This lemon sponge cake will directly transport you to those lemon lands where freshness, zing and yellow tinge know no end. It's lemon cake day my friends!!
Try these Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins next. Find all summer desserts on Greedy Eats here.
A piece of moist lemon sponge cake sits by my side as I type this. Honest Truth. I use no fork when I eat lemon cake. I love eating it this way. With bare hands. My fingers are covered in icing sugar dust. There are cake crumbs all over my keyboard. Wait let me take a bite and forget everything else.
Yep, I am back.
What was I saying??
Before we dive deep in this pretty cake with fruits. I want to answer certain questions that might cloud your mind.
- Is it too lemony to smack your lips?
- Is there any cake better than a lemon cake?
- Will this cake taste eggy if I used these many eggs?
- Is this cake dry by any chance?
- A sponge more pillowy than this one?
No, no, no, no and no!
Cake: Taste and Texture
Let me explain a few more things about this cake to you! You are sighting a most soft, spongy, velvety textured dessert on your screen right now. You will ask me how is this cake any different from all the other sponges out there? Or how is this cake recipe any better than other ordinary lemon cakes?
- I switched all purpose flour with cake flour in the original cake recipe to make it, what it is now. Cake flour gave my lemon cake that softest sponge you can never stop eating.
- I only used oil and no butter to keep the cake moist
- Lastly whipped egg whites separately to lift the sponge to the tippy-top!
DID YOU KNOW?
You can make your own cake flour at home? Take 1 cup all purpose flour. Replace 2 tbsp out of it with cornflour/cornstarch. And sift it 4-5 times. There you have it.
HOW TO TOP YOUR LEMON CAKE
This cake is so moist on its own that it doesn't even need a frosting. I just topped mine with some icing sugar and fresh seasonal fruits. I suggest you do the same and save some empty calories from the buttery frosting!
But a dollop of fresh cream? Smear it on my slice too please.
This cake is even better after a few hours of baking. As all the flavors have a good time mingling, mixing and sorta partying with each other. And what happens to its texture then?
It seems like some lovely angel casts a spell to make it so velvety, so pillowy, so soft that it puts clouds in the sky to shame!
Look at the lovely texture of this cake. ⇑ ⇑ ⇑
Lemon Cake Ingredients:
- Cake Flour: Cake flour as opposed to all purpose flour produces a super velvety crumb, don't interchange it. Instead you can make a DIY if you have some cornstarch at home.
- Egg Whites: Whipping room temp egg whites separately causes most of the rise in this cake. Don't skimp on the whipping time of egg whites.
- Cream of Tartar: It helps stabilizing the egg whites.
- Lemon Zest and Juice: Both zest and juice are needed for a perfect lemony flavor.
- Baking Powder: A little amount of baking powder ensures the cake rises to its full volume.
How to make Lemon Cake:
Don't be intimidated by the recipe steps. This cake is extremely easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy!!All those weird sayings aside. If you carefully follow the instructions, your lemon cake will shine as bright as your faces.
- Add and mix yolks, sugar, oil, vanilla, lemon zest and juice in a bowl. Fold in sifted flour with baking powder.
- In a separate clean and dry bowl, whip egg whites with cream of tartar and sugar till stiff peaks form.
- Fold egg whites in the yellow batter slowly using a spatula.
- Pour in the lined tin and bake at 320 deg F until done.
Tips to make perfect lemon cake:
- You don't want your sponge to deflate after it bakes. That way it might taste like you are biting into an omelette. All eggy. To prevent this, invert your cake tin right after it comes out of the oven.
- We will whisk the egg whites separately till it forms soft peaks. And fold it with extremely light hands using a spatula only.
- Don't skip to add cream of tartar or lemon juice to your egg whites. It ensures maximum volume to the whisked whites.
- Greasing the cake tin is absolutely not necessary while baking this sponge. The batter climbs and rise on sides of the tin. If you grease the tin, the batter will slip through it and fail to rise.
Also this cake has no tart flavor to sour your teeth. Just a mild undertone of lemon, which when mixed with vanilla produces the most ultimate flavor I know till date. A little lemon juice makes everything taste better. Agree?
You are sure to think why have I displayed orange slices and not lemon in a lemon sponge cake recipe? Why???
Because,
- Doesn't orange looks more contrasting in the photos with that lemon-colored lemon sponge cake.
- You can eat orange slices with a lemon cake, but can you eat lemon slices with a lemon cake?
I know, I am so out of control!!!
What makes a sponge cake light and fluffy?
- Whipping egg whites separately and folding them in the batter.
- Not over measuring the flour.
- Using cake flour instead of all purpose flour.
What is the difference between chiffon cake and sponge cake?
Sponge cake are light, airy and springy to touch while chiffon cake has a velvety feel to its texture. You'd want to try my Lemon Chiffon Cake Recipe next!
When you miss gulping a tall glass of lemonade at a lemonade stand, bake this cake!
Need I give you more reasons???
More Lemon Desserts:
Lemon Blueberry Muffins Recipe
Lemon Sponge Cake
Ingredients
- 75 gms (10 tbsp) Cake Flour
- 80 gms Egg whites
- 60 gms Egg yolk
- 120 gms Granulated Sugar
- ¼ tsp Cream of tartar or ½ tsp lemon juice
- ⅛ tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Baking powder
- 1 ½ tsp Vanilla extract
- 1.5 Tbsp Fresh lemon juice (mixed with ½ Tbsp water)
- 30 ml Milk
- 1.5 Tbsp Lemon zest
- 40 ml oil
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 320°F (160°C) and line a 6-inch square cake tin with parchment paper. Make sure all your ingredients are at room temperature.
- Add egg yolks + 40 gms to sugar to a mixing bowl and beat for a minute. Add oil, vanilla extract, salt, milk, water, lemon juice and zest to the bowl and mix in till everything gets combined well.
- Now add in at least three times sifted cake flour and baking powder to the mixture and fold it in.
- In a separate clean and dry bowl, add egg whites (at room temperature only) and beat in for a minute. Now add cream of tartar/lemon juice to it and beat well. Slowly keep on adding the remaining sugar and beating continuously until the egg whites form stiff peaks. This may take 5-6 minutes.
- Mix egg whites in the yellow cake batter in three batches. And fold in using a spatula. Then pour the mix in your lined cake tin and bake for 25-30 mins or until a tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Invert the cake tin, as soon as you take it out of the oven and let it cool down completely.
Notes
- It's very crucial that your egg whites are at room temperature, else they won't get whipped to full volume.
- Fold in the egg whites and the batter with light hands. You don't want the air bubbles to skip out of your batter.
- Keep an eye on the cake after 19 minutes. Oven temperatures vary sometimes. Over-baking may result into a dry bake.
- You can make your own cake flour at home. Just take 1 cup all purpose flour. Replace 2 tbsp out of it with cornflour/cornstarch. And sift it 4-5 times. There you have it.
This cake is moist and delicious. As I don't like too sweet, I have cut the sugar by half. I've also mistaken to mix sugar with egg yolk instead of egg whites. But, the cake still turns out to be very yummy. Everyone loves it and can't stop to take a second piece.
I've never had such a spongy, yummy and tasty cake. My friends went bonkers as they tasted it.
I had no cake flour and it was late so I decided to go ahead with normal and the sponge was still lovely (Im sure it would have been better otherwise) and increased a little lemon juice because I wanted a sour cake.
Thanks for the amazing recipe. It's surely a keeper and my search for an excellent cake ends here.
Hi Neha,
This cake looks just lovely.
If you don't mind can you please tell how to replace cake flour with regular flour & secondly if you can give cup measurements as grams is little confusing.
Appreciate your help.
Thanks.
Removing cornstarch from the cake will surely change its texture. I suggest baking the recipe as is. Still if you must, substitute 75 gms of cake flour with the regular one. Using exact quantity of ingredients is a must for sponges. A slight change in amount can convert a moist, airy and spongy bake to a flop show Aashima! Hope this helps.
May I ask do you use the fan force or conventional heat?
Thanks
Jacy
Hey! I use conventional heat. Hope you get to try this. 🙂
Lemon cake recipe seems gorgeous. Wl try it out surely
Awesome! Let me know how it turns out for you. 🙂
the green leaf you used as a topping is that a mint leaf? or? (new to this lol)
Yes that's a sprig of mint. 🙂
Lovely cake...
Which brand of vanilla u used in cake,?
Thanks Poonam. 🙂 I love to use McCormick brand for extracts like vanilla. 🙂
Looks really yummy! Definitely trying this Lemon Cake <3 By any chance you are looking for collaborations, you can check out of Phlanx.com - it's an influencer marketing platform where bloggers and business owners meet. Cheers!
Thanks Tiffany for liking the cake and for stopping by. Let me know how you like the cake. And thanks again, I will check Phlanx out. 🙂
This looks delicious and Lemon cake is my favorite!!!!
Thanks. Mine too. 😉
oh so delicious! this is my perfect kind of cake , love it to bits 🙂 Thanks for the wonderful share!
Thanks! I am glad you liked it. 🙂
Beautiful and colorful. Almost too pretty to eat. 🙂
Thanks for appreciating! 🙂
This is one gorgeous cake!! Love the fresh fruit on top and you can tell how moist the cake is just from the pics. Makes me want to reach into my computer screen, grab a piece, and take a big bite! I'll have to make this for my hubby soon because lemon cake is his favorite 🙂
Karrie, your comment made my day! 🙂 My hubby loves it to bits and pieces too. Do Report back on how this turned out for you. Thanks for stopping by. Also, Happy New Year!!!
Ur write up is forcing me to focus on the recipe.
True that. You don't wanna miss out a single point!
Thanks for the lemon cake recipe i will try it one of these days.
Let me know how it turns out for you! 🙂
Looks lovely and delicious!
Wow! lovely cake
Thank you Theresa!
wow, so well presented and looks really awesome!
Thanks dear. I am glad you liked it.
I absolutely love lemon!! And paired with all that beautiful, fresh fruit? It's just what I want on a cold winter day!! Yum (plus, it looks gorgeous)!
Thanks for the lovely input Dawn!! Lemon is my fav. too!! 🍋
Delicious recipe and beautiful presentation. Will definitely bake this over holiday break.
Thanks Laura!
Looks Great! Thanks for an awesome recipe!
Thanks.
Pls let me know the no. Of eggs used
It depends on the size of your eggs. Usually 1 large egg yields 40 gms whites and about 18 gms of yolk.
Mam can you please suggest me a NYC substitute of egg ??
I am sorry I haven't try this cake without eggs anytime. I am afraid, eggs are an inseparable part of this recipe. If you are looking for an eggless version, you may try finding recipes that use condensed milk or hot milk. Hope this helps!