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Lemon Cake Recipe

Lemon Cake Recipe from scratch using freshly squeezed lemon juice.

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How to make a lemon cake from scratch using freshly squeezed lemons

It is summer and we have plenty of lemons in south Texas. It is so nice to have different cake flavors for different occasions, so let me share with you this lemon cake recipe and how I made it using freshly squeezed lemons

This recipe is very similar to the vanilla cake recipe I use must of the time. There are some things that vary, but it is great to cover with fondant or ganache.

Lemon Cake Recipe from scratch using freshly squeezed lemon juice.

How to make a lemon cake.

Before you start here is the list of ingredients:

  • All purpose Flour
  • Sugar
  • Eggs
  • Butter
  • Whole Milk
  • Lemons
  • Sour Cream
  • Baking powder and baking soda
  • Salt
  1. Mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt all together in a bowl and set aside.
  2. Zest the lemons and then squeeze the lemons to get the juice, remove all seeds.
  3. Whip the butter and the sugar for about 5-7 minutes with the paddle attachment until the butter is pale and the mixture looks fluffy. This step adds air to the batter.
  4. Next, add the eggs one by one and let each egg incorporate to the batter before you add the next egg.
  5. Pour the vanilla and scrape the sides of the bowl.
  6. Add the dry ingredients, the milk and juice in 3 intervals. Start with dry, then wet, dry, wet, dry, wet.
  7. Add the sour cream, the lemon zest and mix together until well combined with the batter.
  8. Pour the batter in 4 6″ round cakes pans and bake for 35-40 min. at 350 °F. Or you can use 3 8×3″ round cake pans.
Lemon Cake Recipe from scratch using freshly squeezed lemon juice.

Great filling flavors to fill your cake with.

One of the best flavors to pair this lemon cake is raspberries.

When I used to sell cakes and my customer would ask for lemon cake I would always recommend to use a raspberry buttercream as a filling.

The flavor combination is amazing, it has the sweetness of the raspberry buttercream and the refreshing flavor of lemon.

Use a thin coat of lemon curd to keep everything lemony.

How about some fruit reduction like strawberry reduction, blueberry or blackberry reductions.

Lemon Cake Recipe from scratch using freshly squeezed lemon juice.

Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream

I honestly wanted to fill this lemon cake with my favorite flavor and a great combination, raspberries.

In my head, I was sure I had freeze-dried raspberries in the pantry and when I was ready to use them they were gone. I blame it on my kids.

The only thing I found was strawberries and since we are staying home to stay healthy I decided to use the strawberries.

Try this sweet and tart mouthwatering Cranberry Orange Cake

It is very simple to add the freeze-dried fruits to create a different flavor of buttercream. Just grind them in a coffee grinder into a fine powder.*

Prepare your buttercream, as usual. Here is how I make mine SMBC. Once you have your buttercream ready, add the fruit powder flavoring and some gel color.

I have notice that if you want a more intense color and flavor you need to add clear flavoring and some gel color.

*They have to be freeze-dried fruit, not dehydrated fruits. The difference is in the water content. About 98-99 % of water is removed from the fruit when they are freeze-dried. When dehydrated 90-95 % of water is removed.

Meringue decorations.

To play it safe, and since I was not going to cook it I made the meringue using meringue powder.

I used The Basic Meringue recipe from the wilton’s website. Pretty simple.

Once done I used a disposable piping bag and the tips 1M for the big swirls and tip #21 for the smaller decorations.

To get the toasty look I used a culinary torch and passed it slowly and from a distance to the meringue swirls.

To make the cake more refreshing I put it in the fridge and pulled it out about 30 minutes before serving.

You might like to try this amazing recipes:

Vanilla Cake Recipe

Chocolate Cake Recipe

Cranberry Orange Cake

5 types of buttercream

Looking for more lemon cakes? check this recipe from Bake and Blunders Lemon and Blueberry Cake with cream cheese frosting.

Lemon Cake Recipe

Easy, moist and fluffy homemade lemon cake made with fresh squeezed lemons.

  • 2.5 cups Sugar
  • 1 cup Unsalted butter
  • 5 Eggs
  • 3 cups All purpose flour
  • 2 tsp Baking Powder
  • ½ tsp Baking Soda
  • 1 pinch Salt
  • ¾ cup Whole Milk
  • ½ cup Freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • ¼ cup Sour Cream
  • 1 Tbsp Vanilla Extract
  • 1 Lemon zest (about 1 Tbsp)
  1. Preheat the oven at 350°F

  2. On a bowl mix in the all-purpose flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and set aside.

  3. On a clean mixing bowl, cream the butter and the sugar for about 5 min. Until the butter is pale and fluffy.

  4. Add the eggs one by one and allow them to incorporate into the batter.

  5. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.

  6. Set the mixer speed to low and start adding the dry and wet ingredients (lemon juice and milk) in three intervals, alternating between them. Start with the dry and end with the milk-lemon juice.

  7. Add the vanilla extract and the sour cream.

  8. Pour the batter in 4- 6 inch round cake pans or 3-8inch and bake at 350°F for 40-45 min.

  9. Let cakes rest inside the pans for 10 min. Remove them from pans and let them cool completely before decorating.