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.
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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 am a bit of a novice, when you say that the oil/shortening mixture should be light and fluffy, what exactly should that look like and roughly how long should that take. Mine was light in color and I could see bubbles, but it was runny in texture.
How did the cake turn out?
This cake was very good it just needed a little more lemon flavor for my taste. Do u have a chocolate version of this cake? Can u give me a link to it if so ? Thank you 🙂
Hust search Chocolate Velvet Cake on the website. It's there and easy to find.
This cake was simply delicious! Be sure to read the instructions at least two times and you should not have a problem.
Hello! I was wondering if i could bake this cake in a bundt pan? Would I need to change anything? Wanting to make this recipe tonight or tomorrow!
It would probably fit in a bundt pan.
Hi Barry. Could I make this cake in a 9x13 pan?
Yes indeed.
What would be the cooking time in a 9 x 13 pan?
Should be maybe 5 minutes or so more. The toothpick test is always your best guide.
I have made this recipe and even adapted my own version of it and it is wonderful. However, I did not know another way to contact you and let you know your recipe is floating around facebook under a user name Heidi Stephenson Crist, I just thought you should know 🙂
Thanks, I got that sorted thanks to your comment.
Hi, I have tried the recipe just now and turned out a dense cake. I have followed the recipe and ingredients step by step. The ingredients divided by 2 because I want to try the recipe in small amount first. What are the possible reasons for the cake to be dense?
Not sure but that result is definitely not typical. People have great success with this cake. I suspect you mis-measured somewhere along the line when you were halving the ingredients. Easily done, I know.
Hi Barry, I'm from Czech rep. and I'm struggling a bit with a metric system. Just to make it right, will it turn out ok if i convert us cups to ml rather than grams? For the icing it seems quite a lot of sugar and butter! Many thanks 🙂
Yes, you can use a 240 ml as 1 cup. It is a large batch of frosting. Make half if you like less frosting.
My family are all lemon lovers. There are so many awesome and positive reviews, I'll definitely be trying this recipe, myself. Was just wondering if it's possible to bake this recipe in a 9 x 13 pan and if so, at what temperature and how long would it need to bake....
Close to the same baking time at same temperature. Let the toothpick test guide you to be absolutely sure.
have you ever tried baking this on a half sheet pan?
If that's a 9x13 baking pan and not cooike sheet pan it should be ok.
Thank you for such a lovely recipe! I was on the lookout for a good lemon cake to turn into a poke cake and found your recipe on Pinterest! I made it and it turned out great! Here's my Lemon-Raspberry-Vanilla Poke Cake adapted from your recipe: http://www.sweetbloomingroots.com/?p=442
Great recipe. I couldn't get the ingredience in step 2 to fluff up all nice and fluffy, but the cake still came out super awesome. was told I had the best cake this side of the Mississippi River.
This cake looks fabulous, thank you! I will be making this for my family and checking out your other velvet cake recipes as well.
Reassuring to read other comments regarding the "light and fluffy" question. I wondered if I did something wrong. The oil/shortening/extract never reached that state for me either. Also mine took longer than 35 minutes for 2 8inch cakes at 325. I'm afraid I over compensated and they turned out a bit dry. I usually bake cakes at 350. I think this recipe is worth another try. The flavor is good. Thanks for sharing.
Very odd for this cake to be dry. Perhaps you left them in too long.
This cake was a smashing success! I tweeked the icing by adding some lemon extract and fresh lemon to it. Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe. Do you have a strawberry version?
Glad you liked it. Not sure strawberry would work but there is a raspberry version.