You will love this Italian Lemon Cake recipe for a deliciously sweet and tart dessert. Tender, buttery, lemon flavor-filled cake topped with a homemade glaze and cream cheese frosting–your tastebuds will be so happy!
Italian Lemon Cake
Lemon desserts always taste so bright and refreshing. We love a good lemon cake and this Italian Lemon Cake Recipe was just right! It was dense and moist like a pound cake. A lemon glaze coats the outside of the cake and then a lemon cream cheese frosting is piped over that, creating a really lovely presentation.
While you’re here, don’t miss these delicious lemon flavor filled recipes: White Chocolate Lemon Truffles | Lemon Thumbprint Cookies | No Bake Lemon Lasagna | Frozen Boozy Cherry Lemonade
The Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to make the Italian Lemon Cake Recipe (the exact measurements and full recipe instructions are below in the printable recipe card):
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Unsalted butter – it’s best to use unsalted butter because the regular salted butter will contain too much salt for this recipe.
- Granulated sugar
- Eggs
- Buttermilk
- Sour cream
- Fresh lemon juice – for the amount of lemon juice and zest needed for this recipe, you’ll want to have at least 4 fresh lemons available to use.
- Fresh lemon zest – TIP: zest the lemons for the recipe first, then you can cut them in half and juice them to have the fresh lemon juice you’ll need.
- Vanilla extract
- Powdered sugar
- Cream cheese
How to Make the Italian Lemon Cake Recipe
Begin by sifting together the flour, baking powder, and salt. This helps ensure a smooth cake with no lumps.
Next, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Mix in the sour cream, lemon juice, vanilla extract, and lemon zest.
TIP: If you want to be sure your cake has a nice yellow color, add a small amount of yellow food coloring at this point in the recipe. There will be a natural yellow hue to the cake from the egg yolks, but for a distinct pop of yellow, you’ll need to use some food coloring.
Now add just half of the flour mixture and mix to combine. Pour in the buttermilk and mix gently. Finally, add the remaining flour mixture and mix just until combined, but do not over mix the cake batter.
Scoop the cake batter into a bundt pan prepared by spraying it generously with non-stick cooking spray or baking spray. Baking spray contains both oil and flour and worked so perfectly for this recipe. The cake didn’t stick to the pan at all!
Bake the cake at 325ºF for 60-70 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. The top of the cake will probably crack, but this is okay–this will end up being the bottom of the cake anyhow.
Invert the bundt pan onto a cake plate and lift the bundt pan away from the cake.
In a small mixing bowl, combine the powdered sugar and lemon juice for the glaze. Brush this glaze all over the cake while it is still hot. Set the cake aside to cool completely to room temperature.
The glaze adds more sweetness and lemon flavor while also sealing in the moisture of the cake.
Beat together the ingredients for the lemon cream cheese frosting. Scoop the frosting into a piping bag or a zip top bag with the corner snipped off. Use this to pipe the frosting onto the cake.
How to Store Leftovers
Keep the leftover cake covered tightly with plastic at room temperature. Be sure to re-cover the cake very well every time a slice is removed or else it will dry out.
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Italian Lemon Cake
Ingredients
Lemon Cake
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 Eggs
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
- zest of 2 lemons
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2-3 drops yellow food coloring optional
Lemon Glaze
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
- 4 ounces cream cheese softened
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
- 2 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat oven to 325F. Prepare a bundt pan by spraying generously with non-stick cooking spray or baking spray.
- Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium mixing bowl; set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then mix in the sour cream, lemon juice, vanilla extract, and lemon zest. If desired, you can also add 2-3 drops of yellow food coloring for extra yellow color to the cake.
- Mix half of the flour mixture into the cake batter, then add the buttermilk. Mix in the second half of the flour mixture just until incorporated (do not over mix).
- Pour the cake batter into the prepared bundt pan. Bake at 325F for 60-70 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool the cake in the pan for 5 minutes, then invert onto a cake plate.
Lemon Glaze
- Whisk together the ingredients for the lemon glaze until smooth. Brush the glaze all over the cake while it is still hot. Set the cake aside to cool completely to room temperature before adding the cream cheese frosting.
Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
- Beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the remaining frosting ingredients and beat until smooth and creamy.
- Scoop the frosting into a piping bag or a zip top baggie with the corner snipped off. Pipe the frosting onto the completely cooled cake.
Last Step:
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- Bundt pan
