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. (When I’m longer on time I might instead plump for this sponge-based Lemon Cake with Fluffy Lemon Frosting …)
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 love this recipe Nagi. Simplicity at its best and I know this would be delicious. Can’t wait to try this recipe using different shaped pans and decorate it with my son. Hope you continue inspiring everyone.
Thanks Anne! Hope you do get a chance to try it! N xx
Hi Nagi, we made your cake in our Omnia camping oven on the stovetop in our motorhome while parked overnight in a small seaside town in Greece (the GPS coordinates are 39.04407, 21.1124 if you want to copy and paste them into Google Maps so you can see how far your recipes travel). We were inspired by the huge numbers of delicious lemons growing on the many lemon trees virtually growing along the side of the road here, and also by the wonderful Greek yoghurt. We had tried a different lemon cake in the Omnia a month or so ago with mixed results so we were not too sure how it would turn out for us. “But all of Nagi’s recipes are always great” we told ourselves. The result was fanastic – light, fluffy, moist and full of flavour. Thanks for another great cake, and more importantly, one that we can cook on a gas burner. Would you like to see some photos of how it looked in the Omnia?
As I didn’t have the right tin and was short on time I put the mixture in a ring tin and cooked it for 40 minuets, was excellent.
I LOVE hearing that Margaret! Thanks so much for letting me know! N xx
My son made this cake yesterday. It is SO GOOD! This will definitely be made again. Thank you.
LOVE HEARING THAT!! ❤️
Nagi, usually your recipes are out of the ball park delicious. I made this cake last night, and to my dismay, it wasn’t very good, it was DRY! And the color was very very pale, almost white. I was so disappointed so I went over the recipe again and again to make sure that I didn’t miss anything. Then I looked at my yogurt-it was Greek non fat yogurt, and you said not to use non fat yogurt. I didn’t even notice. So everyone-Listen to Nagi! She knows what she’s talking about. I will try the recipe again with proper yogurt!
I’ve used many of your savoury recipes to much success, thank-you. I’m not a great baker and needed to make my son a 13th Birthday cake. I was looking online when your lemon cake dropped into my inbox, his favourite kind of cake…I saw it as a good sign and made it. SUCCESS thank-you so much, I got 9 lots of thumbs up. My daughter did the topping and added a sparse sprinkling of lavender over the top which worked a treat…
Nagi the same over here, the strong wind day and night, dry humid, no rain for the last 45 days, SHOCKING. ON TUES AM SEEING CARDIOLOGIST AM SHIT SCARE HE WILLPUT ME IN HOSPITAL. LAST 02 days breathing NO GOOD, NO SLEEP, NO WALKING, MY BONES ARE ACHEING , MY HEAD IS SPINING, FROM LOUD WIND IT FEELS LIKE AFRICAN DRUMS ARE IN MY HEAD, NO GOOD.YOU SHOULD HAVE FREZZ JAPEN SNOW AND SENDED TO ME. TRY, TRY KEEP COOL AND SURVIVE. POOR DOZER. MY CAT HATED THE HEAT, USE TO GIVE HER COLD PACK. AND TOLD HER I WAS GOING TO PUT HER IN FREEZER. TRUE 2009 we had 45 C, and I opened fridge and Maza would lay down to cool her self. So we can’t help each other. Hope cool change is on a way for both of us.
I made the cake in this morning,it is in the oven.
Thankyou very much!
Hope you love it Elena! N x
Can I use a regular 8 inch round cake pan or is a spring form pan necessary?
Yes you can! 🙂 I corrected the cake pan description N x
OMgoodness….I truly was ROFL as I was reading about you being famous!!! You are hysterical…and btw – I can’t wait to make the cake either :~)
I’m not famous I’m not famous!!!! I’m the total opposite of famous – an internet dork! 😂
A fabulous internet dork! Love your recipes. Shall make this once the humidity leaves – do most of my cooking in late autumn, winter and spring – can’t face my oven in Feral February and Muggy March in Brisbane. Re Dozer – he is soooo gorgeous. Must admit – I know all the dogs names where I live – the people are – ‘oh you are “such and such’s” parent. 🙂
I made it and it was great! I used some substitutions- melted coconut oil instead of canola, sour cream instead of greek yogurt, baking soda, reg sugar for icing. But it all worked well! I never made glaze before in my life!
YES YES YES!!!!! N x
Anyone tried this with GF flour?
Hi Maureen, no I haven’t I’m afraid 🙂
Ha I do it!. Sometimes I am putting videos together and realise I didn’t turn the camera back on when I thought I did and bingo, panic stations. I entirely understand. Looks beautiful
I KNOW, right!!!! You totally understand! N x
Hahahah you’re so funny Nagi!
All I wanna do is stay in my little corner and drool after your cooking! I totally get Dozer’s train of thought! 😁🤣
🤣
Hi Nagi
Could I make this recipe in another cake pan? I own only a 10″ round pan (not springform) and a 9″ square pan. If yes, could you help me with the baking time please?! Would love to make it for my mom’s birthday next week!
Thanks!
Hi Verona! Either of those will be fine, they are roughly the same surface area 🙂 The cake will not be quite as tall but it’s still going to taste just as fantastic! I think 40 minutes should be sufficient bake time for both of those pans 🙂 N x
Thank you Nagi!
LOL, Nagi I just love you! Everything about your posts make me smile and frequently laugh right out loud. Oh how happy I would be if you lived in my neighborhood and not on the other side of the planet!
So excited to try this lemon cake. Being born and raised in the southern US – where we take our lemon cakes VERY seriously – my mom and I agree this one looks delicious. I will be trying it for my daughter and her sorority friends who are descending on Florida for spring break next week. I am sure it will be a hit and a pleasant taste of sunshine for them after four months of snow in Wisconsin.
Thank you for ALL the wonderful additions to my recipe files 🙂
Oooh, I feel the pressure of living up to your Southern caking standards! 🤣 N xx
Hi Nagi, Would it be ok to use Greek yoghurt?
Absolutely! That’s what I use 99% of the time! 🙂 N x
Absolutely! That’s what I use as my plain yoghurt 🙂 N x
Oh, Nagi!! I recognize you anywhere. I’d know that cute bundle of energy and it wouldn’t matter whether you had makeup on or not!! And Dozer is easy to spot — it’s his personality. And my, oh my, you’ve done a beautiful job on that cake!! It is absolutely gorgeous and I love the touch of flowers. I’m into that stage now. I love flowers and I think they add such a nice touch. And I think yogurt is good for your hair 😉 Sending hugs for you and Dozer!!
And I’d recognise YOU anywhere!!! 🙂 N xx
ha ha ha I love that story! sometimes I come home from work and look at myself horrified realising my hair had been a birds nest mess all day, lucky i don’t really care! i love how you styled this shot, it looks absolutely stunning! perfect for spring or summer@
My hair is a birds nest EVERY day!! 🤣
Hi Nagi,
Will this work in a 9×13 pan?
Hi Peter! It will certainly work but the cake will be about half the thickness so it will kind of be like a slice! DELISH! (And actually, a better glaze to cake ratio 🙂 I would increase glaze by 50% though, you will have more surface area to cover) N x