Lemon Dream Cake
Lemon Dream Cake is a gorgeous moist layer cake drizzled with sweet vanilla icing. This pound cake is the perfect dessert to present at a dinner party or to give as a gift to a friend. The bright lemon flavor pairs wonderfully with the earthy vanilla extract that makes this a cake you’ll make again and again.

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This fluffy and scrumptious Lemon Dream Cake is exactly what dessert dreams are made of! With a delicious icing drizzled over the top, there is the perfect amount of sweetness to balance the zesty lemon.
This beautiful and elegant cake is great to make for bridal showers, baby showers or even a small wedding. It’s the perfect spring treat but honestly, you will probably want to enjoy it year round.

Ingredients to Make Lemon Dream Cake
- butter
- white sugar
- eggs
- milk
- flour
- salt
- baking powder
- lemon extract
Icing: - milk
- powdered sugar
- vanilla extract
- cream of tartar

How to Make Lemon Dream Cake
Preheat the oven to 350° and grease two 8” round cake pans. In a small bowl combine sugar, flour, salt, and baking powder. Mix in butter, milk, and lemon extract to the dry ingredients. Beat on high for 2 minutes.

Pour the batter evenly into the cake pans. Bake for 40-45 minutes. While the cake is baking, make the icing. Beat together milk, powdered sugar, vanilla, and cream of tartar on high until smooth. Set aside.

Allow the cake to cool, and move to a cake stand or serving dish. Drizzle icing over top.

Notes & Tips
This delicious lemon cake recipe is easily adaptable to make exactly how you’d like. Here are some options and suggestions to make this the best lemon dream cake you’ve ever had.
Substitutions
- Juice: Substitute orange juice, lime juice, or cherry juice for the lemon juice in the cake or icing. Any of these would make a flavorful cake!
- Frosting: This recipe uses a simple icing, but you can make a cream cheese frosting, lemon curd, or lemon cream to go with the lemon dream cake instead.
- Lemon flavor: If you’d like to substitute freshly squeezed lemon juice instead of lemon extract, you’ll notice a stronger fresh lemon flavor.
- Flour: Use cake flour instead of all-purpose flour to make your cake lighter with a finer crumb.
- Mix-ins: Add blueberries, poppy seeds, or raspberries to make a lemon blueberry cake, lemon poppy seed cake, or lemon raspberry cake. Lemon goes so well with these other flavor combinations.
- Mixer: This recipe is mixed with a handheld mixer, but you can use a stand mixer or mix by hand if you prefer.
- Eggs: Make the cake even fluffier by mixing egg whites until stiff peaks form and gently folding them into the cake batter.
- Garnish: While the recipe does not call for grated lemon zest, it makes for a beautiful garnish on the white icing. You can also use lemon slices to make your cake look even better.
How to Store Lemon Cake
Counter: Lemon pound cake can be kept on the counter in an airtight container for up to 3 days before it will begin to get stale.
Refrigerator: You can keep it in the refrigerator for up to seven days in a container. Cut a slice and let it come to room temperature to allow it to soften up a bit before eating it.
Freezer: You can freeze the cake for up to three months without the icing. When you’re ready to eat, put it in the refrigerator or on the counter to thaw. When it gets to room temperature, whip up some fresh icing to drizzle on the cake.
FAQs
Lemon juice gives this vanilla cake recipe a deliciously bright lemon flavor. You can add a little for just a hint or a lot for a bolder flavor.
There are a couple of reasons why your lemon cake may be dry. Be sure to add the correct amount of liquid according to the directions. If the liquid to dry ingredients ratio is off, it will make your cake dry.
The second thing to watch out for is not to overbake the cake. You know it’s done when a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out almost clean, but not completely. It will continue to cook for a few minutes on the counter, so you don’t want the toothpick to be completely dry.
Baking powder reacts to acid (lemon juice) when they’re combined. They will create carbon dioxide and start bubbling which helps the cake to rise.
If you want to make this cake with a box mix, you can add lemon juice to it to make a lemon cake. However, the box mix doesn’t taste nearly as good as making it from scratch.
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Lemon Dream Cake
Course: DessertDifficulty: Easy8
servings5
minutes45
minutes50
minutesThis fluffy Lemon Dream Cake is exactly what dessert dreams are made of, with a sweet icing drizzle and delicious lemon flavor!
Ingredients
1 cup butter, melted
1 ½ cup white sugar
4 eggs
2 cup milk
4 cup flour
½ teaspoon salt
6 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoon lemon extract
- Icing
3 tablespoon milk
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
½ tsp cream of tartar
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease two 8” round cake pans.
- In a small bowl combine sugar, flour, salt, and baking powder. Mix in butter, milk, lemon extract, and room temperature eggs to the dry ingredients. Beat on high for 2 minutes.
- Pour into cake pans. Bake for 40-45 minutes.
- While the cake is baking, beat together milk, powdered sugar, vanilla, and cream of tartar on high until smooth. Set Aside.
- Allow the cake to cool, and move to a cake stand or serving dish. Drizzle icing over top.
Notes
More Lemon Recipes:
Did you make this recipe? Let me know what you thought with a comment below. You can also take a picture and tag me on Instagram @cinnamonandsagecoblog