Lemon Buttermilk Layer Cake is the perfect refreshing, flavorful, light-as-ever cake. The texture is incredibly fluffy, the cream cheese frosting is so smooth, and the lemon flavor is truly bursting!
Did you know that it's citrus season? I was NOT aware, and I would have never expected it. Something about lemons and oranges in the winter just doesn't seem right to me. That was my opinion until I made this lemon cake to celebrate this so-called citrus season. This cake might be one of my favorite recipes I've shared yet!
Lemon Flavor
My favorite part about this cake is that it is bursting with lemon flavor, but it is subtle enough to not overwhelm you! Strong flavors can often be too strong, but this cake truly spotlights the lemon flavor beautifully! The lemon flavor in this cake comes from three different sources-
- Extract
- Juice
- Zest
With both the lemon zest and lemon juice, using fresh lemons will give you the best, truest lemon flavor!
Perfect Lemon Buttermilk Cake Tips
To ensure that this cake comes out as perfectly as can be, there are a few special tips and tricks that will give you greater success!
Room Temperature Ingredients: This is a big one. Room temperature ingredients will help to create a lighter, fluffier cake by creating air. I PROMISE that using room temperature ingredients will make a world of a difference in your baking! The easiest way to bring your ingredients to room temperature is to leave them out for about an hour before baking. If you forget or don't have enough time, here are a few tricks-
- Butter: Run hot water into a cup for 2 minutes. Place butter sticks under the cup and let butter sit for 2 minutes or until butter is softened. Butter should be waxy and cool to the touch, but it should be soft enough for you to create an indent with your index finger.
- Eggs: Place your eggs in a bowl of warm water for 10 minutes while preparing your other ingredients.
- Buttermilk: Microwave your buttermilk for 15-25 seconds. It will still be cool to the touch but should NOT be cold.
Mixing: The mixing of your ingredients is INCREDIBLY important! Not only does how much you mix matter, but how you mix matters.
- Butter and Sugar: You'll notice the recipe says to beat the butter and sugar together for about 3 minutes. This is SO important. I never followed this instruction in recipes before, and I was constantly left with disappointing recipe results. Just trust me on this one. Beat until the butter and sugar becomes light, fluffy, and creamy!
- Alternating Dry and Wet Ingredients: If you add too much moisture to the batter too quickly, it will shock the batter. This means your batter will become curdled and lumpy. By alternating adding your buttermilk and flour mixture, you will ensure a smooth, velvety batter!
- Overmixing: Do not overmix this cake as you add the dry ingredients. If you overmix a cake batter, you will end up with a cornbread.... dry and dense cake! As soon as your flour mixture incorporates, STOP mixing. You don't want chunks of dry ingredients, but do not beat much longer after they have smoothened.
Cream Cheese Frosting
You can absolutely use whatever frosting floats your boat! The options are endless! If you have a lemon frosting you like, that would be lovely! A plain buttercream frosting would pair nicely, your grandma's famous recipe, a store-bought frosting... whatever you're feeling!
I was inspired by the Nothing Bundt Cakes lemon cake, which has a cream cheese frosting that really doesn't taste like cream cheese. That's what I was going for here, so you'll notice that there's a quite a bit of butter in the frosting to tone down the cream cheese a bit!
This frosting is smooth, creamy, and really adds a lightness to this cake! I could not recommend it more and promise it's worth the extra effort as opposed to canned frosting! The lemon flavoring in the frosting is up to you! Want to leave it out? Great! If you want a touch of lemon, ½ teaspoon of lemon extract will do the trick! If you'd like a powerful lemon frosting, add 1 teaspoon lemon extract!
Storing Tips
This lemon buttermilk layer cake can be kept at room temperature for about 4 days! It will last up to a week if kept in the fridge, though it will slightly dry the cake out!
You can freeze the cake- both unfrosted and frosted!
Unfrosted layers can be wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and stored in the freezer for up to 3 months. You'll want to bring the layers to room temperature in the fridge for about 12 hours.
A decorated cake can be frozen too. Freeze the cake for an hour before wrapping tightly in plastic wrap. Then, wrap the cake in a layer of aluminum foil. Freeze for up to 2 months. Thaw at room temperature overnight. Remove wrapping and store in an air-tight container at room temperature until serving.
Other Recipes
Print Lemon Buttermilk Layer Cake
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cooling Time: 40 minutes:
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes
- Yield: 3 layer 7 inch cake 1x
- Category: Cake, Lemon Cake, Buttermilk Cake
Description
Lemon Buttermilk Layer Cake is the perfect refreshing, flavorful, light-as-ever cake. The texture is incredibly fluffy, the cream cheese frosting is so smooth, and the lemon flavor is truly bursting!
Ingredients
For the Cake
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 ½ teaspoons lemon extract
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 2 ½ cups all purpose flour
- 2 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
For the Frosting
- 12 oz cream cheese, room temperature
- ¾ cup butter, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 7-8 cups powdered sugar (to taste)
- optional: ½ teaspoon lemon extract
- 1 tablespoon heavy cream (or milk)
Instructions
For the Cake
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line 3 7-inch pans with parchment paper. Spray with cooking spray to ensure cakes come out cleanly.
- In a medium-sized bowl, whisk all purpose flour, baking powder, and salt together.
- In a large bowl or bowl of your standing mixer, mix room temperature butter, granulated sugar, and lemon zest until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- Add room temperature eggs one at a time. Scrape down the bowl after each addition.
- Add vanilla extract and lemon extract. After mixing, slowly add lemon juice to prevent shocking the batter.
- Alternate adding flour mixture and buttermilk, starting and ending with the flour mixture. Scrape down the sides of the bowl throughout the process. Mix until just combined, as overmixing will create a dry and dense cake.
- Divide batter between pans- about 15 oz of batter per pan if you have a food scale!
- Bake for 28-33 minutes. Cakes will be light golden brown on top, will look dry, will spring back up when poked in the center, and will come out with moist crumbs.
- Cool in pans for about 20-30 minutes until cool to the touch. Use a knife to run around the edges of the cake, ensuring the sides of the cake do not stick to the pan. Flip cakes onto wire cooling racks to finish cooling before decorating.
For the Frosting
- In a large bowl with an electric mixer or in the bowl of your stand mixer, whip butter and cream cheese together until smooth.
- Slowly add powdered sugar to the mixture in about 1 cup increments to prevent powdered sugar from exploding everywhere!
- Once powdered sugar is fully incorporated, mix in vanilla extract and lemon extract (if using).
- Add heavy cream or milk and beat for about 2-3 minutes until frosting is light in color and fluffy.
- Stack and frost the cakes as desired.
Keywords: Buttermilk Cake, Lemon Cake, Layer Cake, 7 inch Lemon Cake, Cream Cheese Frosting
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