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 thinking about making this as a wedding cake. Any suggestions on how best to double or triple the recipe for a 3 tiered cake?
Definitely use a self supporting stand. This cake will not stack well...too soft.
Is it okay to use only All Purpose flour? I can not find in the grocery store anything that just says cake flour.
The balance of flours is what gives this cake its softer texture. That will not be the same with all, all-purpose flour.
Hi does this freeze well?? I made this cake in 2 6x2inch pans and it rose beautifully!! this is definitely the best lemon cake I have made. Am always testing out new recipes and this is my favourite now.
I generally wouldn't freeze a frosted cake. I've never had the need to freeze this one, either.
hi made this and the first time was excellent. used 2 6x2inch pans. However made it a second time and it came out very heavy and like pudding! made it exactly the same way as before. what went wrong?
I suspect you accidentally left out the baking powder. I've never had anyone have that issue and this cake has been made thousands of times by readers.
Hi Barry,
Do these cakes freeze well? Unfrosted ofcourse.
I've never frozen it so I can't say. It is a very soft textured cake though so probably not as well as a denser cake.
I forgot to ask..can you double or tripple the recipe? If so, how?
I'm afraid I don't quite understand that question.
This recipe is now my go-to recipe for lemon cake. The first time I made it, I followed the recipe exactly, and it came out great! My dad loves lemon cake, so this recipe gets a lot of use. It's not too lemony, but has the perfect amount of zing that you want in a lemon cake. The only thing is I exclude the lemon zest from the frosting (which was optional anyway). I can't wait to try the other velvet cake recipes.
The instructions state to beat the vegetable oil, shortening (I used crisco), vanilla and lemon extract at high speed with the whisk attachment until light and fluffy. I made the recipe twice and the mixture never got light and fluffy either time. I beat the mixture with the whisk attachment on my Kitchen Aid for a good ten minutes on high while watching it continually and waiting for it to become light and fluffy. The mixture was turned into a very creamy liquid. Do you have any idea what I'm doing wrong? Thank you.
But did the cake turn out okay both times?
This may sound silly, but this recipe looks ideal for my daughters Baptism cake. I am planning on (trying) a 8,6,4 cake or an 8,6 cake.
would you no the recipe conversions to do this.
Thank you so kindly.
half the diameter of a round pan multiplied by itself then multiplied by 3.14 will give you the surface area of any pan. You can do the calculation for the pan size in any original recipe and compare. An 8 inch pan calculates : (4x4)x3.14 = 50.24 square inches. A six inch pan comes out to 28.26 square inches. A 4 inch round pan comes out to 12.56 square inches. So a single recipe would fill all those pans.
Just made this cake. House smells amazing but I was doing a square 11x13 pan so I can stack and make put fondant over. Definitely need to double the recipe for one pan that big. Can't wait to taste it though!
I'm so glad to have found this recipe again. This is mom and my favorite lemon cake!! I'm making it today for a friend. Can't wait to cut into it again. I actually put in a little lemon juice in the frosting and cake batter.....and it make it delicious!!!
Can you substitute fresh lemon juice (strained) for the lemon extract?
Yes but there isnt as much flavour in the juice as the extract. I would not be adding more liquid than the recipe calls for.
Barry - We just made this cake for my husbands bday cake. It was delicious, moist and full of flavor! Very lemony - we used a Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting. We were going to add Lemon Curd for the filling but decided to omit it.
I made this for my son's 46th Birthday yesterday and was not disappointed it was light as a feather and delicious.
My son said "mum this is so good", thank you for sharing the recipe.
Denese
Always happy to be a small part of family celebrations. Great to her it was such a success!
I've forgotten a simple rule....
Do I measure the dry ingredients FIRST then sift together? or do I sift them into the correct measurements??
Please help.
BTW, I can't wait to make this for my friend's birthday.
Yummmm
I personally measure, then sift. I think sifting first can potentially give an under-measurement of flour. I use a set of measuring cups to get the right amount. Spoon the flour into the cup and level with the back of a knife. I never scoop flour because that can compress the flour and cause an over-measurement.