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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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
Hi,
I’d love to make this as my bottom tier of a 2 tier cake. How do I adapt the mixture for a 10 inch cake with four layers (cooked in two tins but cut in half)
Thankyou 😊
I’m not 100% sure – but as a start, a 10″ is usually 1.6x the recipe – so maybe double it instead? x
Thanks Jane! How long would I have to cook it for,?
Hi Jane. What piping tip do you use for the buttercream? Thank you xx
Hi, I’ve made 2 amazing sandwich tins of Lemon sponge, but would like to add another layer for a friend’s birthday. Can I just halve this recipe for one sandwich tin?
Also made your vanilla back to basic sponge, went down a treat!!! Thanks for sharing! X
Hello Jane.
Can I use the same quantity when using gluten free flour
Yes! x
Sorry to bother you Jane the wedding is this week please could you help me… This Recipe is so amazing Jane, im looking to do it for a Wedding cake bottom tier 10″ 3 sponges please please could you tell me the equivalent measurement changes, ill add 75g of Plain Flour too to make it more Madeira like cake.. Thank you so much x
Hi Jane you mentioned to use a stand mixer however will a normal electric hand whisk still do the job. Thankyou
Yes it will x