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This Lemon Poppyseed Cake is a tender, moist cake that’s full of lemon flavor and poppy seeds! It’s covered in a light lemon cream cheese frosting for a cake that’s perfect for lemon lovers!
It’s no secret around here that I love a tasty lemon dessert. I have quite a variety of lemon flavored cakes and this is my latest. Believe it or not – it might just be my favorite!
LEMON POPPYSEED CAKE RECIPE
What I love so much about this cake is the lemon flavor. It’s perfection. There’s a large variety when it comes to lemon cake flavor, but I really love a strong flavor in pretty much anything I eat. That can be tough with lemon, but this cake is just right.
To make this amazing cake, start with both butter and oil. The butter lends that wonderful flavor, while the oil helps with keeping the cake moist. Beat them with some sugar and vanilla extract on medium speed until the mixture lightens in color and gets a fluffier texture, about two minutes.
Next, you’ll add the eggs, then alternate adding the dry ingredients with the milk and fresh lemon juice. For our leavener, we’ve got both baking powder and baking soda in order to properly balance the acid in the lemon juice.
Finally, you’ll add some lemon zest and poppy seeds.
WHY ADD POPPY SEEDS?
Poppy seeds add both flavor and a little crunch. They also contain a good bit of fiber, calcium, copper, phosphorus and magnesium. All are good and healthy things. Clearly that means this cake is healthy too! 😉
That said, this cake could also be made without them.
CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
This Lemon Poppyseed Cake is finished off with my favorite Cream Cheese Frosting, with a little bit of lemon juice and lemon zest added. It adds a subtle lemon flavor, which goes great with the cake.
The final cake is nothing short of delicious! The combination of the full flavored, moist lemon cake with the light flavor of the poppy seeds and cream cheese frosting is heavenly. It’s a wonderful combination of sweet and tangy and such a wonderful citrusy cake for spring and summer. I seriously wanted to sit down with a fork and just eat it one sitting. I hope you love it too!
MORE LEMON DESSERTS TO TRY
Lemon Cake with Lemon Bavarian Cream
Lemon Mascarpone Layer Cake
No Bake Lemon Cheesecake
Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake
Lemon Meringue Cheesecake
Triple Lemon Cake
Lemon Poppyseed Cake
- Prep Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 35 minutes
- Yield: 12-14 slices
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
This Lemon Poppyseed Cake is a tender, moist cake that’s full of lemon flavor and poppy seeds! It’s covered in a light lemon cream cheese frosting for a cake that’s perfect for lemon lovers!
Ingredients
Lemon Poppyseed Cake
- 2 1/2 cups (325g) all purpose flour
- 1 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup (112g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup (120ml) vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 cups (310g) sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 large eggs
- 3/4 cup (180ml) milk
- 1/2 cup (120ml) fresh lemon juice
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon zest
- 2 tbsp poppy seeds
Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
- 16 oz (452g) cream cheese, room temperature
- 3/4 cup (172g) butter, room temperature
- 10 cups (1150g) powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon zest
Instructions
1. Prepare three 8 inch cake pans with parchment paper circles in the bottom and grease the sides. Preheat oven to 350°F (176°C).
2. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium sized bowl and set aside.
3. Add the butter, oil, sugar and vanilla extract to a large mixer bowl and beat together until light in color and fluffy, about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Do not skimp on the creaming time.
4. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing until mostly combined after each. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to be sure all ingredients are well incorporated.
5. Add half of the dry ingredients to the batter and mix until mostly combined.
6. Combine the milk and lemon juice, then slowly add the mixture to the batter and mix until well combined.
7. Add the remaining dry ingredients and mix until well combined and smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to be sure all ingredients are well incorporated. Do not over mix the batter.
8. Add the lemon zest and poppy seeds and gently stir to combine.
9. Divide the batter evenly between the cakes pans and bake for 22-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with a few crumbs.
10. Remove the cakes from the oven and allow to cool for about 2-3 minutes, then remove to cooling racks to cool completely.
11. To make the frosting, add the cream cheese and butter to a large mixer bowl and beat until well combined and smooth.
12. Add about half of the powdered sugar and mix until well combined and smooth.
13. Add the lemon juice and zest and mix until well combined.
14. Add the remaining powdered sugar and mix until well combined and smooth. Add more or less powdered sugar, as desired for consistency purposes.
15. To put the cake together, use a large serrated knife to remove the domes from the top of the cakes so that they’re flat, if needed.
16. Place the first cake on a serving plate or a cardboard cake round.
17. Spread about 1 cup of frosting evenly on top of the cake.
18. Add the second layer of cake and another cup of frosting.
19. Top the cake with the remaining layer and frost the outside of the cake. Refer to my tutorial for frosting a smooth cake, if needed. To make the line pattern in the side of the cake, I used one of the decorative sides on this icing smoother.
20. Finish off the cake as you like. I added rosettes around the top outer edge and sprinkled on some poppy seeds. I also added some lemon slices.
21. Refrigerate the cake until ready to serve. Cake is best served cool, but not necessarily cold.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice
- Calories: 715
- Sugar: 94.3 g
- Sodium: 263.6 mg
- Fat: 26.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 115 g
- Protein: 7.5 g
- Cholesterol: 89.4 mg
Categories
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I need to make a 3 layer 10 inch lemon poppyseed cake. Will I be able to adjust this recipe with success to do that?
Yes, that should be fine. I’d probably double the recipe.
Great flavour and cake! I needed to bake for 10 minutes longer in my Turbo Oven fan low. As it didn’t set properly at 20 mins. Will be making this again I think!
I’m glad to hear you enjoyed it!
Good taste. But texture bit too dense despite using brand new baking powder and soda.
can you make this a few days ahead?
A few days might be a stretch, but you could definitely make it a day or two ahead.
This recipe was perfection!!
I loved it
So glad you enjoyed it!
I never leave reviews but this cake was perfection. Everyone at the party was so impressed. I made a simple raspberry filling to go in between the layers with it. Definitely will be trying more of your recipes 🙂
Awesome! I’m so glad it was a hit!
I’m making this cake for the first time. Have now made the cake part twice. Cause my layers are only 3/4 of an inch thick. Why aren’t my cake layers rising more? I thought I followed the recipe to a tee. I’m not a bad baker but this cake has me stumped as to why the layers are so thin.
It’s hard to say from a distance, but the layers are usually only roughly an inch thick. They don’t sound that far off. Are they super dense, like the didn’t rise properly? If so, maybe check your baking powder and baking soda to see if they’re still good. Also be sure you aren’t over mixing and deflating to batter. You should be able to see the acid in the batter already reacting and creating air/rise and you don’t want to deflate that.
These aren’t super thick layers. I’d say they are usually about an inch thick though. Be sure you’re creaming the butter and sugar together fully, that your baking powder and baking soda are still good and that you don’t over mix your cake batter. I hope that helps!
can I make this as a bundt? Not a fan of a lot of frosting. I’d like a nice lemon glaze instead
I haven’t ever tried it as a bundt, so I’m not sure.
Did you soak the poppy seeds?
Thank you!
I did not.
Can I use a 9X13 cake pan instead of the three rounds?
Yes, bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.
It was a hit on my first attempt. Now lemon and poppy seed is one of my favorite flavors. I love it. Obsessed with this recipe.
So glad you enjoyed it!
I love all your recipes, every one I have tried has turned out amazing! I am wondering if I can replace the lemon with orange to turn this into an orange and poppyseed cake? Would I just swap out the lemon juice and lemon zest for orange in the same amounts? Thanks!
I’m so glad you are enjoying the recipes! Yes, you can swap those out for orange. I actually did that for my orange layer cake. One other change I made was to add an orange syrup to the cake layers, since the orange flavor is a little more subtle than lemon.
This was amazing! My daughter and I made it on a whim and it totally overdelivered!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Flavor was lovely but my cake came out super dense. Upon research I read you’re supposed to soak seeds prior as they remove moisture. Any thoughts?
I’ve never heard that before. You can certainly give it a try. But most people who have made this cake has left it and I don’t believe they have done that. I would think it’s more likely that there was some thing along the way that gave you that result. You want to be sure to fully and properly cream the butter, oil, and sugar. That contributes to the rise of the cake. Also, make sure that your baking powder and baking soda are still good, since those also contribute to the rise. Opening the oven too soon during baking can also cause cakes to fall, which will make them more dense.
Loved how light this cake came out. I baked it into a square brownie pan and used a slightly different icing. But thet cake was just so lovely and light! Will definitely make this again!
Can I swap out the milk for something else since I’m dairy free? Also another dairy free frosting option?
You can certainly give it a try. I don’t usually test diary free substitutes.
This looks perfect for my daughter’s wedding cake. How many cups of batter does it make, I need 8 cups for one 8×3 and one 6×3.
I’m sorry, I’m not sure how many cups of batter it is.