice until you reach your desired frosting consistency. Frost cake once the cake is completely cool.

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