Lemon Cakes

By Food & Wine
June 01, 2017
These cakes are perfect for the lemon dessert lover— tart, fluffy, with just the right amount of frosting. Whether you're looking for a beautiful Bundt cake or light and lemony cupcakes, these recipes are perfect for any time of year. Here, our best lemon cakes. 
Start Slideshow

1 of 17

Lemon and Chia Seed Yogurt Cakes

These adorable lemon and chia seed cakes are made with creamy Greek yogurt for a rich yet healthy snack.

GO TO RECIPE
Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 17

Lemon-Ricotta Cupcakes with Fluffy Lemon Frosting

Joanne Chang makes her moist, lemony, fresh-tasting cupcakes with honey instead of refined sugar, which keeps the sweetness in check. This is the perfect grown-up cupcake.

GO TO RECIPE

3 of 17

Lemon Bundt Cake

When Matt Lewis became a baker, he started a quest to re-create the lemon Bundt cakes of his youth. After “a million different versions,” he says, he achieved lemon-cake bliss, using the zest of 10 lemons and a little lemon extract to get the flavor just right. The cake has a moist crumb (thanks to a lemony syrup brushed over the top) and a crackling, sugary glaze.

GO TO RECIPE
Advertisement

4 of 17

Lemon-Curd Cakes with Poppy Seeds

"The lemon–poppy seed combo is classic," says Vinny Dotolo. "When I was a kid, I ate lemon–poppy seed muffins for breakfast and with ice cream for dessert." Now he turns the pairing into lovely cakes: They have a tender cakey layer on the bottom, a luscious curd-like layer on top and poppy-seed crème fraîche to finish the whole thing off.

GO TO RECIPE

5 of 17

Lemon Meringue Cupcakes

A zesty lemon meringue is the perfect topping for these beautiful cupcakes.

GO TO RECIPE

6 of 17

Lemon-Poppy Seed Cake

This tender lemon cake was inspired by one favored by Manhattan socialites of the '70s.

GO TO RECIPE
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

7 of 17

Lemon Upside-Down Cake

PHOTO © THOMAS HEINSER

Cal Peternell likes teaching recipes that are extremely versatile, like this one. The cake is wonderful when it's made with almost any type of fruit, from figs and blood oranges to pineapple. Peternell usually uses sweet Meyer lemons from his neighbor's tree. Regular lemons are tasty too and add a bitter note that's a lovely contrast to the gooey brown-sugar topping.

GO TO RECIPE

8 of 17

Buttermilk Bundt Cake with Lemon Glaze

This is the ultimate buttermilk Bundt cake, nicely browned on the outside, with a soft, tender crumb.

GO TO RECIPE

9 of 17

Blueberry, Lemon and Coconut Cake

© Emma Galloway

This simple butter cake can be topped with any kind of in-season fruit you may have on hand. Try strawberries in spring, figs in fall or poached pears in winter. This summer version is bursting with fresh blueberries, lemon and coconut. You can use either fresh or frozen berries for this cake, but don’t defrost before using if frozen is all you have, or their juices will seep into the cake batter.

GO TO RECIPE
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

10 of 17

Lemon-and-Orange-Glazed Pound Cake

Bill Bowick, co-owner of Charleston's Sugar Bakeshop, created this impressive recipe to use the treasured Bundt-cake pan that Leigh Magar got from her great-grandmother. Leigh served the cake at her grandmother's 92nd birthday party.

GO TO RECIPE

11 of 17

Lemon, Poppy and Chèvre Cheesecakes with Rhubarb

“I am obsessed with the chèvre from Texas’s Pure Luck Farm,” says Laura Sawicki. “I love how well it pairs with the cooked rhubarb in my cheesecakes.”

GO TO RECIPE

12 of 17

Lemon-Glazed Mini Pound Cakes

These buttery individual pound cakes get their intense citrus flavor from a double glazing of lemon syrup.

GO TO RECIPE
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

13 of 17

Pistachio-Topped Lemon-Olive Oil Cake

The original recipe for Ryan Hardy's delicious citrusy, nutty and dense cake comes from London's River Café restaurant. He substitutes olive oil for some of the butter and insists that it be served with tangy crème fraîche and an espresso.

GO TO RECIPE

14 of 17

Lemon Cornmeal Cakes with Lapsang Souchong Chocolate Sauce

This dessert is all about a startling combination of flavors—apricots, smoky Lapsang souchong tea, chocolate, maraschino liqueur and cream. Every element of this dessert can be made in advance.

GO TO RECIPE

15 of 17

Lemon-Glazed Citrus-Yogurt Pound Cake

Grapefruit juice in the pound cake and lemon juice in the glaze give this sweet, tender cake an especially citrusy taste. Be sure to use cake flour rather than self-rising to ensure a feather-light texture.

GO TO RECIPE
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

16 of 17

Lemon Cake with Crackly Caramel Glaze and Lime-Yogurt Mousse

Pastry chef Lynn Moulton aims for intriguing textural contrasts in her desserts. Her moist lemon cake, for instance, is wonderful on its own; what pushes it over the top into extreme deliciousness is its crackly caramel glaze. "Once they taste it, people can’t stop talking about it," Moulton says.

GO TO RECIPE
Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Up Next

Advertisement