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. Yoghurt keeps the cake moist so it lasts for days and days! It’s the same batter used in this Blueberry Lemon Cake and Strawberry 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…”
I used sour cream instead of yoghurt, I cup of sugar and dusted with icing sugar, used a springform tin. May have slightly overcooked it, temperamental oven, but delicious texture and crumb.
I’m so glad it still worked for you Sandy! N x
Hi Nagi, I’m baking this right now and it has exploded over the top of the pan. I substituted self raising flour for plain, halved the baking powder and omitted the salt. Any thoughts on what went wrong? Should I have left out the baking powder completely? Thanks!
Hi Nisha, yes the self raising flour would have been the problem as there is baking powder already in the recipe – I would leave the baking powder out completely if using self raising flour. N x
Thanks Nagi! I’ll remember that for next time. It still tastes great and I covered up the visual flaws with the cream cheese frosting 🙂
One of my new year resolutions was to cook everything on this page. And I’m always impatient to try new recipes you share. All of them were extremely delicious so far. And this cake as well. Thanks, Nagi!
Hi Nagi! I forgot to buy lemons when I went to buy groceries but we do have oranges! Can I use them instead of lemons? Will the measurements be the same? Thanks!
Hi Carol, I haven’t tried to be honest but here’s what I’d do – double the zest amount to 3 tablespoons to get a more intense orange flavour through the cake. Love to know how it goes if you try it! N x
Hi Nagi! I doubled the zest and the cake was delicious but for some reason it didn’t rise and I think it shrinked a bit? I think its because my pan was wider, I’ll see if I can find a smaller pan and try again!
Are these US measuremnets ? How come 2 cups is 300 gms?
Hi Hanika, I use a 250ml cup size, 2 cups of flour = 300g. N x
Beautiful cake super moist. My glaze didn’t come out right but it was still super yummy. Definitely my go to lemon cake. Thank you!
Hey Nagi, I had been looking for a simple recipe for lemon cake & i really liked your recipe. I tried it yesterday. But the cake didn’t rise properly in the middle. I followed the recipe exactly. I wonder what could have gone wrong. Perhaps if there is a way I could share a picture with you. I used Turkish Yogurt (10% fat). I read in one of your comments that you used greek yogurt, but isn’t that with 0% fat 😧
The cake even without properly rising tasted very nice. I would like to try it again but only after knowing what i did incorrectly.
Hi Chetna, I use greek or natural yogurt and it’s definitely not low fat. Sinking cakes can be caused by a number of reasons – oven type, heating the cake too quickly etc. Can I ask what type of oven you’re using? N x
thankyou for writing back Nagi 🙂 I use an electric freestanding oven-hob, with heating element on top & bottom. I had pre-heated the oven to 180 degree C as suggested in the recipe. Used 10% fat turkish yogurt. I believe we only have 0% fat greek yogurt in local super markets. I cannot figure out what could have gone wrong :O
Hi, i tried baking the lemon cake yesterday. After took out from oven, the top part has cracked on it and turned brownish, but the inside is dense and not spongy As seen from your picture/video. May i know where did it went wrong? Thanks.
Hi Jenn, sorry you had issues here, sounds like it wasn’t cooked long enough – if your oven runs hot, it can cause the cake to rise too quickly and crack. Can I ask what type of oven you’re using and how long it was baked for? N x
Things are getting a little bit back to normal here in Ireland but I still can’t find regular all purpose flour. Can I use that and cut out the baking powder? Thank you Nagi!!
Do you mean self raising flour? If that’s what you mean, then yes you can!
How long would i bake it in a 9 in circle pan ?
Could I use a Bundt pan for this recipe?
This was delicious and was a hit with the family! I added a package of vanilla pudding, an extra tsp of lemon zest (for a tangier cake), and used vanilla low-fat yogurt. I split it into 9 inch pans and baked for 28 mins.
Perfect Jennifer! N x
Can we use greek yogurt for this cake? Thanks for sharing! I’m looking forward to making this 🙂
Hi Lilly, yes that’s what I often use 🙂 N x
can i use butter instead of oil?
Hi Divya, the oil is what keeps this cake super moist, you just wont get the same effect replacing with butter unfortunately. N x
Hi Nagi thanks for this recipe -quick, easy, delicious 😋 Thanks to the hoarders I had to use 1/2 SR 1/2 plain flour, adjusting baking powder accordingly but it seemed to work fine. I loved using oil instead of butter. Will this work with most cakes? And could I use this same recipe for banana cake, to use up ripe bananas? Many thanks, Marg
Hi Marg, I’m so glad it worked out for you! I prefer oil depending the cake as it keeps it moist. I haven’t tried this with bananas sorry, would love to know if it works!
Hi Mark can I use 2 baking pans to have 2 layers if so what is the cooking temperature? Thanks!
Hi Nagi can i use 2 baking pans to have a 2 layer cake if so what is the right cooking temperature? Thanks!
Beautiful cake will definitely make again
Thanks Nagi
You’re so welcome Teresa!
Have already made this 2 times, the perfect addition for an afternoon cup of tea 🙂
Hi Nagi, I have made this cake several times now and has become a family favourite. I wonder if I could double the recipe to make a larger quantity for an upcoming family Birthday gathering ? Any advice appreciated. 😄
Haven’t yet but have lots of ripe Meyer lemons – so will this weekend!! Doggie cthoughts got me 🥰😆. But he/she looks healthy so must remain bad treat free mostly
Hi Nagi
I wonder can i replace yogurt to cream. Please advise