I’ve made more high altitude lemon cakes over the years than I can remember. When my husband and I were married, I baked and decorated five cakes for our dessert table, as well as an assortment of mini tartlets and shortbread cookies. The lemon cake was easily the favorite with everyone! Even before the first delicious bite, the pale sunshiny color makes me happy. You can fill the layers with lemon curd, or just buttercream, decorate it simply with swirls of frosting, or beautiful, translucent dried lemon slices.
Looking for more lemon recipes? You’ll love honey lemon cupcakes, lavender lemon popsicles, soft and chewy lemonies, and classic lemon tart.
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Why We Love This Cake
- The cake batter is so easy to make, by simply whisking together wet and dry ingredients.
- It’s light and fluffy, with a soft, delicate crumb, thanks to using cake flour and lemon buttermilk (milk curdled with lemon juice).
- This cake is so moist and soft, beautifully lemony, with a perfect balance of sweet and tart flavors.
- It’s delicious with a variety of fillings, like lemon curd, jam or buttercream.
Ingredients
Granulated Sugar. I used a little more sugar in this cake than I usually use in my high altitude cake recipes. With all the tart lemon juice, it needs a bit of extra sweetness.
Lemon Zest. To really infuse lemon flavor into my cake, I grate lemons over the sugar, and then use my fingers to rub the zest into the sugar. The oils in the lemon zest coat the sugar in fresh lemon flavor, and makes this cake even more wonderful.
Cake Flour. Cake flour makes a very light and fluffy cake, and I highly recommend using it in this recipe, rather than all-purpose flour. I usually use Swan’s Down Cake Flour, and it works wonderfully.
Baking Soda & Baking Powder. Both of these leaveners work together to activate the acidic ingredients and provide a beautiful rise to the cake for a very fluffy crumb.
Coarse Kosher Salt. Everything sweet needs a pinch of salt for flavor and balance.
Lemon Juice. In addition to the lemon zest, the tart lemon juice gives the cake its lemon flavor, as well as acid to help it rise. I used fresh lemons, although you can use bottled lemon juice, too. Lemons vary in size, as well as how much juice they yield. You may need 4 small lemons to get 1/2 cup of juice. Remember, zest the lemons first, before you juice them.
Whole Milk. While I love baking cakes with buttermilk, for this recipe I used whole milk so that I could curdle it with the lemon juice. Doing so essentially creates a “lemon buttermilk”, that makes the most incredible cake.
Sour Cream. A spoonful of sour cream is always a good idea in cakes. It adds moisture, flavor and acidity, and contributes to the tenderness of the cake.
Eggs + Egg Whites. I use 3 whole eggs, plus 2 extra whites in this recipe (for a total of 3 yolks and 5 whites). The eggs provide the structure, stability and moisture, and the extra whites make the cake extra light.
Vegetable Oil. Most cake recipes will contain either butter or oil. Butter-based cakes tend to be more dense and rich, while an oil-based cake will be very moist and light.
Vanilla Extract. Even though this is a lemon cake, I like to add a dash of vanilla to add another flavor note.
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line three 8-inch cake pans with 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.
- In a measuring cup, stir together the lemon juice and milk; set aside for about 15 minutes to let the milk curdle.
- Measure the sugar into a large bowl, and zest the lemons over the sugar. Use your fingers to rub the lemon zest into the sugar to really infuse the lemon flavor.
- Set a fine mesh strainer over the sugar, and sift in the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt, then whisk together the dry ingredients with the lemon sugar.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the lemon juice/milk mixture, eggs, egg whites, sour cream, oil and vanilla until smooth. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and whisk by hand until smooth, about 30 seconds.
- Divide the batter between the pans. Bake for 25-27 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.
If you haven’t read my comprehensive post on Perfect American Buttercream, please do! There’s a wealth of information there, and if you struggle with your buttercream consistency, flavor and texture, I promise you that I can help you. While there is plenty of fresh lemon juice and zest in the cake, for the buttercream I decided to only use lemon extract and fresh zest. Adding lemon juice to buttercream runs the risk of curdling the butter. I have had this happen sometimes, and other times not. Based on experience, though, it’s best not to add the acidic juice and risk ruining a whole bowl of buttercream.
Buttercream
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the butter for one minute until smooth. Scrape the bowl down. With the mixer on low, add the powdered sugar, meringue powder and salt, mixing to combine. Add the lemon extract and vanilla.
- Beat on medium high for about 5 minutes, scraping the bowl down occasionally, until very light and fluffy. Add the milk as needed for desired consistency.
- Fill and frost the cooled cakes with the buttercream.
How to Make the Dried Lemon Garnish
Making dried lemons to garnish a cake is incredibly easy, and while they do have to dry in the oven for a few hours, there’s very little active prep time. They retain a beautiful color when dried on low heat, and can be made ahead of time and stored for later, as well. You can follow this exact process for dried lemons, oranges or grapefruit. Obviously, these are not the same as candied lemon slices, and are intended only as garnish, and not to be eaten, since they will taste bitter and not sweet.
- Preheat the oven to 175 F, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Thinly slice the lemons; I find that about 1/8 of an inch is the right thickness.
- Lay the lemon slices in a single layer on the baking sheet.
- Bake on the center oven rack for 2-3 hours, turning every 30 minutes and rotating the pan if you have hot spots in your oven, until mostly dry and still vivid in color; don’t let them get overly brown.
- Turn off the oven, and let them finish drying in the oven for several more hours, or overnight.
- Place on the cake, using a bit of buttercream as “glue”.
- Any leftover lemons can be stored in an airtight container for as long as they still retain their color.
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
Do I need to use cake flour?
I’ve only made this recipe using cake flour, and it produces a very light, fluffy cake. All-purpose flour will not give you quite the same result, but should still be fine. Be sure to sift the flour to get out any lumps.
Do I need to let the cold ingredients come to room temperature?
When making cakes, it’s always a good idea to set out your dairy products (eggs, milk, sour cream) an hour or two before you mix your batter, to let them come to room temperature. This just helps the batter mix up better and bake more evenly.
Can I use bottled lemon juice instead of fresh?
You sure can, but since you need fresh lemon zest anyway, you should use the zest and juice from your lemons.
How many lemons do I need?
Honestly, this varies so much, depending on their size, and how much juice they contain. You might need 4-5 small lemons to get 1/2 cup of juice for the cake batter.
Why don’t you add lemon juice to the buttercream?
Although there is plenty of fresh lemon juice and zest in the cake, for the buttercream I decided to only use lemon extract. Adding lemon juice to buttercream runs the risk of curdling the butter. I have had this happen sometimes, and other times not. But based on experience, I think it’s best not to add the acidic juice and risk ruining a whole bowl of buttercream.
How do I keep the cakes from sticking to the pans?
These cakes are extremely light and fluffy, and will stick to your cake pans if you don’t line them with parchment paper. Line the pans with a circle of parchment paper, and spray with non-stick spray to ensure easy release.
Can I make this recipe into a lemon poppy seed cake?
Of course! Just add 2 tablespoons poppy seeds to the dry ingredients before mixing your cake batter.
What flavors of fillings would you recommend for this cake?
If you want to fill your cakes with something other than the lemon buttercream, lemon curd would be delicious, as would raspberry jam.
How long does this cake stay fresh?
It will stay moist and soft for 3-5 days, if stored in an airtight container or cake carrier.
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High Altitude Lemon 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
Ingredients
Cake
- ½ cup (133ml) lemon juice, fresh or bottled
- 1 cup (269ml) whole milk
- 2 cups (432g) granulated sugar
- zest of 2 small lemons
- 2 ¾ cups (330g) cake flour, spooned and leveled
- ½ tsp (2.5g) baking soda
- 2 tsp (8g) baking powder
- 1 tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 3 (165g) large eggs
- 2 (70g) large egg whites only (save the yolks for another use)
- ½ cup (120g) sour cream
- 1 cup (224g) vegetable oil
- 1 tsp (4g) vanilla extract
Buttercream
- 2 cups (452g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 4 cups (560g) powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp (9g) meringue powder (optional)
- ⅛ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 2 tsp (8g) lemon extract
- 1 tsp (4g) vanilla extract
- zest of 1 small lemon
- 2-4 tbsp (33-66ml) milk or cream, if needed
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line three 8-inch cake pans with 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.
- In a measuring cup, stir together the lemon juice and milk; set aside for about 15 minutes to let the milk curdle.
- Measure the sugar into a large bowl, and zest the lemons over the sugar. Use your fingers to rub the lemon zest into the sugar to really infuse the lemon flavor.
- Set a fine mesh strainer over the sugar, and sift in the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt, then whisk together the dry ingredients with the lemon sugar.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the lemon juice/milk mixture, eggs, egg whites, sour cream, oil and vanilla until smooth. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and whisk by hand until smooth, about 30 seconds.
- Divide the batter between the pans. Bake for 25-27 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.
Buttercream
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the butter for one minute until smooth. Scrape the bowl down. With the mixer on low, add the powdered sugar, meringue powder and salt, mixing to combine. Add the lemon extract, vanilla extract and lemon zest.
- Beat on medium high for about 5 minutes, scraping the bowl down occasionally, until very light and fluffy. Add the milk as needed for desired consistency.
- Remove the cooled cakes from the pans. Fill and frost the cooled cakes with the buttercream.
Notes
- I’ve only made this recipe using cake flour, and it produces a very light, fluffy cake. All-purpose flour will not give you quite the same result, but should still be fine. Be sure to sift the flour to get out any lumps.
- It’s a good idea to set out your dairy products (eggs, milk, sour cream) an hour or two before you mix your batter, to let them come to room temperature. Large eggs can vary in size, but they should average about 1/4 cup each in volume; three large eggs plus two whites should fill one cup. If your eggs are on the small side, add another to get a full cup.
- Lemons also can vary in size, as well as how much juice they contain. You might need 4 small lemons to get 1/2 cup of juice for the cake batter.
- Although there is plenty of fresh lemon juice and zest in the cake, for the buttercream I decided to only use lemon extract. Adding lemon juice to buttercream runs the risk of curdling the butter; I have had this happen sometimes, and other times not, but based on experience, I think it’s best not to add the acidic juice and risk ruining a whole bowl of buttercream.
- These cakes are extremely light and fluffy, and will stick to your cake pans if you don’t line them with parchment paper. Take this extra step to ensure easy release.
- For a Lemon Poppyseed Cake, add two tablespoons poppy seeds to the dry ingredients.
- To add even more tart lemony goodness, you can spread a bit of lemon curd between each cake layer.
- Be sure to review my Baking FAQs for my other tips on cake baking.
- This cake will stay moist for days if stored in an airtight container or cake carrier.
Hi…it would be better if you put the measurements in grams instead of cups coz measuring cups are not the same sizes. Thanks for the recipe.
Liz, thanks for your feedback! It is true that measuring by weight will always be more accurate. However, most American bakers (as I am) are accustomed to using cups, tablespoons, teaspoons, etc, and it’s a commonly accepted standard in recipes. When measured correctly (such as using the “spoon and sweep” method for measuring flour, then measuring by volume is very accurate. Best of luck in your baking!
I Love this cake recipe. It was easy and i turned out delicious. I live in Colorado too and this high altitude recipe made the cake fluffy, moist and flavourful.
I’m so glad, thank you for taking the time to leave a review!
Do you remove these cakes from pans after taking out of oven?
You should let the cakes cool completely before removing them from the pans.
Thank you, Curly Girl. After moving to Northern New Mexico, when I try my old recipes that I’ve used for years, I am in tears as they collapse and are ugly. When I use your recipes—I am saved!!! This cake is wonderful. I made it for my grandchildren’s birthday party today and it was a big hit. Everyone loved it and commented on the lemon curd filling. Thank you for sharing your hard work. We love it!!
Baking in Colorado for the first time so appreciated this comment before trying this recipe.
The cake tasted amazing and was extremely moist. While the buttercream had the most amazing texture and was fluffy as a cloud, there was no lemon flavor to it even though I added all ingredients to the exact measurements.
Maybe your lemon extract isn’t as intense as mine? You can definitely add more lemon extract and fresh lemon zest to make the buttercream as lemony as you like. 🙂
Hello how do you achieve those nice icing folds on the side?
Which of the three pictured cakes are you asking about?
I’ve made this recipe exactly as written and it is perfect! I also live in Colorado, so I didn’t have to adjust for altitude.
I just made this recipe gluten free for the first time. I used Bob’s red mill 1 to 1 gf flour. Sometimes it is hard to get gf treats to be light, so I altered the technique a bit. I whipped half the sugar and all the eggs together until at least doubled, weighed in my gluten free flour a bit at a time, whipping again after each addition. I then added the milk/lemon mixture, the rest of the sugar, the oil and vanilla, the sour cream, then the leaveners and salt, whipping back up between each comma. The batter was extremely light as I poured it into the pans. I baked it at 340, it took about 28 minutes but it stayed nice and moist thanks to the sour cream.
It was slightly gritty but that’s just the nature of gf flour blends. Paired with that beautiful buttercream and a little bit of raspberry jam, everyone loved it. (I also used a lemon cake soak, because I was making it 2 days before I intended to serve it. I just wrapped the cooled layers in cling film and then made the buttercream and soaked the layers day of)
Truly a fantastic recipe.
I’m so glad you loved it! Thanks so much for taking the time to comment. This is so helpful for others looking to make a gluten free version.
Best Lemon Cake I’ve ever tasted. Incredibly light and fluffy with the emphasis on lemon and not just sugar. Also very striking with the dried lemon garnish!
Mine did not come as fluffy, followed the recepe as instructed, came out heavy, like a pound cake
Hi Joseph, may I ask what altitude you’re at? I test my cake at Denver’s altitude of 5,000 feet, so if you’re at a lower altitude, that will certainly affect the outcome, and you’d need to make some minor adjustments for your altitude. Also, when you measure your flour, if you use the measuring cup to scoop it out of the bag, that will pack too much flour into the cups, and you’ll end up with a dense cake. Be sure to first aerate your flour in your canister by just stirring it up a bit, then spooning it lightly into your measuring cup and sweeping the excess off the top with the back of a knife. Over-mixing the batter can also result in a dense cake.
What adjustments should I make for baking at 1000 ft?
You should probably reduce the flour by a couple of tablespoons, and increase the leavening a bit. I’m sorry, I can’t give exact adjustments since I haven’t tested my recipes at any altitude but my own. I recommend giving this article a read! https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/learn/resources/high-altitude-baking
I made a few changes according to the article. The cake was awesome – light and fluffy and tons of compliments!”
Thx
Hi! Can you tell me what kind of cake is pictured above with the little pink rosettes? Is there a post on the cake with a recipe?
Can you tell me what the cake is that is pictured above with the little pink flowers on it? Is there a post about this cake with instructions ? 🙂 I LOVE it!!
I had tested several variations of my lemon cake recipe before perfecting it, and that was just one of the test cakes that I decorated with piped rosettes. I’m sorry, I don’t have a tutorial for it, though! I can tell you that I used a small star tip for piping the roses, like tip #18 or 73, and a small leaf tip like #65 or 66.
Thank you! 😍
I am so happy I discovered your recipe! I have lived in Colorado all my life, so I know how important it is to have good high-altitude recipes. I recently became vegan so I’ve been experimenting with my own baked goods as well as trying new ones. I was craving a lemon cake and thought yours looked amazing. I made the cake completely vegan (-I used the same measurements but no animal products-) and it was fantastic! I gave pieces to several different people and all of them loved it. One of my friends even asked for another piece AND the recipe! Thank you for sharing this delicious dessert. I can’t wait to try more of your recipes. 🙂
That’s great to hear, thank you! 🙂
I haven’t tasted the cake yet (in process of making frosting right now), but I noticed you left out a mention of where the lemon zest is used that is called for in the recipe ingredients. I’m going to assume it’s just blended into the frosting with the extract and not used as a garnish, so we’ll see how that works out! Thanks for the beautiful and delicious-sounding recipe.
Yes, I just mix it right in. I’ll update the recipe, thank you!
Hi! Do you know if this will work as cupcakes? I’m looking for a lemon cupcake recipe and wasn’t sure if this would work or not. TIA!
Honestly, I’m not sure! I have plans to test this recipe as cupcakes, but haven’t been able to test it yet. If you do try it, please let me know!
Loved this recipe!! I’m at 9000ft elevation and gluten free so I adjusted it a bit but seriously the best lemon cakes ive ever had! Thank you so much for the recipe 🙂
Here’s my adjustments for higher elevation and gluten free:
Bake at 375
1.5C sugar
Rice flour sub for cake flour
3/4tsp xanthan gum
3/4C sour cream
Thanks so much for including the adjustments you made!
I just made this cake and live at an elevation of 410′ and it turned out perfectly, it’s the best lemon cake I’ve ever made and I make a lot of lemon cakes! Thank you for your delicious recipe.
Hi,
Do you mind me asking where you purchased the white ruffled cake stand with gold accents? It’s beautiful and compliments the cake so well!
I wish I could remember, but I bought it years ago.
I made this cake (also at 5280′!) for my daughter’s birthday last summer, filled with homemade strawberry ice cream and topped with a whipped lemon curd and a sliced strawberry rosette. I used cake strips, which significantly elongated the baking time, but the cake was soft and moist and balanced perfectly with the sweet strawberry ice cream – no buttercream needed! The family raved about it and I’m sure my daughter will request it again.
I’m sorry, this cake was atrocious on all levels. Firstly, you don’t bake cakes using flour with a low protein structure like cake flour at high altitudes. The cake can’t hold its own weight as at bakes and will collapse. All purpose flour has, on average, 11-12%, cake flour has 3. Secondly, it tasted terrible: nothing like lemon and with a horrible aftertaste. The combination of lemon, buttermilk, and sour cream was too much acid.
As someone who’s been baking at high altitude for many years, I can assure you that cake flour works very well in cake recipes. And the many 5-star reviews on this recipe will also attest to its success. It sounds like something went wrong on your end for it to turn out the way it did. Better luck with your next bake!
This is the absolute best lemon cake I’ve ever had. I’ve made it twice now for family gatherings, and everyone loves it. I took the recipe suggestion and made lemon curd from this site also and put some of that in between the layers along with some of the buttercream. It takes it to another level.
I made this as a key lime pie cake and it came out amazing. I replaced the lemon juice and zest with lime juice and zest in the cake. And then put your homemade lime curd in the middle as a filling. I also made your vanilla buttercream with toasted graham cracker crumbs mixed in. I’m also at high altitude and I love trying out your recipes, haven’t been disappointed yet!
I made this cake for a birthday, and it was a hit! Your recipes never miss!
I’ve had this recipe pinned for years for the original recipe (before everything changed to high altitude.) Did you change the recipe recently or is this still the same recipe, just with a new name? The old one baked beautifully and I’m looking to make it again, but the new name is throwing me off. I do not live in a high altitude state. Thanks!
I only changed the name. Everything on my site has always been developed for high altitude.
This sounds delicious and I like all the 5 star reviews. I’m going to make it this week. How would you adjust for 7000 feet altitude? I never seem to get it right.
I have some guidance in my FAQs for adjusting for various altitudes: https://curlygirlkitchen.com/baking-faqs/