A soft, moist, and tangy Lemon Cake 🍋 — bright and refreshing with a luscious glaze or frosting.
🧾 Ingredients
Cake:
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Zest of 2 lemons
- ½ cup fresh lemon juice
- ½ cup plain yogurt or sour cream
- ½ cup milk
Optional Glaze/Frosting:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2–3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- (For creamier frosting: add 4 oz cream cheese + 2 tbsp butter, softened)
👩🍳 Instructions
- Prepare batter
- Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease and flour a loaf pan or 8-inch round pan.
- In a bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- In another bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Beat in eggs one at a time, then add vanilla and lemon zest.
- Mix in lemon juice, yogurt, and milk.
- Gradually fold in dry ingredients until smooth.
- Bake
- Pour batter into prepared pan.
- Bake 35–40 minutes (loaf) or 25–30 minutes (round pan), until golden and a toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool completely before glazing or frosting.
- Glaze/Frosting
- For glaze: whisk powdered sugar with lemon juice until smooth, drizzle over cooled cake.
- For frosting: beat cream cheese and butter until creamy, add powdered sugar and lemon juice, spread over cake.
🍴 Tips
- For extra zing, brush warm cake with lemon syrup (equal parts sugar + lemon juice simmered).
- Garnish with candied lemon slices or zest curls.
- Store covered at room temp for 2 days, or refrigerate up to 5 days.
