21 Most Luscious Lemon Cakes to Put a Smile on Your Face

Memaw's Lemon Sunshine Cake

Lemon cake mix, lemon pudding, and peach nectar (surprise!) combine to make this zesty lemon delight. "Memaw knows how to make a lemon cake! Moist, delicious, and oh so lemony! Easy to make too! Thank you for sharing!! I didn't make any changes at all!" says reviewer Life Tastes Good.

Lemon Meringue Cheesecake

A lemony cheesecake topped with lemon curd, and topped again with a light and fluffy meringue. Can you handle this much lemony goodness? (The answer is always YES!)

Italian Lemon Cream Cake

"I love this, it's like my Italian gramma used to make, but easier because of the cake mix, I used 3 tablespoons lemon juice and 1 tablespoon lemon zest in the cake and it was perfect. I followed the filling as it was. Thanks for making this wonderful family favorite so easy." — Mim

Lemon-Buttermilk Pound Cake with Aunt Evelyn's Lemon Glaze

"I followed the recipe exactly and the cake was perfect!" raves Kathryn Samuelson. "Moist, just the right amount of lemon flavor, dense and extremely tasty. Because I love the glaze, I doubled the recipe and covered the entire cake, puddling a good amount in the center of the Bundt. Keep in mind to follow the usual good baking tips of room temp eggs and use real butter, softened."

Lemon Poppy Seed Bundt Cake

"This is really good for a cake mix recipe — normally I'm not a cake mix fan, but I needed something quick and easy, so I tried this, and it was really good. I did soak the poppy seeds and they were less crunchy, and I did use the full amount and thought it was fine. I also used lemon pudding mix, and I definitely wouldn't use anything else — if you're making a lemon cake, make a lemon cake. I made a powdered sugar and lemon juice icing and put over it while warm and recommend this as well." — NICOLES3

Old-Fashioned Lemon Pound Cake

"This is an old recipe that my grandmother always made. It goes great with coffee and is quick and easy to make. Light lemon flavor that can be accompanied with a lemon glaze if desired." — Cookin Mama

Lemon Bundt Cake

"This was absolutely delicious! Per the advice of other reviewers, I used 1 stick of softened butter in place of the oil. I had some Pellegrino Limonata on hand, so used that in place of the lemon-lime soda. For the icing, I used: 6 oz. softened cream cheese 4 T. softened butter 4 cups powdered sugar Juice of one lemon 1 T. lemon zest It was heaven!" — Rachel

Lemon Cupcakes

No cake mix in these easy, made-from-scratch lemon cupcakes. The recipe calls for self-rising flour; if you don't have any on hand, you can make your own with this recipe for self-rising flour.

"BEST CUPCAKES EVER. Light, fluffy and absolutely delicious. We had to sub almond milk once and they still turned out. Wow," says Jah-Man.

Lemon Cooler Cream Cake

"Cooler" means you'll refrigerate the cake until serving. "This was a fantastic recipe and the cake turned out awesome! The only change I made was using lemon flavored pudding in the topping instead of vanilla, to enhance the lemon flavor! It was a huge hit with my family and I will definitely be making this again and again," says StephRN.

Lemon Cupcake with Blackberry Buttercream

If you've never tasted lemon with blackberry, you're in for a treat. These made-from-scratch cupcakes have lemon juice and lemon zest in the batter, and the frosting is made with seedless blackberry jam. Reviewers note that the recipe makes about a dozen cupcakes, so make a double batch if you're feeding a crowd.

Greek Lemon Cake

If Jenny can do it, you can, too. "I am not a baker, so this was a little tricky for me. I went slow and followed the directions and it was amazing. everyone loved it. I did use lemon flavored yogurt and it was very good. Next time I will try plain yogurt. As someone else said save the egg yolks, you will need them. I also put a simple glaze.on it. It's a keeper!" — Jenny802

Lemon Poke Cake II

Recipe creator MARBALET says, "This is a moist lemony cake. It is called a poke cake because you poke holes in it to absorb the glaze."

"Very good. I candied some sliced lemons and put on top. Everyone loved it." — Love2cook32

Fresh Lemon Bundt Cake

Six simple ingredients are all you'll need to make this easy cake completely from scratch.

"I was looking for a simple lemon cake from scratch and you saved the day for me! I used the Meyer lemons I had on hand and make a cherry jam ribbon in the center . A simple lemon juice and powdered sugar icing and the elbows were flying!! I am keeping this excellent recipe in my personal hard copy recipe book!" — JoyfulCakes

Lemon Souffle Cheesecake with Blueberry Topping

"Loved this recipe," says Audra. "This is so much lighter than the standard cheesecake and the lemon flavor really pops. The blueberries balance out the tart of the cheesecake. Fairly easy to do, MUST have ingredients at room temp before combining to get that creamy consistency. To slice use a knife rinsed in water after each slice. Will make again."

Lemon Cake From Scratch

"Super yummy, light lemon taste. A different thing to try is to put the cake mixture into large muffin tins to make a bunch of little cakes, you just need to reduce the baking time. Let cake cool before frosting or glaze while still slightly warm." — BakersDozen

Blueberry-Lemon Pound Cake

"This cake was moist, delicious with a wonderful lemon flavor. I replaced the lemon extract with fresh squeezed lemon juice and it came out perfect," says Mai Doan.

Tip: To keep blueberries from sinking to the bottom of the pan, dust them with flour and shake off the excess before folding them into the batter.

Lemon Chiffon Cake

"Made this cake exactly as stated, just added some lemon extract. It turned out fantastic! I made a cream cheese lemon buttercream frosting that was very light and added raspberry jam on the 2 layers before the frosting. Absolutely deelish!" — m703redhead

Zesty Lemon Loaf

Recipe creator Katheleen C says, "This dressed-up pound cake-style lemon loaf has a delicate hint of ginger. The decadence of Grand Marnier makes this lemon loaf special. Great with Earl Grey tea or ice wine."

Reviewer Carol Miller comments, "Great recipe. Tasty, tangy and moist. I used Limoncello like naples 34102 for the liquor and also iced it using 1 cup of powdered sugar, fresh lemon juice and a splash of buttermilk . Will make again and intend to use a toothpick to make holes in cake before pouring lemon syrup over top for better absorption into cake."

Lemon Polenta Cake

Made with cornmeal and ground almonds, this moist and lemony cake is also gluten-free. Reviewer Qhhunters makes it for a farmers market and says "the customers can't get enough of it!"

Lemon Cake with Lemon Filling and Lemon Butter Frosting

Reviewer Mrs_Mike offers these tips: "After reading reviews that many thought this cake was too dense, I substituted cake flour for all-purpose flour. As a result, I didn't find this cake to be dense at all. It's also very important to not over mix the batter! Those two tips should ensure a super light and moist cake. The filling and icing on this cake just couldn't be beat!"

Lemon Fiesta Cake

"What a gem!" says reviewer naples34102. "It's not often I'm this wowed by a cake, this impressed with a recipe. Comparing it to some other 5-star cakes is almost unfair. As if the cake isn't good enough on its own, the rich, buttery, sweet lemon glaze (which I gradually brushed on with a pastry brush) soaks in and transforms this into something celestial. The kind of cake that when you taste that first bite you close your eyes and sigh, 'Mmmmm.' (I'm not kidding)"

More Lemon Lusciousness

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• Browse Our Full Collection of Lemon Cake Recipes