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Italian lemon cake is light, bright and citrusy from fresh lemon. Lightly sweetened and perfect for spring. You will love this bright lemon zested cake for breakfast or to snack on.
Table of contents
Why Make This Italian Lemon Cake
This cake is beautiful, it’s light and airy in flavor. You can really taste the fresh lemon and lemon zest. I recommend the optional icing, this cake isn’t your average cake, it’s not nearly as sweet as most, making it a great snacking cake.
This Italian Lemon Cream Cake is Bright and full of spring flavor and practically fool-proof. You can also make this cake into a bread loaf and have a bread instead. Also consider my Lemon Blueberry Bread for another spring favorite!
Ingredients Notes
- All Purpose Flour. You can use all purpose gluten free flour as well.
- Butter. I use unsalted butter, you can also use a plant based alternative butter if needed to make this dairy free.
- Eggs. You will need two large eggs.
- Milk. Half & half is best, however ANY milk will work with this recipe. I have made it with almond milk and it works great.
- Vanilla Extract & Lemon Extract. I like to use a little of both for the ultimate flavor blast. You can find both in the baking aisle.
- Fresh Lemons. Use the lemon zest, and the juice for this recipe.
All other ingredients and measurements can be found in the recipe card towards the bottom of this post.
Recipe Variations & Substitutions
Lemon Extract. If you do not have lemon extract, you can just use vanilla or almond extract.
Lemon. I highly recommend fresh lemon for the best flavor and for the fresh lemon zest.
Milk. You can use half/half, heavy cream or 2% milk or use almond or any other creamy nut milk.
Flour. To make this gluten free, be sure to use a gluten free all purpose blend flour.
Steps To Make This Recipe
Step One. Preheat oven to 350ºF. In a medium bowl, mix salt, baking powder and flour. Set aside.
Step Two. With a stand mixer or hand mixer, cream together the sugar and butter. Add one egg at a time, vanilla and lemon extract, lemon juice, milk and lemon zest. Next, slowly add in the flour mix. Do not over mix, but it should form a thick batter, you can add an extra Tbsp or two of milk if needed.
Step Three. In a 9 inch cake pan, place parchment paper on bottom or, grease the pan properly and sprinkle just a little flour around it to help prevent sticking. Using a spatula, add the batter to the cake pan. You will need a little patience, just push the batter around to the edges and make sure it is evenly spread and mostly smooth on top.
Step Four. Put the cake pan in the oven, cook for about 22-25 minutes. Check on it at 25 minutes with a toothpick in the center. If it comes out clean, it is finished. Allow the cake to cool for about 10-15 minutes. Meanwhile while it’s cooling, mix the icing together. Set aside.
Step Five. Once the cake has cooled, take it out of the cake pan carefully. Set it on a cutting board. Dust with powdered sugar and leftover lemon zest. Drizzle the icing over the top, don’t be shy. Slice and enjoy!
Recipe FAQ’s
It’s a light fluffy cake, typically used for snacking. It has lots of citrus flavor.
Yes, you can make italian lemon cake Gluten free by using all purpose gluten free blend.
I think this cake is very mild in sweetness, so I prefer a nice heavy drizzle of icing. You can skip it if you want to cut down on sugar.
Recipe Tips
- Make this cake extra creamy by using half and half or heavy cream. It will turnout wonderfully with any milk (plant based as well) I have tried just about everything and it is fail proof!
- Don’t overcook the cake. Be sure to check it when the time is getting close to 25 minutes. You can also double this recipe and make a two tiered cake.
- Let the cake cook completely before transferring. This is always a big tip with all baking!
Other Sweet Treats To Try
If you loved this recipe let me know! Also, follow me on Instagram & Pinterest for even more fun recipes to make you feel good from the inside out. Thanks for being here.
Italian Lemon Cake
Equipment
- 9" cake pan or bread loaf
Ingredients
- 1¼ cup all purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 4 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
- ½ cup white granulated sugar
- ¼ cup half & half, *see notes
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp lemon extract
- 2 eggs
- 2 Tbsp lemon zest, *about 2 lemons
- ¼-⅓ cup lemon juice, *about 2 lemons
2 ingredient icing
- 1 cup confectioner sugar
- 1 tsp milk or water, *you may need ½ tsp more to thin it out
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF. In a medium bowl, mix salt, baking powder and flour. Set aside.
- With a stand mixer or hand mixer, cream together the sugar and butter. Add one egg at a time, vanilla and lemon extract, lemon juice, milk and lemon zest. Next, slowly add in the flour mix. Do not over mix, but it should form a thick batter, you can add an extra Tbsp or two of milk if needed to thin the batter a bit.
- In a 9 inch cake pan, place parchment paper on bottom or, grease the pan properly and sprinkle just a little flour around it to help prevent sticking. Using a spatula, add the batter to the cake pan. You will need a little patience, just push the batter around to the edges and make sure it is evenly spread and mostly smooth on top.
- Put the cake pan in the oven, cook for about 22-25 minutes. Check on it at 25 minutes with a toothpick in the center. If it comes out clean it is finished. Allow the cake to cool for about 10-15 minutes. Meanwhile while it's cooling, mix the icing together. Set aside.
- Once the cake has cooled, take it out of the cake pan carefully. Set it on a cutting board. Dust with powdered sugar and leftover lemon zest. Drizzle the icing over the top, don't be shy. Slice and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Just made this! Soooo damn good!
I am so thrilled to hear that! Happy Baking friend.
Just pulled this out of the oven, it’s perfect and smells delicious. What an easy recipe! I’m going to try orange next time.
This was really easy to make and super delicious. We made it for Easter and my family absolutely loved it.
It is delicious love it
An amazing dessert!!!! So simple even I can make it! My husband loves lemon so it’s the perfect dessert for him.
I am so happy to hear that! Thanks so much for trying it. Happy Baking! Xoxo
Excellent flavor and really easy to make. 10/10
This was SO good and really easy. The cake was light and moist and not overly sweet. My husband doesn’t like sweets much but he ate half the cake after dinner.
My Baking and Pastry students made this for a catering event and it was a hit! We coupled it with a lemon zested whipped cream.
Wow this really means so much! Thanks for the feedback and letting me know.
Amazing! My go to for fancy dinner:)