Just a lovely, simple Lemon Cake recipe – perfect tea time treat. You’ll love the bright lemon flavour, that it’s so beautifully moist and only requires one bowl and a whisk!
Finished with a lemon glaze, this is a simple cake that you can whip up on short notice. When blueberries are in season, try this Blueberry Lemon Cake. And in Autumn, a fragrant spiced Apple Cake!
Lemon Cake recipe
This Lemon Cake is one of my emergency quick and easy cake recipes, something I can get in the oven super quickly when I’m short on time. There’s no creaming of butter required, it’s a quick dump-and-mix cake.
The “secret ingredient” in this is yoghurt. Yoghurt is a brilliant baking ingredient because it thickens the batter which means less flour required which = more moist cake. 🙂
I love how golden brown this cake is straight out of the oven. It almost glows!
Lemon Glaze
In the spirit of this being a simple teacake, I keep the frosting simple too. I just use a Glaze or a quick Cream Cheese Frosting.
For the glaze, I like to make the glaze a bit thicker than typical glazes because it adds that extra oomph of sweetness and stickiness to the cake, as opposed to cutting it in half and sandwiching it with something.
Added bonus: I love how the drips look and how the glaze isn’t see through.
If a glaze isn’t your thing or you want more frosting, I’ve also included my quick Cream Cheese Frosting. This is different to the usual Cream Cheese Frosting I use for things like Red Velvet and Carrot Cake which requires a stand mixer and a good 7 minutes of fast beating.
In the spirit of the simplicity of this quick Lemon Cake recipe, I use my shortcut Cream Cheese Frosting which I make simply by mixing spreadable Cream Cheese (comes in tubs, not blocks) with lemon juice and icing sugar. No stand mixer required, no need to even wait to soften the cream cheese. Just mix it up with a wooden spoon, dollop and spread. 🙂
You know that pretty cake decorations aren’t my thing. I’d probably spend more time styling a giant plate of slow cooked meat than I would spend decorating a towering cake! 😂
So in my usual form, I’ve kept it nice and simple – just some lemon slices and a few sprigs of baby’s breath from a bunch I happened to have.
This cake may be simple but in all honesty, it’s probably the cake I made most often last year. I actually intended to share it earlier this year, but then I got all excited because blueberries came into season so I published the Blueberry Lemon Cake instead (same cake, but with blueberries).
So I sat on this Lemon Cake recipe for a couple of months until an adequate amount of time had passed. And finally, I’m sharing it! – Nagi x
More quick, emergency cakes
No creaming butter, no stand mixer for any of these!
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
Watch how to make this lemon cake!
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Glazed Lemon Cake recipe
Ingredients
Wet:
- 2/3 cup / 165 ml vegetable or canola oil
- 2 eggs
- 1 ½ tbsp grated lemon rind (1 large or 2 medium lemons)
- ¼ cup / 65 ml fresh lemon juice
- 1 cup / 250g plain yoghurt (Note 1)
- 1.25 cups / 275g caster sugar (superfine sugar, granulated ok too)
Dry:
- 2 cups/300g plain flour (all purpose flour)
- 4 tsp baking powder
- Pinch of salt
Glaze:
- 1 3/4 cup / 210 g icing sugar (powdered sugar)
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 1/2 tbsp plain yogurt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F (standard) or 160C/320F (fan/convection). Grease a 20 cm / 8” cake pan with butter.
- Place Wet ingredients in a bowl. Whisk until combined.
- Sprinkle over flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk until smooth - few small lumps is ok.
- Pour into pan - it should be fairly thick but pourable (see video). Bake for 50 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
- Remove metal ring and cool on rack then glaze.
Glaze:
- Place ingredients in a bowl and whisk until smooth. Test down the side of the bowl to get the right thickness, using 1 tsp of yoghurt at a time to thin it out if required. Glaze should drip (slowly, because it's thick) but not be see through.
- Place rack on a tray or baking paper.
- Pour glaze over the middle of the cake, gently push towards the edges so it drips down the sides.
- Let it set for 1 hour before transferring to a serving plate.
- See note for how I did the lemon slices in the photos, and the alternative quick Cream Cheese Frosting.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
LIFE OF DOZER
You can just imagine the thoughts running through that furry head:
“Will I make it to the door??”
“How hard would it be to scoff it down on the run??”
“I wonder if she’s going to frost it? 😳 Maybe I should wait…”
Hi Nagi. I am planning to try this cake for my birthday. Can I use rice flour + corn starch instead of plain flour? And I am using a very small oven, one you can carry around with heaters in top and bottom.(Like this: https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/f9wAAOSwbX5cYXYu/s-l400.jpg) Can you give a prediction in how this will influence the heat and baking time?
Hi Olive, the cake will have a different texture if you use rice and cornflour unfortunately. I haven’t tried cooking with an oven like that either so wouldn’t be able to give you an accurate recommendation – N x
Hi Nagi, this is another fantastic recipe. So lemony and incredibly soft and fluffy! Have made it several times already. However the cake always sinks a little in the middle as soon as I take it out of the oven. Happened to the Persian Love Cake too. What do you think could be causing it?
Hi Linda, there could be a number of reasons for it, what kind of oven are you using? – N x
Hi Nagi, I’m using a fan forced oven, at 160 degrees….Is it too hot? Thanks!
Hi Nagi, can I substitute lime for lemon in this recipe? Do I need to tweak anything else like sugar?
I haven’t tried to be honest Linda!
Hi Nagi ! Can orange be substituted for lemon in this recipe for making orange cake ?
Perfect idea Elizabeth!!
Wow this is so moist and the sweetness is just right . I made cupcakes instead (12 for this recipe ) . Will try using calamansi (lime) next time . Lemons are so expensive here ! *About aud 0.60 per piece
Limes would also be great with this recipe Annabelle, I’m so glad you loved it ❤️
Hi Nagi, you goddess! Why baking powder? I thought with acids, one is supposed to use bicarbonate? Not that your recipes aren’t totally trustworthy, every single one turns out beautifully, but this has me hesitant…..
Hi Lisa, I use baking powder as the rising agent in this cake (which does have bi-carb in it anyway) ☺️
Shouldn’t have doubted! It turned out beautifully-great texture, perfect rise, so yummy. Best part was the simplicity!!!! Thank you so much
I’m so glad you loved it!!
Hi Nagi, I’ve made many of your recipes and love them! i just made the lemon cake and my cake has quite a number of big craters on the top. Could I have overcooked the cake? If so, could I salvage it by putting your Quick Cream Cheese Frosting on top of it? 🙂 Thank you.
Hi Zee, cracking can be a cause of a few things; oven being too hot, the cake rising too quickly or being placed too high in the oven. I’d definitely salvage with a frosting of some type – never waste cake! 😉
Thank you! 🙂
Love your recipe ingredients are easy to find I’m just 12 but I love it
Thanks so much ❤️
Hi! I love you’re recipe and it’s a crowd favourite at gatherings!
I want to use it for cupcakes, do I need to alter the cooking time at all or just keep it the same?
Thanks!
Hi Nagi,
Love your site! Was wondering if I can bake this in a loaf pan?
Thanks x
Nope, put it straight in only thing I can think of is that my cake wasn’t as dark and could do with some extra cooking time, usually the way when using a gas oven…but the only time I’ve had a cake fall like that though is when I’ve accidentally used too much baking powder/bicarb…maybe British baking powder has more of a kick ! I’ll give it a go with 3tsp next time 😅
Also just want to say I love your recipes, I have a recipetin scrapbook folder in my bookmarks of all my faves too many to print ! 😊
Hi Nagi, followed the recipe exactly cake seemed to rise fine came back to it when it had cooled…it had collapsed in the middle with a huge hollow and all goooey inside, tasted nice though, any ideas ?
Hi Luke! Did you put the batter into the cake pan straight away, didn’t leave it sitting around? Reason I ask is that someone made that mistake the other day – once wet and dry are combined, the rising agent is activated and if you leave it sitting around, it’s bubbling away and you lose some of the rising firepower once it gets in the oven 🙂 N x
Nope, put it straight in only thing I can think of is that my cake wasn’t as dark and could do with some extra cooking time, usually the way when using a gas oven…but the only time I’ve had a cake fall like that though is when I’ve accidentally used too much baking powder/bicarb…maybe British baking powder has more of a kick ! I’ll give it a go with 3tsp next time 😅
Also just want to say I love your recipes, I have a recipetin scrapbook folder in my bookmarks of all my faves too many to print ! 😊
Can this cake be frozen in individual slices so I can have a great cake on hand for guests?
Is four tsps of baking powder correct? That sounds like a lot to me.
Hi NR! It’s actually standard – the benchmark is 2 tsp per 1 cup of flour 🙂