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.
Hi Barry. I want to try this recipe but I do not use processed white sugar. I bake with raw sugar. As you probably know the crystals are large brown and have a stronger flavor. When I bake butter pound cakes I usually cream the sugar very well until the crystals break down and there is no longer a crunchy texture. In your opinion if I use butter instead of shortening or if I cream the sugar with the shortening would the creaming of the sugar to break it down adversely affect the texture?
I've never cooked with raw sugar but I think the texture would definitely suffer. Can you break it down in the food processor before use?
Do you think cutting this recipe in half would make enough batter for a 5 layer cake made with 6 inch rounds? The layers are less than an inch each.
I think this recipe is too tender and soft for a stacked cake.
I wonder if anything could be substituted for the eggs in this recipe - flax eggs, perhaps? Or is this a recipe that can't really be messed with much?
I don't use egg substitutions, sorry.
Just made it. It's a huge hit. I, like many others, halved the frosting recipe. How should this cake be stored?
It's fine out of the fridge for a day or two.
I did make this cake and it blew me off. Id been looking for a good lemon cake recipe and this made it. Thank you for this recipe. Keep them coming.
My frosting was very thin and runny. What did I do wrong?
Too much lemon juice? Or mismeasuring? Never had that issue I'm afraid.
Humidity can also effect frosting. I always add very little milk and slowly add to get the consistency I like. It easier than adding more powdered sugar to get it thicker.
will this cake hold up to fondant? I want to make a two tier baby shower cake.
A bit light textured for fondant I think.
Prepared this cake exactly as directed. Best any flavor cake I ever had! Everything was perfect about it, texture, crumb and taste. Granted, its a little more trouble than a box mix but the
grand cake you get is well worth it. I am going to try to add and extra 1/2 ingredients to make a three layer cake Wish me luck.
Made this recipe for my best friend's birthday party. It was a hit. People said it tasted like it came from a bakery. The only issue I had was getting it out of the pan. I should have used parchment. Otherwise it was supper yummy!
Plz I love ya cakes them which am about to try, but plz u did not mention where u add the sugar.
It is written in the instructions to sift hit together with the flour etc.
Don't usually comment but this is one of the best cake recipes I've ever tried. I needed a cake for a special occasion for my son. He's not that fond of sweets, but will occasionally eat something citrusy like lemon pie. So I thought a lemon cake might please him. It was an enormous hit with the whole family. Even my son had a piece after every supper until it was gone, something he never does. I did substitute lemon curd as a filling and cream cheese frosting as an icing, to keep the sweetness down a bit, and it was still scrumptious. Thanks so much for sharing this wonderful recipe which is now a family favourite.
The lemon curd and Cream cheese icing sound like a terrific combination. Might have to try that myself.
Does it matter if the buttermilk is regular or light? The cake looks so good!
Probably not. I use regular.
This was delicious! I made it for Memorial Day weekend and everyone loved it! The biggest compliment was that the lemon flavor was perfect and not over bearing.
Because frosting needs to be tweaked according to taste, my teenage son helped me with the frosting (which is a first). We halved the frosting recipe and added some lemon juice to it as well as a total of 5 tablespoons of milk and 2 more tablespoons of unsalted butter to get the right consistency and flavor.
I'm definitely going to make this again! Thank you so much for the recipe!
Do you have the recipe in metrics please?
No. Most people use online convertors for this purpose when needed.
Made this for my wife's birthday and it was a huge hit. I'm now making it for people at work, and wondering how I would have to change the baking time/temp for a 9X13 pan instead of 2 9" pans. I want to do this so more people at work can have a piece. (Sorry if this is an easy question. I'm not a big baker, and this is the first thing I've made that has really turned out well.)
The recipe will fit in a 9x13 pan but will poor ably take more time to bake. Let the toothpick test be your guide.