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 1x
- 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
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Like your recipe. Cake looks moist, but not heavy or “oily”. That is what I am looking for. Going to try in 2 loaf pans. 3, 8 inch rounds about 300 sq. Inches. 2, 9 by 5 inch loaf pans about 270 sq inches. Extra batter into mini muffin tins (?). Bake time adjust for the tins (?). Maybe extra sugar in batter, I am not a frosting person. Will regroup and submit results. Thank you very much.
Thank you, the cake was deeeeelicious. Perfection. Light, fluffy and ju%st the right amount of tang.
Awesome! Glad you enjoyed it!
could i replace the poppy seeds with chia seeds? will that affect the taste/texture?
I haven’t ever used chia seeds, but possibly.
This is the best lemon poppyseed cake I have ever had. Lemony, moist, the crumb, the icing. It is perfect! It made about a cup of extra icing I didn’t use so next time will dial that down. Thanks for a great recipe, this is going in my file!
Awesome! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Can I use this recipe for cupcakes?
Yes, you can. Fill the cupcake liners about 3/4 full and bake for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. You’d get about 24 cupcakes.
Do you think I could use less powdered sugar in the icing? Or will it ruin the consistency?
My grandma doesn’t like it when icing is overly sweet 🙂
You could maybe reduce it a bit, just keep in mind that cream cheese frosting already tends to be on the softer side. If you don’t feel like you will use that much frosting, you could also reduce the overall amount that you make. I tend to use a fair amount.
This cake looks amazing! I need to serve it to a large group, and I’m thinking a rectangular pan might be an easier way to do that.. would a 9×13 or a 9×11 work? Thanks!
Yes, you could use a 9×13.
Would this cake freeze ok if I make beforehand?
Yes, that should be fine. Just flash freeze, wrap it well, then thaw in the fridge before serving.
I tested this recipe for an upcoming party. Using cake flour instead of AP flour made the texture heavenly. I only have 9″ cake pans; one recipe yielded enough batter for two cakes (no big deal, but that inch takes a lot more batter!). And finally, I only had meyer lemons, which I love but do not recommend for this recipe. The cake is delicious, but I think regular lemons will yield a more lemony final result.
I’m glad you were happy with it! Yes, for 9-inch pans I usually use 1 1/2 recipes worth if I still want a 3 layer cake that’s the same height.
This is a really helpful post Janet, thank you! I have to make a four layer 9 inch round cake so will just double up this recipe and I noticed you used cake flour instead of AP. I use cake flour normally. Did that hold up to the amount of “fluids” in the recipe? Thank you!
Can recipe be adapted for a Bundt cake?
I haven’t tried it, so I’m not sure. My guess is that it’d need some adjustments.
When I make the frosting using the quantities in their the recipe I had enough to coat and fill several cakes.Are the quantities correct? And should the sugar for the frosting be icing sugar instead of granulated?
The frosting is correct. It’s the amount I use. But not everyone uses as much frosting, so feel free to reduce everything to make less. And the sugar for the frosting is listed as powdered sugar, which is icing sugar.
I love this recipe! I need to find an eggless version of this. I tried replacing egg with flax egg but it didn’t cook properly. Can anyone help?
Wow! Just wow!
Needed to bake just a little longer but maybe that’s because I have a gas oven.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!