Lemon Cake
Life is better with cake! This Lemon Cake is the perfect sweet treat. Every bite of the soft crumb and smooth cream cheese frosting is bursting with lemon flavor. It’s moist (sorry), sweet, and perfectly tart. It’s also a sheet cake that’s baked in a square baking dish, so it’s super easy to make and assemble, meaning you can enjoy this cake today (and tomorrow, and whenever else you want it)!
Ingredients in the Best Lemon Cake You’ll Ever Eat
We’re obviously biased, but we really do think this is the best lemon cake. To make it, you’ll need to focus on two main parts: the cake itself and the cream cheese frosting (no buttercream for this cake).
Let us eat cake
To make this delicious lemon sponge, you’ll need the following ingredients:
- All-purpose flour – this cake is fairly forgiving, so using regular AP flour works fine. No need to buy cake flour for this one.
- Salt – every sweet thing needs a little salt for balance so don’t skip it.
- Baking powder & baking soda – this cake uses baking powder and baking soda for lift.
- Sugar – all of that sourness needs sweetness.
- Lemon juice & zest – the lemon juice helps add moisture and tartness to the cake and the zest really drives the lemon flavor home.
- Melted butter – this cake uses melted butter instead of oil. Just be sure to cool the melted butter slightly so that it’s not super hot when you mix it with the other ingredients.
- Milk – the main liquid in this cake is whole milk, which brings moisture and richness.
- Sour cream – the sour cream adds extra tartness and moisture.
- Eggs – these help provide structure and richness.
- Vanilla – vanilla goes so well with citrus, and it’s really nice in this cake.
Cream cheese frosting for the win
We believe that cream cheese frosting is superior to buttercream, and this lemon cream cheese frosting really takes the cake (we’re so sorry for the puns; they write themselves). Here’s what you’ll need:
- Cream cheese – the true hero of any cream cheese frosting is, of course, the cream cheese. Use a block of cream cheese instead of a tub, and definitely don’t use whipped cream cheese here.
- Butter – we like to use a little butter in our cream cheese frostings for added creaminess and fluffiness.
- Powdered sugar – this helps give the frosting sweetness and structure.
- Lemon juice & zest – this cake has lemon flavor everywhere, and the lemon juice and zest give the frosting a super special flavor. You can also zest another lemon if you want extra lemon zest for sprinkling on top of the frosted cake as decoration.
How to Make the Lemon Cake
We love this cake not only because it’s incredibly delicious, but also because it’s a fairly simple dessert to make. It’s a small sheet cake, which means you just need to bake the cake itself and top it with a layer of frosting. No additional cake layers, no crumb coat, nothing super complicated.
To make the cake, make sure to preheat your oven to 350F. Grease an 8×8 inch square cake pan with butter (like this one or similar), then line it with parchment paper, being sure to leave some overhang to help you get the cake out later.
Mix together the dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda) in a bowl and set aside.
To a large mixing bowl, add the sugar and the lemon zest and rub together with your fingers. This helps infuse the sugar with lemon flavor. Using a whisk or handheld mixer, mix the butter into the sugar and lemon zest. Mix the milk into the butter and sugar, then mix in the sour cream. Add the eggs and mix them in until fully incorporated. Mix in the lemon juice and vanilla. Finally, mix in the dry ingredients until just combined. Be careful not to overmix or it’ll make your cake gummy.
Pour the batter into the cake pan and bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with only a few crumbs. Remove cake from the oven and let it rest for 15 minutes. Remove the cake from the cake pan and place on a cooling rack to cool completely.
To make the cream cheese frosting, beat together the frosting ingredients with a handheld mixer until smooth. Frost the cake, then garnish with more lemon zest, if using.
Lemon Cake
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 ½ cup all-purpose flour, spooned & leveled
- ½ tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 lemon, zested
- 3 tbsp lemon juice, about 1-2 lemons
- ½ cup butter, melted & cooled slightly
- ⅓ cup whole milk, room temperature
- ⅓ cup sour cream, room temperature
- 2 eggs, room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened
- 4 tbsp butter, softened
- 2 cups powdered sugar, also called confectioners sugar
- 1 lemon, zested
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
Optional Garnish
- Extra lemon zest
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat your oven to 350F.
- Grease an 8×8 inch square cake pan with butter, then line it with parchment paper, leaving some overhang to help you get the cake out later.
- Mix together the dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda) in a bowl and set aside.
- To a large mixing bowl, add the sugar and the lemon zest and rub together with your fingers. This helps infuse the sugar with lemon flavor.
- Using a whisk or handheld mixer, mix the butter into the sugar and lemon zest.
- Mix the milk into the butter and sugar, then mix in the sour cream.
- Add the eggs and mix them in until fully incorporated.
- Mix in the lemon juice and vanilla.
- Mix in the dry ingredients, careful not to overmix.
- Pour batter into the cake pan and bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with only a few crumbs. Remove cake from the oven and let it rest for 15 minutes.
- Remove the cake from the cake pan and place on a cooling rack to cool completely.
Frosting
- With a handheld mixer, beat together the frosting ingredients until smooth.
- Frost the cake, then garnish with more lemon zest, if using.
