Lemon Velvet Cake
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Lemon Velvet Cake. Our most popular cake to date, for its real lemon flavour and incredible light, airy texture, while still staying moist and delicious.
Before this Lemon Velvet Cake, it all started with me trying to develop the best Red Velvet Cake recipe I could.
It was such a success and I loved the moist, tender texture of that cake so much that I just had to try a White Velvet Cake and then an Orange Velvet Cake.
Those turned out to be a couple of the most popular cake recipes ever on Rock Recipes so I couldn't stop there. Keeping the lemon lovers like me in mind, a luscious lemon version was inevitable.
The creamy, tangy lemon buttercream frosting goes particularly well with this beautiful lemon cake too.
Am I done with Velvet Cake recipes yet? Maybe not, I have an idea that might work out for yet another version. Here's a clue... think pink. 🙂
Update: That pink version is now posted as Raspberry Velvet Cake!
Looking for more Velvet Cakes?
Be sure to check out all of the other recipes in the Velvet Cake Collection too!
I generally bake this cake in round 8 inch pans or 9 inch Aluminum Cake Pans but the recipe can also be made as a sheet cake in a 9 x 13 baking pan
I've found that the 9 inch pans may bake up a little quicker so be sure to check it 5 minutes early.
Depending on whether you use glass or not, the 9x13 size could take a few minutes longer. Just let the toothpick test be the final judge.
Lemon Velvet Cake as a birthday cake, anniversary cake or wedding cake.
2018 update: Since this recipe was first developed several years ago, I have heard from countless people who have made this cake for every possible occasion from an Easter Cake to a Mother's Day Cake. Wherever you find lemon lovers, this cake is sure to to be a hit.
However, I'll give one word of caution about fondant and wedding cakes. This is a very light textured cake, so if using fondant icing on a celebration cake be sure to use the thinnest layer you can.
Minimal stacking is also recommended unless you are using a weight supported stand. Too much weight can compress the light airy crumb structure of this cake.
Like this Lemon Velvet Cake recipe?
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Lemon Velvet Cake
Developed from an outstanding Red Velvet Cake recipe, this lemon cake is a perfectly moist and tender crumbed cake with a lemony buttercream frosting. An ideal birthday cake for the lemon lover in your life.
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups sifted all purpose flour
- 1 ½ cups sifted cake flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- ⅔ cup vegetable oil
- ⅓ cup vegetable shortening at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon good quality vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoon pure lemon extract
- 3 large eggs
- 1 ½ cups buttermilk
- zest of two small or one large lemons, grated and finely chopped
For the Frosting
- 4 cups icing sugar, powdered sugar
- 1 cups unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon pure lemon extract
- 1 teaspoon minced lemon zest, optional
- 2 tablespoon milk, approximately
Instructions
- Grease and flour 2 nine inch round cake pans and line the bottom with 2 circles of parchment paper. Sift together both flours, baking soda. baking powder, salt and sugar, Set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer beat together the vegetable oil, shortening, vanilla and lemon extract. Beat well at high speed with whisk attachment until light and fluffy
- Beat the eggs in one at a time.
- Fold in the lemon zest.
- Fold in the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk.
- I always add dry ingredients in three divisions and liquid ingredients in 2 divisions. It is very important to begin and end the additions with the dry ingredients. Do not over mix the batter. As soon as it has no lumps in the batter, pour into the two prepared 9 inch cake pans.
- Bake at 325 degrees F for 30-35 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool in the pans for 10 minutes before turning out onto wire racks to cool completely.
To prepare the frosting
- Mix together the icing sugar, lemon zest and butter until it becomes sort of crumbly.
- Add the lemon extract and a little of the milk.
- Beat until smooth and fluffy, adding only enough milk to bring the frosting to a creamy spreadable consistency.
- Fill and frost the cake. Garnish with candied lemon zest if desired.
To make candied lemon zest
- Remove the zest with a sharp vegetable peeler in long strips, avoiding as much of the white pith as possible.
- Bring one cup of water and one cup of sugar to a slow boil.
- Add the pieces of lemon zest and boil for about 15 minutes. Drain the lemon zest on a wire rack.
- When cool, cut them in strips and roll in fine sugar.
The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by third party software and is meant as a guideline only. Exact accuracy is not guaranteed. For recipes where all ingredients may not be used entirely, such as those with coatings on meats, or with sauces or dressings for example, calorie & nutritional values per serving will likely be somewhat lower than indicated.
Notes
Previous versions of this recipe have included twice the amount of frosting. In this recent update I've halved that to provide enough frosting for the middle and top as many people seem to prefer. If you want to frost the entire sides of the cake as well. please feel free to make one and a half or even two times the recipe. It depends on how much frosting is your personal preference.
The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by third party software and is meant as a guideline only. Exact accuracy is not guaranteed. For recipes where all ingredients may not be used entirely, such as those with coatings on meats, or with sauces or dressings for example, calorie & nutritional values per serving will likely be somewhat lower than indicated.
Recommended Products
Rock Recipes a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. Our product recommendations are almost exclusively for those we currently use or have used in the past.
Nutrition Information
Yield
16Serving Size
gAmount Per Serving Calories 538Total Fat 26gSaturated Fat 10gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 15gCholesterol 69mgSodium 278mgCarbohydrates 73gFiber 1gSugar 54gProtein 4g
The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by third party software and is meant as a guideline only. Exact accuracy is not guaranteed. For recipes where all ingredients may not be used entirely, such as those with coatings on meats, or with sauces or dressings for example, calorie & nutritional values per serving will likely be somewhat lower than indicated.
I've just tried this recipe and it's in the oven. I was just wondering why you sift the sugar? I've never done this before and it really threw me off... it doesn't even get through the sieve. Could it just be thrown in after the eggs like most cake recipes? I also have a comment about the way you worded Step 2. You say the word "blend" before mentioning the whisk attachment. I attached the paddle because this is the standard for cakes and realised only once I started mixing the ingredients; it wasn't a big deal, just a nuisance but could have been avoided with better wording. I also wouldn't describe the mixture as "light and fluffy"... it really just became homogeneous. Thanks! I'm looking forward to it coming out of the oven!
You could just blend the sugar into the sifted flour if the sugar grains are too large, I find a big difference in sugar brands and big differences depending on where you live. Sieves of course, vary as well.
I have made this cake and it was a big hit......perfectly moist, and just the right amount of lemon. I have it posted on my blog "thewednesdaybaker.blogspot.com" I used my new favorite buttercream and used a lemon curd filling in the middle. This is a keeper for sure. Thank you so much.
I made this cake and wrapped in wax paper then wrapped each layer in freezer paper and placed in the freezer. I made it one week before I needed it. Perfect. Andi
Thanks for sharing your experience. Glad it was such a success and good to hear that it freezes well too.
I would love to make this as a three-layer cake, preferably three 9" layers, but 8" layers would be fine also. Should I make an extra half recipe? I can't way to try this recipe!
That's what I would do. Enjoy.
Wondering why you use lemon extract as opposed to lemon juice.
You could use it for the milk in the frosting if you prefer, the milk gives it a more creamy look. There is enough flavour from the lemon zest if you prefer not to use the extract. I'm just a lemon freak!
Can you use milk or yogurt instead of buttermilk, cannot get it anywhere!
Add a tsp or 2 of lemon juice or vinegar to regular whole milk as a substitute. It will be just as good. Are you in the UK Ashley?
Hi, Barry: I just found your site and really love your recipes. They are really moist and nice. In fact, it is cool that they pretty much have the same ingredients and amounts. Easy to remember.
I wanted to let you say thank you and let you know that I live in a mile high city, with altitude of 5300. The measurements work just fine as you have them. The only thing is that I get better results in structure when I add more (75/25) all purpose flour than cake flour. Or if I use all purpose flour alone, I sift it beforehand a bit. I bake at 350 degrees instead of 325 and that works great here. And as you know we bake for longer in the high altitude places, such as it takes about 35-40 minutes.
I also have substituted the shortening for the same amount of butter and the cake is so delicious with flavor too. With the all purpose flour mix, I don't worry about the cake coming out too light or tender to stack. The texture makes it great for stacking cakes. The cakes still come out really nice and moist.
Thanks. I sometimes get questions about high altitude baking but Living near the ocean, I don't really know much about it.
I am so excited to try this recipe.
I have 2 questions. 1) have you ever tried separating the eggs and folding in the egg whites as the last step?
2) Do you use the whisk attachment on the Kitchen Aid all the way through this recipe? Or, do you change to the paddle attachment at some point?
No I have never tried separating the eggs. I don't think that's necessary and would affect the texture of the cake. I use the whisk attachment to start but you can switch tot he paddle attachment for the dry ingredients or fold in by hand the final addition of dry ingredients.
Hello Barry I ask you could I just use cake flour and you didn't even respond back to me. That was back on September 30,2014
Thanks for sharing this great recipe. It is very moist and came out perfect!!My husband enjoyed it as his birthday cake.
Always happy to be part of someone's celebration. That is an incredibly popular cake on Rock Recipes.
Can we use all purpose for cake flour ?
Thanks in advance
Technically yes, but the unique, soft texture of this cake relies on using part cake flour in the recipe. It will be heavier and denser only using all purpose flour.
I AM CONFUSED HOW CAN OIL, SHORTING,LEMON EXTRACT , VAN, CAN BEAT UP (FLUFFY) HAD A PROBLEM WITH THAT?
It certainly does for me and many others who have had great success with this recipe. Did you try the recipe or are you just asking?
I made this lemon velvet cake yesterday and was disappointed. My cake turned out more dense than I expected based on other reviews. I used unsweetened applesauce in place of oil and butter in place of the shortening. Could these changes have made the difference?
Well, yes. You can't drastically change a cake recipe and expect that will turn out correctly, I'm afraid. The balance of the shortening and oil in this recipe is what gives it it's unique texture.
Hi Barry,
So sorry to bother you. I was just about to repin this recipe which I knew looked familiar. The only thing is, it was on another website. I usually check links before repinning. Anyway, if you want to check the other website, here's the link,
That link does link back to my site for the recipe but when pinning it's always better and more efficient to pin the original source.
Do any of the ingredients need to be at room temperature or is it okay if they're cold?
I generally use them cold but room temp may help your cake rise better.
Has anyone tried coconut oil in place of the shortening?
Thank you Barry for the best cake recipe that I have ever made. I rarely leave reviews but this time I had to. For the cake, I followed it exactly except that I omitted the vanilla extract and squeezed some fresh lemon juice into the batter. For the icing, I used 2 sticks of butter and 6 cups of powdered sugar. I used fresh squeezed lemon juice and a little milk (it yielded plenty of frosting for a 9 inch 2 layer cake. The cake baked very high and had a beautiful presentation. The texture was soft and moist but held up in the layers. Yum!!!!
That's terrific. This recipe is much loved by many Rock recipes followers.