A delicious fluffy cake filled with lemon curd and frosted with a lemon buttercream this Lemon Layer Cake is full of all the lemon flavor, the perfect spring and summer cake!
Lemon is so fun to bake with. I love the flavor of all the lemon things. I bake and cook with lemon equally but I would rather have a lemon dessert over anything.
This Lemon Layer Cake has been one of my favorites for many years. It’s filled with all the lemon flavor, lemon cake, lemon curd, and lemon frosting.
So if you don’t get your fill of lemon out of this cake then I did something wrong. But trust me, once you take that first bite you will be wanting to keep on eating and not stop.
I believe in everything in moderation but let me tell you it is really hard to moderate with this Layer Cake Recipe! It’s just too good, once you try it you’ll see why!
Layer cakes are really fun to make for me, I love the aspect of decorating them and that you can come up with so many flavors that it is uncanny, but this is one of my favorites.
Some of my other favorite lemon desserts we have on our site include Meltaway Lemon Cookies, Lemony Cupcakes and Blueberry Lemon Cheesecake Bars.
WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
- This recipe serves a lot of people so you don’t need to worry you won’t have enough.
- You can control how much lemon that you like.
- Cakes store great so if you have leftovers you can save them for later.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED (FULL RECIPE BELOW):
Cake flour
Baking powder
Sea salt
Butter
Granulated sugar
Egg whites
Buttermilk
Lemon juice
Vanilla extract
Lemon zest
Powdered sugar
Lemon curd
HOW TO MAKE A LEMON LAYER CAKE:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray 2 9-inch cake pans with baking spray, take a pastry brush, and brush the spray all over to make sure it is even. Place a parchment paper liner in the bottom and brush more baking spray on top, set aside.
- In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt, set aside.
- Add the butter and sugar to the body of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment and mix on medium speed until light and fluffy, 2 minutes. Next add the egg whites into the bowl in three batches, mix thoroughly in between each addition. Add the flour mixture and stir it in until just combined, scrape down the sides. Add the buttermilk, lemon juice, vanilla, and lemon zest. Stir it in until combined. Scrape down the sides and give it another 5 seconds of stirring.
- Divide the batter among the two cake pans and smooth out the tops. Bake for 22-27 minutes until lightly golden brown on top and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, a few crumbs on the toothpick is okay, any wet batter and it needs to bake longer.
- Let the cakes cool on a wire rack in their pans for 5 minutes, turn out the cakes and place them top side up on the wire rack to cool completely.
- While the cakes cool, make the frosting by placing the butter in the body of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Cream the butter until smooth, 30 seconds. Add the powdered sugar a little at a time until fully combined, scrape down the sides as needed. Stir in the salt, lemon juice, and vanilla until incorporated. Place the speed on medium-high and whip the frosting for 3 minutes until light and fluffy set aside.
- To assemble the cake place a tablespoon-sized dollop of the buttercream onto the bottom of your serving dish or cake plate, this will help keep the cake in place while you assemble. Take the parchment paper off of one of the cakes and place it bottom side down onto the buttercream on your serving platter.
- Place the lemon curd on top and smooth it out to the edge leaving a half-inch border. Take the next cake and take off the parchment paper liner and place it top-side down on top of the lemon curd. Lightly press the cake down to distribute the curd out toward the sides but not so it is pouring out.
- Frost the cake with a small amount of buttercream for a crumb coat. Place in the fridge for 2 hours to set.
- Frost with the remaining buttercream, slice and serve
So this Lemon Layer Cake really isn’t that hard to make. People really get intimidated by layer cakes, but they are really fun and honestly, it’s more about the flavor than anything!
CAN I MAKE MY OWN LEMON CURD?
Absolutely, we use prepared lemon curd for this recipe as it was easier but if you have a favorite lemon curd recipe that you would like to use, by all means, go for it!
CAN I USE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING?
Yes you can, we went with a lemon buttercream with this recipe as we wanted the lemon flavors to really pull through in every aspect of this but if you like cream cheese frosting go for it.
Lemon and cream cheese go really well together and we have used it for this cake as well and it tastes just as good. You can also flavor your cream cheese frosting with lemon as well.
DO I HAVE TO USE 9″ CAKE PANS?
We like to use 9″ ones for this recipe but you can use 8″ pans as well, make sure they are high-sided because your cake layers will be taller.
Alternatively, you can make this in 3 8″ cake pans and have a 3 layer cake but each layer will be shorter, that is up to you on how you want to make this cake.
We just can’t get enough of it and have made it this way for years. The lemon is really the star of the show when it comes to this cake for sure.
With lemon flavors in the cake, the filling, and the frosting you are not short on where the lemon is included. If you are not a fan of lemon curd you could use the frosting in the center as well.
Just know that if you do that, you might run out of frosting to decorate the top of this cake, but you don’t have to decorate as I did, you can leave it plain on top as well.
HOW TO STORE:
Since this Lemon Layer Cake contains lemon curd it is safest to store covered in the refrigerator. Properly stored it will keep for up to 3-4 days.
You can also freeze this, I recommend freezing the actual cake layers instead of the cake itself. Bake your cake layers and let them cool. Wrap in plastic wrap and then foil and they should keep in the freezer for up to 5 months.
Let defrost in the refrigerator overnight then you can assemble and decorate your cake.
TIPS AND TRICKS:
- The buttercream recipe is even to lightly frost the cake, for more intricate decorating I suggest 1.5x or 2x the buttercream recipe. The cake shown uses 1.5x the recipe.
- The cake texture is extremely light and fluffy yet bursting with lemon flavor at every bite!
- You can freeze your cake layers, see my tips above.
- If you want to make homemade lemon curd you can do that instead of using store-bought.
- This needs to be refrigerated since it contains lemon curd, again see tips above.
If you want a delicious lemon-filled dessert then you have to make my Lemon Layer Cake, once you try a bite you will fall in love.
If you like this recipe you might also like:
If you’ve tried this LEMON LAYER CAKE let me know in the comments how it turned out! You can follow me over on PINTEREST, INSTAGRAM OR FACEBOOK to find some more of our mouthwatering recipes!
Lemon Layer Cake
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups cake flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter room temp
- 1 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 6 large egg white room temp
- 1 cup buttermilk room temp
- 1/4 cup lemon juice fresh squeezed
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- zest of 3 lemons 3 tablespoons
For the frosting:
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter softened
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- pinch of fine sea salt
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice fresh squeezed
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
For the filling:
- 1 1/2 cups prepared lemon curd
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray 2 9-inch cake pans with baking spray, take a pastry brush, and brush the spray all over to make sure it is even. Place a parchment paper liner in the bottom and brush more baking spray on top, set aside.
- In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt, set aside.
- Add the butter and sugar to the body of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment and mix on medium speed until light and fluffy, 2 minutes. Add the egg whites into the bowl in three batches, mix thoroughly in between each addition. Add the flour mixture and stir it in until just combined, scrape down the sides. Add the buttermilk, lemon juice, vanilla, and lemon zest. Stir it in until combined. Scrape down the sides and give it another 5 seconds of stirring.
- Divide the batter among the two cake pans and smooth out the tops. Bake for 22-27 minutes until lightly golden brown on top and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, a few crumbs on the toothpick is okay, any wet batter and it needs to bake longer.
- Let the cakes cool on a wire rack in their pans for 5 minutes, turn out the cakes and place them top side up on the wire rack to cool completely.
- While the cakes cool, make the frosting by placing the butter in the body of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Cream the butter until smooth, 30 seconds. Add the powdered sugar a little at a time until fully combined, scrape down the sides as needed. Stir in the salt, lemon juice, and vanilla until incorporated. Place the speed on medium-high and whip the frosting for 3 minutes until light and fluffy set aside.
- To assemble the cake place a tablespoon-sized dollop of the buttercream onto the bottom of your serving dish or cake plate, this will help keep the cake in place while you assemble. Take the parchment paper off of one of the cakes and place it bottom side down onto the buttercream on your serving platter.
- Place the lemon curd on top and smooth it out to the edge leaving a half-inch border. Take the next cake and take off the parchment paper liner and place it top-side down on top of the lemon curd. Lightly press the cake down to distribute the curd out toward the sides but not so it is pouring out.
- Frost the cake with a small amount of buttercream for a crumb coat. Place in the fridge for 2 hours to set.
- Frost with the remaining buttercream, slice and serve.
Notes
- The buttercream recipe is even to lightly frost the cake, for more intricate decorating I suggest 1.5x or 2x the buttercream recipe. The cake shown uses 1.5x the recipe.
- The cake texture is extremely light and fluffy yet bursting with lemon flavor at every bite!
- You can freeze your cake layers, see my tips above.
- If you want to make homemade lemon curd you can do that instead of using store bought.
- This needs to be refrigerated since it contains lemon curd, again see tips above.
Nutrition
Comments & Reviews
Rosellen says
I have a question instead of a comment. You say to add the egg white and three batches. But I don’t see in the instructions to whip the egg whites before you add them. Are the egg whites whipped or do you just put two egg whites in each time?
Dana DeVolk says
They are not whipped, just added to the batter in three batches.