Lemon Celebration Cake!
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A delicious, light & lemony sponge filled with a dash of lemon curd and a luscious lemon buttercream! The perfect lemon celebration cake!
Lemon celebration cake!
After posting the recipe for my Victoria sponge celebration cake, I figured it would be so much fun if I experimented on this and produced different flavours! When I asked on my Facebook and Instagram page recently if anyone had any suggestions, and to my joy many of you suggested a lemon celebration cake!
I feel a lemon flavour for a celebration cake is always a safe flavour as (usually!) everyone likes lemon! I also find its perfect for after dinner as the zesty and fresh lemon cleanses your mouth leaving a refreshing aftertaste.
Lemon
I adore lemon drizzle cake – but I decided to do a variation on this for a bit more show! (Don’t worry though, I still have my lemon drizzle loaf cake recipe also!) I also used my homemade lemon curd recipe for the filling – feel free to use shop bought, but making your own is so surprisingly easy!
This cake ended up being a hybrid of a Victoria sponge into something super lemony and heavenly – and its delicious. I posted my recipe for my lemon & poppyseed cake a while ago and had a big success with that one, so I hope you guys like this too!
Two layer cake
Unlike my Victoria sponge I decided to keep this as a 2 layer cake so that its easier for others to make if they only have two tins, and its easier to bake two anyway! Two layer cake, normal cake, sandwich cake – whatever you want to call it, its still delicious regardless!
I tend to think some people prefer a two layer cake as you can simply slather buttercream in the middle and on top and you are done – its the perfect cup of tea pairing! I love using these tins for my sponge cakes and also this angled spatula for spreading buttercream. On this occasion I piped the buttercream but the choice is yours!
Drizzle
The drizzle aspect of this cake makes the sponge SO moist and scrummy, and the buttercream gives it the light sweetness that is often craved with cake – delicious. You simply mix the lemon juice and caster sugar together to make a yummy drizzle, and drizzle over the sponges whilst they are still hot.
This on top of the zesty buttercream and curd drizzle topping, you get the lemon taste in every bite of cake and it is just DELICIOUS! Of course I had to add some themed yellow sprinkles to the bake but they dont have to be yellow and they completely optional anyway!
Lemon recipes
I love a lemon recipe and have a fair few of them on my blog, and I can tell you guys do too – for example my lemon drizzle cheesecake, lemon drizzle cupcakes, lemon bars, even my lemon and blueberry blondies!
I love baking with lemon – as you can tell! I find that lemon bakes along or with a combination of another flavour is the perfect alternative if someone doesn’t want a chocolate themed bake. Its also a preference of mine in the middle of summer as it hits the sweet craving perfectly! ENJOY!
Recipe updated May 2017
Lemon Celebration Cake!
Ingredients
Cake
- 350 g unsalted butter
- 350 g caster sugar
- 7 medium eggs
- 350 g self raising flour
- zest of 2 lemons
- 75 ml lemon juice
Drizzle
- 75 ml lemon juice
- 75 g caster sugar
Decoration
- 2-3 tbsp lemon curd
- 200 g unsalted butter (room temperature)
- 400 g icing sugar
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- spare lemon curd
Instructions
Cake
- Grease & line two 8"/20cm deep cake tins and preheat your oven to 180ºC/160ºC fan.
- Beat together the unsalted butter & caster sugar until smooth - this will take a couples of minutes!
- Once combined add the self raising flour, eggs, lemon zest and lemon juice and beat until combined - try not to over beat!
- Pour the mixture evenly into the two tins and bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
Drizzle
- Towards the end of baking - in a bowl, mix together your 75ml lemon juice and 75g caster sugar together.
- Once the cake is baked, drizzle this over the cakes, whilst still in the tin. Let the cakes cool fully.
Decoration
- Beat the unsalted butter for a couple of minutes using the whisk attachment with a stand mixer - doing this will make it nice and smooth!
- Once smooth, start gradually adding the icing sugar until it’s all fully mixed in.
- Add the lemon juice, and beat for about 5 minutes on a medium-high speed until super light and whipped.
- Pipe some buttercream in a circle round the edge of the top of your first sponge, and then add the lemon curd into the middle.
- Place the other cake on top, and pipe on the rest of the buttercream however you wish.
- Drizzle on some spare lemon curd, and add some sprinkles and enjoy!
Notes
- I updated this recipe in May 2017 - the original recipe was 250g of each ingredient, and 5 medium eggs, and the cake was baked for about 25 minutes.
- This cake will last in an airtight container for 3-4 days - probably longer as it has so much moisture.
- Or you can freeze it for up to 3 months
- The layers are thick so if you wanted a more raised cake simply slice the two sponges in to two and have a 4 layer cake!
- If you dont have any lemon juice for the decoration, use 2 tsp lemon extract instead.
- I use these 8" cake tins
- I use this medium 2D closed star piping tip
- I use these piping bags
ENJOY!
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J x
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Hi Jane, I am planning on baking your original recipe of the lemon cake (250g of each of the ingredients). Can I still use 75ml lemon juice and grated zest of 2 lemons to put in the cake mix the same as for the deeper cake (350g) or will I need to reduce the quantity of both juice and zest for the 250g cake?
I would reduce it personally – the zest is fine and I wouldn’t bother with the juice x
Hi Jane,
Planning to make this cake for my Grandmothers birthday but just a quick question: the lemon drizzle you talk about in the notes section … do you mean that I should put this on the sponges to add more flavour or to drip on top as well as the cure?
This is a drizzle to add onto the sponges as they have come out of the oven!
Hey Jane. How could I convert this sponge into a 3 layer 6 inch cake please?
Thank you x
You should be able to split the mix as it is between three 6″ tins, or reduce the mix down to a 300g mix! x
Hey! Bit of a random one.. I can see your notes say the layers are thick, are you able to say roughly how thick each layer is please in cm? Im just trying to decide how tall it will be or if to add another layer that’s all. Thanks! X
I would say they are about 1.5/2″ deep, so 4-5cm maybe?! xx
Hi Jane! Would I be able to put this recipe in 10 inch tins and just have thinner layers? Thank you 🙂
Personally I wouldn’t say so – a 10″ is about 2/3 bigger in volume so the layers would be extremely thin – I would recommend increasing the recipe x
Hi Jane
I want to make just 1 layer of the cake therefore I know I need to use half the quantity of the recipe. I was woundering will the timing to bake the cake still be the same?…..Also I know you add lemon juice on the cake but if I wanted to add the lemon drizzle as well how much do I give, is it half again and will that be too much lemon juice as there will be some on the cake mix already?…I want the cake to be moist. I saw your lemon loaf cake recipe and you mentioned to see this recipe as I want it to be a round or square cake. Thanks
For one layer I would use 150g butter/sugar/flour/3 medium eggs, and the zest of 1 lemon – wouldn’t bother with the juice – baking time will be about the same or just a smidge less! And then anything you add on top will be half the amount as well. x
Hi Jane, I’m wanting to make this cake using two 8 inch x 4 inch deep tins. I was thinking of doubling the cake mix and fillIng the tins 3/4 full but unsure on how long they would need to bake for in the deeper tins. What would you recommend?
Unfortunately I’m not sure as I don’t often bake very deep cakes – sorry!!
Thank you for reccomending this recipe (I asked about the round tin for the load version) question, can you tell there is zest in the sponge? I have a brother who doesn’t like bits like zest, but when I tried a recipe without zest and just an extract it didn’t taste lemony. any advice please? do you think with zest is best? x
I always think that zest should be as finely grated as possible, and then when it is you can’t feel the texture! I think zest is definitely better, or just use more extract xx
Hi Jane. I am going to make this cake, and I am not going to be adding buttercream to the outside or filling. Will the curd just spill out the side or shall I leave the curd to set and thicken in the fridge before applying to the cake?
Thanks
The curd may always be a bit soft, but otherwise it should be okay if you don’t add too much or spread it too far to the sides!
Hi Jane, this recipe is just what I was looking for! I just wondered if I could make the cakes ahead of time, freeze them for a couple of days and then get them out to decorate and serve? Will the cakes be OK if I do this? Do you think they will taste fresh?
Hey! Yes that should be okay – generally I find fresh cakes best, but freezing sponges is fine! x
Hi! I’ve previously made this cake but just as the 2 layer, i want to make it into a good 3 layers for my birthday without splitting the mixture between 3 tins or slicing the 2 layers in half. Can you reccomend the measurements for 3 layers please? I think my cake tins are 7.5″! Thanks!
Generally for my three layer cakes I use a 400g/8 egg mix and split between three 8″ tins so it may be the best quantities for your 7.5 tins!
Hi Jane! How much ingredients would I need to make this cake in 2 6” cake tins and cut them into 4? Thank you!!!! Love your recipes
I would use 2/3 of the recipe roughly, and then bake and split! x
Hi Jane I wanted to make this cake but as a naked buttercream round the edge would I just double the amount of buttercream?
Also I would like to do 3 layers instead of just 2 but I don’t want them as thick what size tin and quantity’s would I use?
Love your recipes they always turn out amazing!
Hey! So you could use the mix as it is, but split between three tins and bake for less time, and then yes I would double the buttercream! X
Hi Jane i have been asked to make a lemon cake or a Victoria sponge cake for a wake next Tuesday. I only have one 20cm cake tin but I have 2 24cm cake tins. If I was to use the 24cm ones how much would you increase the ingredients by please? Thank you for all your lovely receipts I have only recently got into baking and you make it so easy to follow and everything tastes amazing!
Hey!! You would use 1.4x the recipe – so instead of 350g, I would use about 500g (10 medium eggs!) X
Hello, please can I ask how you get the lemon curd to drip? Sorry If that sounds silly. I’m just getting into baking and love your recipes but not sure how to get this to drip?
Hey! I just mix the lemon curd slightly to loosen it, add it to a piping bag and drizzle!
hi Jane love the sound of this cake but how would I make this into a coconut and lemon cake