Lemon Celebration Cake!
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This Lemon Celebration Cake combines a light, citrus-infused sponge with a warm lemon drizzle, pockets of tangy lemon curd, and a beautifully whipped lemon buttercream frosting. With a 15-minute prep time and 35 minutes in the oven, it’s a foolproof, elegant crowd-pleaser perfect for any summer gathering or tea party.
Notes from The Patisserie
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.
The secret to a truly moist citrus sponge is all in the timing of that drizzle. Pouring a warm liquid sugar mixture over the cake layers the second they come out of the oven ensures it sinks deep into the centre. If you wait until the cake cools, the surface seals up, and the drizzle will simply pool on top, leaving you with a sticky exterior and a dry middle.
Lemon drizzle sponge
While a massive multi-layered cake looks stunning, a reliable two-layer sandwich cake is much easier to bake, handle, and slice. It allows you to simply slather a thick, luxurious layer of buttercream and tangy lemon curd right in the centre without worrying about the cake shifting, collapsing, or leaning on display. For the perfect sponge I use:
- Butter – unsalted butter at room temperature or baking spread works perfectly
- Sugar – I use caster sugar here to create the smooth creamy texture with the butter
- Eggs – as usual I am using medium eggs
- Flour – self raising flour provides the perfect lift to your sponge
- Zest of lemons – natural lemon zest provides that non-synthetic flavouring along with the juice
- Lemon juice – enhances the flavour even more
How to keep your lemon buttercream from splitting
Adding real fruit juice to a fat-based buttercream can be intimidating, and many comments are souly around the fact that their buttercream is splitting. But, with a little patience this will prove to be the saving method for perfect buttercream.
Always start by whipping your real block butter completely on its own for a few minutes until it is perfectly smooth and pale. Sifting and adding your icing sugar slowly builds a sturdy structure that can easily lock in the liquid lemon juice at the end without curdling or weeping. Take your time.
FAQs
Absolutely! While homemade lemon curd is simple to whip up, a high-quality, luxury shop-bought lemon curd works beautifully and saves you extra prep time.
If you don’t have enough fresh lemon juice left to finish the buttercream frosting, you can easily substitute it with 2 teaspoons of high-quality lemon extract instead.
Yes, easily! Because these 8-inch sponge layers bake up thick and sturdy, you can carefully slice each cooled sponge horizontally in half using a long serrated bread knife to create a gorgeous, towering four-layer showstopper.
Caster sugar has a fine grain that dissolves perfectly into warm lemon juice without making it overly thick or gummy, allowing the liquid to run deeply into the baked cake crumbs.
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
- This cake will last in an airtight container for 3-4 days – probably longer as it has so much moisture.
You can freeze it for up to 3 months. - If you don’t 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
Storage and freezing
Because of the incredible moisture from the fresh lemon drizzle, this celebration cake stays remarkably fresh and soft. Store it in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 to 4 days. Avoid putting it in the fridge, as the cold temperature will firm up the butter in the sponges and make them taste dry.
To freeze ahead, wrap the un-iced, fully cooled and drizzled sponge layers tightly in a double layer of cling film and store them in the freezer for up to 3 months. Simply defrost them on your counter overnight before whipping up fresh buttercream and assembling.
Related 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.
Looking to make a lemon cake for my son’s birthday, and this looks perfect. I would want to put buttercream all over the cake not just the top, is this recipe ok for that?
Yes it would! x
Hi there I was just wondering if this recipe could be changed into a vanilla cake? Just swapping the lemon juice/zest and adding vanilla extract, do you think this would work? I am making 2 cakes in the shape of numbers and this recipe worked perfectly for one but I want one of them to be vanilla 🤗 absolutely love your recipes!
Yeah it would work!! And thank you! x
Perfect thank you! How much vanilla extract would you recommend using please?
Perfect thank you! How much vanilla essence would you recommend using please?
Maybe 1tsp for the sponge, and 1tsp for the frosting?!
Great video! One question….when you beat in your icing sugar into the butter…how the hell do you not end up in a cloud of icing sugar which then covers your whole kitchen?!?!?! 🤔That’s what happens in my world! 🙄😆
I use Tate & Lyle icing sugar where the sugar cloud doesn’t exist! It uses an anti caking agent in it (very small amount) but enough to not cause a cloud!! X
👍🏻
Hey the recipe looks fab! Just wondering if this cake would be suitable for decorating with fondant or should I go for a madeira instead
Hiya! Personally I always go for a madeira type sponge. You could still use this, but add in 75g of plain flour to make it more madeira like and therefore firmer. x
Thank you for recipe everyone loved it, I finished it of with some homemade candied primroses
Hey the recipe looks amazing! just wondering if this would be suitable for decorating with fondant or would a denser cake like Madeira be better
Hi Jane. Looking at this recipe for a tier on my brothers wedding cake. How many layers of cake would you recommend. 2 or 3? And Can poppy seeds be added, and can it be made ahead and frozen until I’m ready to use. Thankyou… Your page was the first one I came to for a recipe will be looking at your other recipies too for the other tiers. Carrot, choc fudge and vanilla xxx
For a wedding cake I usually do three layers of sponge to make the depth enough to wow, and yes poppyseeds can be added. Make sure to wrap the cake fully and well in cling film and then foil before freezing and it’ll be dandy! x
Hi Jane, I assume the recipe works just as well with orange instead of lemon zest? I would like to use the sponges as part of a giant Jaffa cake I want to make! Thank you!
Yesss it does! I’ve made it before with an orange theme and it was yummy 😍
Make made this cake as the two tiers for my first wedding cake. Its an awesome tasting cake and a fail safe. Many thsnks for your recipe and inspiration
Made this for my husband for his birthday and it went down a treat with him and the family. The sponge was so light and fresh. Will be making this again for sure!
Hi Jane- I really want to make this for a birthday cake for my friend but I would need to make it bigger, maybe a 23cm tin. Do you have any tips on how much I should increase the recipe by or should I just give it a go and see?! Can’t wait to try it! Thanks, Paula
Hey! I recommend using this website/app because it helps you scale up the recipe! http://www.cakebaker.co.uk/baking-tin-size-conversion-calculator.html xx
Thank you!
I read somewhere that you use Stork sometimes in your sponges. Would you do the same with this recipe?
Yes I would! ?
After making your lemon and lime drizzle cake on Friday which was heavenly, I made this on Sunday….. Another fabulous delicious lemony wonder
Thank you x
Hahah so much lemony love! ❤️ thank you for baking them! X
I made this yesterday for my friend. I *may* have added limoncello to the syrup and the butterceam… It went down well at the party. Thanks for the recipe! (now to find more recipes to use up all the lemon curd I made!)
Ooh that sounds lovely! 🙂 thank you for making it!