After sharing our Royal Wedding-inspired Lemon Elderflower Cake, I wanted to follow it up with a simple and easy Lemon Layer Cake recipe complete with a mouth-puckering lemon buttercream frosting.

Easy Lemon Cake Recipe

I don’t know how or why it happened, but at some point in the last few years lemon started replacing chocolate as my go-to favorite dessert flavor.

Now, don’t get me wrong – I still looooove chocolate, but there’s something so satisfying and refreshing about a zingy lemon dessert, especially after a celebration meal.

Each bright, zesty bite of this luscious lemon layer cake is like a bit of sunshine on your fork! This cake is so light and fluffy, with a rich lemon buttercream frosting, that every bite just melts in your mouth.

Both the cake and the frosting for this recipe are completely from-scratch. While I don’t mind using an occasional boxed cake mix (especially when it comes to chocolate cake), the flavor and texture of this lemon cake cannot be compared to a boxed lemon cake mix. You will not regret the extra effort once you taste this cake. ( And canned frosting is always a crime against baking, no matter the flavor.)

What is lemon extract used for? While you can use lemon juice, lemon extract is more potent and can be used in smaller quantities. The amount of lemon juice you would need to get the same flavor in your buttercream would potentially curdle the butter and throw off the texture of the frosting.

How to get perfectly flat cake layers? I tend to just bake and then use this dental floss hack to remove any domes that occasionally occur with baking. However, you can also make homemade cake strips to ensure perfectly flat cake layers. Check out this tutorial from Preppy Kitchen for how to do that.

Check out our quick recipe video to see how easy this Lemon Layer Cake is to make – and then don’t forget to scroll down to grab your free printable recipe card:

Lemon Cake Ingredients

• Flour
• Baking powder
• Salt
• Unsalted butter, room temperature
• Lemons
• White sugar
• Large eggs
• Vanilla extract
• Milk
• Powdered icing sugar
• Lemon extract

Scroll down to the printable recipe card for full measurements.

Tip: if you want to just make a 3-layer, 6″ round cake, you can half this recipe.

Kitchen Tools You May Find Helpful

• Two 6″ circular cake pans
• Measuring cups and spoons
• Electric mixer <– this is a great hand mixer if you don’t want to make the investment into a stand mixer
• Mixing bowls
• Saucepan
• Whisk
• Offset spatula
• Large star piping tip <– a basic piping set will have all you need
• Piping bag
• Cooling racks <– I have and love these tiered cooling racks, they save so much counter space and are also oven-safe

How to Make an Easy Lemon Cake

Preheat oven to 350ºF

Grease and flower you cake pans. I also like to add a small circle or square of parchment paper to the bottom to help with easy removal. Set aside.

In a large bowl (or the bowl to your stand mixer), cream together the butter and lemon zest, until smooth and light-coloured.

Add the white sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Add the eggs, preferably one at a time, allowed each egg to be incorporated into the mixture fully before adding another.

Add the vanilla and mix until combined.

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Add half of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, fully incorporate, then add the milk, half of the flour, and then the lemon juice.

Divide the batter among the prepared cake pans.

Bake the cakes for 25 minutes.

How to Make Lemon Buttercream

Beat together the vanilla extract, lemon extract, butter and powdered icing sugar for 2 minutes.

Add the heavy cream and yellow food dye (if using) and beat to incorporate.

Adjust the consistency with additional powdered icing sugar if you need it to be stiffer.

Taste and adjust flavor with additional lemon extract, as desired.

You can thin out the frosting as needed with more heavy cream, or thicken with additional powdered icing sugar.

Scoop 1 cup of the frosting into a piping bag fitted with a large star tip.

To assemble the lemon layer cake:

Remove the cakes from the cake pans. Trim off any rounded domes and freeze for future cake pop use.

Place the first cake layer on your serving tray and top with 1/2 cup of frosting. Use an offset spatula to smooth it all over the top, and then sandwich your second cake layer on top.

Place 1 cup of frosting on top and use the offset spatula to smooth it all over the cake, adding additional frosting as needed.

Use the piping bag to swirl frosting on the edges. To do this, apply even pressure as you rotate your wrist and move along the edge of the cake.

Pin this Easy Lemon Cake recipe:

Grab your free printable for our lemon layer cake recipe:

I hope your family loves this simple lemon cake recipe – it’s the perfect lemon cake for a birthday party or summer BBQ!

For more amazing cakes, check out our full cake recipe collection here:

For more decadent desserts, check out our full dessert recipe collection here:

Original image from 2019: