I'm one of those people who can't get enough of anything and everything lemon flavored.
With the arrival of spring and the warmer weather lemon cake seems like a nice refreshing alternative to some of the “heavier” dessert we like in the winter. 😉
Recently I made this awesomely delicious lemon cake with cream cheese frosting! It's so easy to make and the lemon flavors are so refreshing.
Lemons in dessert always bring back memories of when I was a little girl and my grandmother would have freshly baked lemon cake (or what she would call lemon bread) on the table for when guests would stop by.
I remember my grandfather loved lemon bread just as much as I did, so sometimes there would be a bit of a silent competition to make sure I didn't gobble it all up before he was able to have some! lol
This cake is wonderfully soft and fluffy with just the perfect hint of lemon in the cake batter. The lemon cream cheese frosting for this recipe goes perfectly with the finished cake – it's not overly sweet but just right.
I used lemon zest in the frosting and the cake batter to give the dessert it's wonderful and fresh pop of flavor!
I hope you enjoy this cake recipe!
🤔 Looking for alternatives or substitutes to cream cheese?
👉 Explore this helpful guide on tasty substitutes!
Lemon Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups sugar
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup milk
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup butter, unsalted and room temperature, cut into pieces
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp lemon zest
- 1 tsp lemon juice
Frosting Ingredients
- 2 cups plain cream cheese
- 1/4 cup butter, unsalted and room temperature
- 1 cup powdered sugar (aka confectioners sugar)
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 1/2 tsp lemon zest
- 2 tsp lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Grease 2, 8″ round cake pans. Dust with flour so all surfaces have been lightly covered.
- Combine the dry cake batter ingredients in a large mixing bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer. Combine using the whisk attachment or by using a hand whisk.
- In a large measuring cup with a spout, combine the vegetable oil, vanilla and milk.
- Using a stand mixer or an electric hand mixer combine the ingredients from measuring cup with the dry ingredients. Start with the speed on low and then gradually increase the speed.
- To the mixture, add the pieces of butter and combine well using the mixer. You need to mix until there are no little chunks of butter. Everything should be smooth.
- Next, one at a time, add the eggs to the mixer while on Medium speed. Keep mixing until the eggs are well combined and the batter thickens. You may need to turn the speed up on the mixer after combining the eggs.
- Next gently mix in the lemon zest and lemon juice.
- Pour an equal amount of batter into each cake pan. Spread the batter so that it's evenly distributed in the pans.
- Bake in the oven for about 45 minutes or until baked through. Check the doneness of the cake by sticking a toothpick into the center. If it comes out clean the cake is finished baking.
- Cool the cake layers while still in the pans on a cooling rack. After about 20 minutes of cooling in the pan you can remove the cakes from the pans and continue cooling on the rack.
- Once the cake has cooled frost the cake using the frosting recipe included.
- The cake tastes best if it's chilled for a couple hours before serving. 🙂
Frosting Instructions
- In a large bowl with an electric hand mixer (or use a stand mixer) cream together the butter, cream cheese and powdered sugar.
- Add lemon zest, lemon juice and vanilla to the mixing bowl and turn the mixer up to medium speed.
- Mix up the frosting until it's creamy and well combined.
