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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You say these are deep layers. I only have 2 inch tall tins. Would this amount be ok in those tins or should I do it in 3 tins and make it 3 layer?
You say that these are quite deep sponges – could I split the amount between 3 tins for a 3 layer cake or would I need to increase the quantities?
I’m wanting to make a 3 layer too, but not sure what recipe I should follow, whether to work it out as 3 x ingredients, or whether the original recipe would be able to be split in 3 tins.
Hi is the lemon juice from fresh squeezed lemons or the lemon juice you buy in a bottle??? Thanks, making tonight!
Hiya! Either will be fine, enjoy! x
Hi Jane, I really want to try this recipe in square tins. Could you tell me which size I would need and would the baking time remain the same?
Many thanks.
Hi Jane,
I’ve just made this and it smells amazing!
I don’t have a stand mixer and tried making the icing by hand and I’m assuming that that is what has made it go wrong…my icing is more of a yellow colour than yours and a lot more wet therefore it it isn’t holding up the top layer and it’s falling 🙁
I was practicing it to make it for my mums 70th as she loves lemon… is it not an icing I can do without a mixer or is there anything I can do next time to make it stiff?
Thanks so much!
Hiya! What butter did you use? It should be fine without a stand mixer, just add the ingredients slower to compensate! Hope this helps! x
What am I doing wrong?
I am lining the tins with paper.
Changed the temp to cook longer at lower temp
Shortened the time.
The cake keeps coming out nice but when it cools it hardens a lot on the edges. Any advice?
Hiya! It may be worth investing in an oven thermometer. Hope this helps! x
The same thing happened to mine!
They were perfect when they came out of the oven but
Then just flopped
Could I make this in 2×8 inch square tins?
I appreciate it won’t be as deep
If so how long would I bake it for? X
Hi Jane looking to use this recipe for my sons 2nd birthday Peppa pig cake , was going to cover in fondant and make alittle taller ( 400g method) . Can I ask is it strong enough to cover in fondant ?and if I’m having 3-4 layers would you buttercream round the outside of the first cake and fill with lemon curd then maybe just buttercream the second with a few dollops of curd .
Hiya! Yes absolutely, this should be fine! Enjoy! x
Hi Jane I was hoping to make a 10inch celebration cake with a Swiss meringue butter cream . I really like this recipie but was wondering could I use one 10 inch cake tin instead of two 8 inch . Thank you
Would this cake work using stork rather than butter on the sponge?? ☺️
Hiya! Yes it would, however be sure to still use butter for the buttercream! Enjoy! x
Hi Jane , I made this cake today and it hasn’t risen as I had hoped seems to be flat and not spongy I followed the recipe perfectly what could have happened do u think?
Hiya! This sounds like an error with the ingredients and/or opening the oven door too early! Hope this helps! x
Hello Jane, please could you give me some advice! I would like to make this as a wedding cake bottom tier, what quantities would you recommend for 3 x 10 inch layers and how long would you bake for? Many thanks 😊
Hi,
I’ve often read in some recipes to do times recipes by 1.5 to get thicker layers, but have found this makes the cake quite dense. Am I doing something wrong?
Thanks
Hi Kim,
I think it’s because the cake is already quite thick? Not sure whether that helps?
I’ve just made these cake and the off cutting tastes delicious.
I used a cheaper version of stork, first time using that and this recipe
The top was very crumbly, Baked for the 40 mins.
Not sure why the top was so crumbly?
Probably because you used a cheap replacement of butter.
Hi Jane
I love this recipe and would like to use if for my Mum’s 60th birthday using the number 60 tins that are 30cm x 17cm each do you know how I can calculate the quantities for these tins?
Thanks x