Lemon Layer Cake

This delicious lemon layer cake is moist and fluffy with a tender crumb and bright lemon flavor. It's decorated with creamy lemon buttercream that's not too sweet or too tart. This cake looks beautiful and is perfect for spring and summer.

Prep Time45

Cook Time25

Cooling1

Total Time2 10

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Lemon Cake, Lemon Layer Cake

Servings: slices

Author: Fiona Dowling

Equipment

3 8-inch (20 cm) cake pans

Ingredients

Lemon Cake

3/4 cup whole milk (180 ml)
6 tablespoons lemon juice (90 ml) freshly squeezed, not from a bottle
2 3/4 cup all-purpose flour (343 grams) measured carefully
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter (168 grams) softened
1/4 cup vegetable oil (60 ml) or canola oil
1 3/4 cup granulated sugar (350 grams)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 large eggs room temperature

Lemon Frosting

1 1/2 cups unsalted butter (340 grams) softened, but still slightly cool to the touch
2 ounces full-fat cream cheese (56 grams) brick style, or sub with an additional 1/4 cup butter
4 1/2- 5 1/2 cups powdered sugar (495-605 grams) sifted
2 tablespoons lemon juice (30 ml) freshly squeezed
1/4 teaspoon salt
1-2 tablespoons whipping cream (15-30 ml) as needed

Instructions

Lemon Cake

Preheat the oven to 350F (180C). Line the bottom of your pans with rounds of baking paper and grease and flour the sides. I do not recommend just greasing and flouring the pan and omitting the paper, as the cakes are more likely to stick.
Whisk together the milk and lemon juice in a measuring jug or bowl. Set aside.
In a separate medium bowl, sift in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Whisk together. Set aside.
In a large bowl, beat together the butter, oil, granulated sugar and lemon zest until well creamed (about 2-3 minutes).
Add the vanilla into the butter mixture. Beat in the eggs 1 at a time. Turn off the mixer and scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl after each addition.
Mix the dry ingredients and wet ingredients into the bowl of the butter mixture, alternating between additions. First, mix in 1/3 of the dry ingredients. Then mix in 1/2 of the milk and lemon juice mixture. Mix in another 1/3 of the dry ingredients, followed by the second 1/2 of the milk. Lastly, mix in the final 1/3 of the dry ingredients. Do not overmix. I always do a few stirs of each step by hand first. You may see pieces of lemon zest, but there shouldn't be lumps of flour.
Evenly distribute the cake batter between the prepared tins and smooth the tops. Bake in the middle of the preheated oven, with all the cake pans on the same rack, for about 20-25 minutes. When finished, the cakes should be starting to pull away from the sides of the pan and an inserted toothpick should come out clean or with a few crumbs, but no gooey cake batter.
Cool the cakes in the pans for at least 20 minutes before very carefully inverting onto cooling racks.

Lemon Frosting

In a large bowl, beat the butter until creamy.
Add in 3 cups powdered sugar, along with the freshly squeezed lemon juice and salt. Start with the mixer on a low speed and beat together until combined.
Turn off the mixer and scrape down the bowl. Beat in the rest of the powdered sugar about 1/2 cup at a time, alternating with a little cream if the frosting is too thick, until the desired sweetness is reached.

Assemble

Ensure that the cake layers are completely cooled. If the tops are domed, use a serrated knife to carefully saw off the rounded tops of each cake layer.
Place 1 cake layer on the plate that you plan to serve the cake on. Frost the top with about 3/4 to 1 cup of frosting. Place a second cake layer on top. Frost the top with another 3/4 - 1 cup of frosting. Then place the third cake layer on top. Frost the sides and top of the cake with swirls of buttercream.
When ready to serve, slice the cake with a thin, sharp knife. I do not recommend slicing with a table knife.

Notes

For a Two Layer Cake: This batter can be made in two 9-inch round (23-cm) cake pans. The bake time will be about 25-30 minutes.
Lemons: You will need about 3 large lemons or 4 medium lemons for this recipe. Zest the lemons before squeezing out the juice. You can likely get 2 tablespoons of lemon zest from 1 lemon and 6 tablespoons of juice from 2-3 lemons (you can use the same lemon for juice that you zested).
Room Temperature Ingredients: The butter, milk and eggs should all be at room temperature before getting started. For the frosting, the butter and cream cheese should be slightly softened but still slightly cool to the touch.
Make Ahead Tips: Make the cake the day before you plan to serve it. Cool the cakes fully, then wrap tightly and store at room temperature or in the fridge overnight. Make the frosting and assemble the day you plan to serve. Unfrosted cake layers can be wrapped tightly and frozen for up to 2 months. Thaw in the fridge.
Storage: Store leftovers covered or in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Fresh cake is always best.
Nutrition: Details are an estimate only and based on 1 slice, assuming that all frosting is used, no cake is sliced off when trimming the domed cake cake layers, and the cake is sliced into 12 uniform pieces.

Nutrition