A pretty and petite high altitude lemon poppy seed cake, coated in lemon sugar and filled with fluffy lemon cream cheese buttercream. This lemon cake is sure to please everyone and is perfect for any special occasion.
You might also love these high altitude recipes for lemon poppy seed cookies, lavender lemon cake, baked lemon sugar cake donuts, and lemon poppy seed crumb muffins.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Smaller Size. With two, 6-inch layers of cake, this petite cake isn’t quite a mini lemon cake, but is the perfect smaller size for a small family who doesn’t want too much leftover cake. See the recipe variations section below for making a larger layer cake.
Perfectly Lemony. With fresh lemon zest, lemon juice and lemon extract, there’s plenty of lemon flavor in this lemon poppy seed cake.
Cream Cheese Buttercream. I absolutely love cream cheese buttercream, with its sweet and tangy flavor. This buttercream recipe is perfectly pipable, and holds its shape beautifully between the naked cake layers.
High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
Cake
- Sugar. The sugar adds sweetness to the cake, but also moisture. For my naked cake, I also coated the edges of the cake in lemon sugar, for a pretty finish.
- Lemon. You’ll need 1-2 lemons, and you’ll be using both the fresh lemon zest and the juice. By rubbing the zest into the sugar, you’ll be infusing the sugar with lemon flavor, for a more lemony lemon cake. And the lemon juice adds acidity for a tender cake crumb.
- Milk + Sour Cream. Use whole milk and full fat sour cream for the best flavor and texture in your cake.
- Vegetable Oil. Moisture.
- Eggs. The eggs give the cake structure, strength and moisture.
- Vanilla Extract. Flavor.
- Flour. I make my lemon poppy seed cake with cake flour, which has a lower percentage of protein, for a very soft, tender cake. You can use all-purpose flour, but your cake won’t have quite as light of a texture.
- Baking Powder. Leavening agent.
- Salt. Balances the sweetness.
- Poppy Seeds. Adds a nuttiness that nicely complements the flavor of the lemon, and the black specks in the cake are so pretty, too.
Buttercream
- Butter + Shortening + Cream Cheese. When I make cream cheese buttercream for layer cakes, I use a combination of unsalted butter, vegetable shortening, and block cream cheese. This makes a more stable cream cheese buttercream, which can be used for frosting layer cakes, and holds its shape well for piping. While the butter should be softened to room temperature, the cream cheese should be cold from the fridge.
- Lemon Paste or Lemon Extract. You could also add some fresh lemon zest to the buttercream, but don’t add any lemon juice. The acid in the lemon juice can curdle the buttercream.
- Powdered Sugar. Sweetens and thickens the buttercream.
- Meringue Powder. Adds stability and improves the texture.
- Corn Starch. A little corn starch in a batch of cream cheese frosting helps to thicken and stabilize the frosting, without excessive amounts of powdered sugar.
- Salt. Balances the sweetness.
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Line two 6-inch cake pans with circles of parchment paper in the bottoms of the pans, and spray the paper with non-stick spray. The baked cakes are sticky, and you should not skip this step of lining your pans with parchment paper.
- Measure the sugar into a large bowl, and zest the lemon over the sugar. Use your fingers to rub the lemon zest into the sugar to really infuse the lemon flavor.
- Remove 1/4 cup of the lemon sugar. You’ll be using it later, to coat the edges of the baked cakes, if you decide to do the naked cake pictured in today’s post.
- Now cut the lemon in half, and squeeze the juice into a liquid measuring cup. You’ll need 1/4 cup of lemon juice, so if you don’t get quite enough from the lemon, you can add some bottled lemon juice. Stir in the milk, and set aside for several minutes to let the milk curdle.
- To the lemon sugar add the lemon juice/milk mixture, egg, egg white, sour cream, oil and vanilla extract, and whisk until smooth.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and poppy seeds. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and whisk until just combined.
- Divide the batter between the pans. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until a cake tester in the center of the cakes comes out clean and the tops spring back when lightly touched. Set the pans on a wire rack, cover with a clean kitchen towel, and cool completely.
- Before assembling the cake, gently turn the cakes out of the pans and coat the edges in the remaining 1/4 cup lemon sugar. If the sugar doesn’t stick, you can lightly brush the cake edges with the melted butter.
Note: If you’re completely covering the cake with the buttercream, instead of a naked cake, you should skip this step of coating the cake edges in lemon sugar.
Buttercream
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, shortening and cream cheese for 1-2 minutes on medium speed, until smooth. Add the lemon paste or extract.
- In a separate bowl, combine the powdered sugar, meringue powder, corn starch and salt. With the mixer on low, add the powdered sugar mixture. Increase the speed to medium and beat for 3-5 minutes, until light and fluffy, scraping the bowl down several times. Turn the speed down to “stir” and mix for 1 minute.
- Fit a piping bag with tip 8B, and fill with the buttercream.
- Place one of the cake layers, edges coated in the lemon sugar, on a cake pedestal or serving plate. Pipe the buttercream on top of the cake. Repeat with the second layer of cake.
Note: For this design, use tip 8B to pipe large “shells”, starting in the center of the cake, and working your way around towards the edges. You may also like the naked cake design on this brown sugar cinnamon cake, with piped swirls using tip 1M.
Recipe Variations
Frost the Cake All Over. I love the look of today’s naked lemon cake with the fancy piped cream cheese buttercream. But there’s also enough buttercream to simply fill and frost the cake all over. If you decide to cover the cake with the buttercream, don’t coat the edges of the cake in the lemon sugar, or the frosting won’t stick to the cake. Also, be sure to only use one cup of the lemon sugar in the cake batter.
Fill with Lemon Curd. When I make lemon cake, I’ll sometimes add a layer of lemon curd between the cake layers. It adds even more lemony goodness.
Larger 8-Inch Cake. A two layer 6-inch cake is the perfect size for a small gathering or celebration. But if you’re needing something bigger, you can double the recipe, or just refer to my original lemon cake post for the full recipe.
Sheet Cake. You can make this cake in a 9-inch square baking pan, or double it to bake in a 9×13 pan. I have not tested the bake times for these pan sizes.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common questions with cake making, so that you can be successful in your own baking! I also suggest reading these comprehensive posts on making Perfect American Buttercream, How to Stack, Fill, Crumb Coat and Frost Layer Cakes and How to Use Piping Bags.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does this cake need to be refrigerated?
Since this lemon poppy seed cake has cream cheese in the frosting, I recommend refrigerating it in an airtight container. Let come to room temperature for 3-4 hours before serving.
Can I make the buttercream without the meringue powder or corn starch?
Both the meringue powder and corn starch add stability and improve the texture, but they are optional. Your buttercream might be a little softer without them.
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High Altitude Lemon Poppy Seed Cake
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Stand Mixer with Paddle Attachment
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 ¼ cups granulated sugar, divided
- 1 large lemon (1 tbsp fresh lemon zest + 1/4 cup lemon juice)
- ½ cup whole milk
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 large egg white (save the extra yolk for another use)
- ⅓ cup full fat sour cream
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 ⅔ cups cake flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 1 tbsp poppy seeds
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter, melted (only if needed to get the lemon sugar to stick to the sides of the cake)
Buttercream
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- ½ cup vegetable shortening
- 4 oz (1/2 block) full fat cream cheese, cold
- 1 tsp lemon paste or lemon extract
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp meringue powder
- 1 tbsp corn starch
- ⅛ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Line two 6-inch cake pans with circles of parchment paper in the bottoms of the pans, and spray the paper with non-stick spray. The baked cakes are sticky, and you should not skip this step of lining your pans with parchment paper.
- Measure the sugar into a large bowl, and zest the lemon over the sugar. Use your fingers to rub the lemon zest into the sugar to really infuse the lemon flavor.Remove 1/4 cup of the lemon sugar. You'll be using it later, to coat the edges of the baked cakes, if you decide to do the naked cake pictured in today's post.
- Now cut the lemon in half, and squeeze the juice into a liquid measuring cup. You'll need 1/4 cup of lemon juice, so if you don't get quite enough from the lemon, you can add some bottled lemon juice. Stir in the milk, and set aside for several minutes to let the milk curdle.
- To the lemon sugar add the lemon juice/milk mixture, egg, egg white, sour cream, oil and vanilla extract, and whisk until smooth.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and poppy seeds. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and whisk until just combined.
- Divide the batter between the pans. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until a cake tester in the center of the cakes comes out clean and the tops spring back when lightly touched. Set the pans on a wire rack, cover with a clean kitchen towel, and cool completely.
- Before assembling the cake, gently turn the cakes out of the pans and coat the edges in the remaining 1/4 cup lemon sugar. If the sugar doesn't stick, you can lightly brush the cake edges with the melted butter.Note: If you're completely frosting the cake with the buttercream, you should skip this step of coating the cake edges in lemon sugar.
Buttercream
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, shortening and cream cheese for 1-2 minutes on medium speed, until smooth. Add the lemon paste or extract.
- In a separate bowl, combine the powdered sugar, meringue powder, corn starch and salt. With the mixer on low, add the powdered sugar mixture. Increase the speed to medium and beat for 3-5 minutes, until light and fluffy, scraping the bowl down several times. Turn the speed down to "stir" and mix for 1 minute.
- Fit a piping bag with tip 8B, and fill with the buttercream.
- Place one of the cake layers, edges coated in the lemon sugar, on a cake pedestal or serving plate. Pipe the buttercream on top of the cake. Repeat with the second layer of cake.
Will the lemon sugar dissolve if you assemble the cake the day before?
This could happen in warmer weather, so if you’re baking the cake a day in advance, I’d probably wait to assemble it until the day it’s served, just to be on the safe side. My house was pretty cool, and the sugar was not dissolved the second day, though.