This moist lemon cake with glaze is exceptionally lemony with the kind of crumb you want from a cake. The tangy glaze heightens the zippy lemon and keeps everything sweet, tender, and perfect.
Plus, it’s a cinch to prepare – you whip it all up right there in its 8-inch by 8-inch baking dish. So so easy!
Here’s the recipe!
Moist Lemon Cake with Glaze
Whip up this easy and exceptionally moist lemon cake right in its baking dish! So simple and utterly scrumptious.
Ingredients
For the cake
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter (melted)
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated lemon zest
- 3/4 cup buttermilk (you can make your own: 3/4 cup milk + about a tablespoon lemon juice, let sit for about 10 minutes, done!)
For the glaze
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter (melted)
- 3 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and butter an 8-inch x 8-inch baking pan.
- Pour the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt directly into the pan, and whisk it all together well.
- In a small bowl, beat together the egg and the lemon zest.
- Using the back of a spoon, make two wells in the flour mixture.
- Pour the egg and lemon zest into one of the wells in the flour mixture.
- Pour the melted butter into the other well.
- Pour the buttermilk all over the top.
- Whisk it all together so that it’s well blended. There may be a few lumps – no biggie!
- Bake for about 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.
- Make the glaze: Mix together the powdered sugar, lemon juice, and melted butter.
- Pour the glaze over the cooled cake.
- Cut into squares and serve with whipping cream or vanilla ice cream.
Nutrition Facts
Serving: 1slice, Calories: 265kcal, Carbohydrates: 47g, Protein: 3g, Fat: 8g, Saturated Fat: 5g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.4g, Monounsaturated Fat: 2g, Trans Fat: 0.3g, Cholesterol: 37mg, Sodium: 230mg, Potassium: 58mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 33g, Vitamin A: 257IU, Vitamin C: 2mg, Calcium: 71mg, Iron: 1mg
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I’m so glad you’re here! I’m a vegetarian home cook, certified plant-based pro, and mom. I’m married to an enthusiastic carnivore, and my mission is to achieve peace in the kitchen – one tasty recipe at a time. These days, I also try not to ask to speak to the manager.
Oh My what a clever way to make the batter in the dish… I literally just made a buttermilk lemon cake and it was sensational. As for knowing peoples emotions when they have cooked their dish… usally if the food is bad = bad mood, if good = good mood. But hey what do i know….. Love your blog. Have recently stumbled on it and will remain here!
I love a good lemon cake! This looks so good! Beautiful photo as well!
You had me at lemon cake. 🙂
Gnam-gnam: i copy this recipe immediately!!
Fabulously well written post! And the photos show how delightful the crumb of that cake must be.
Oh yeah…this is definitely on my “to make” list! Delicious. As for food reflecting our feelings…let’s just say I hope that’s not true! ;-D
Hey Kare,
I LOVE your blog. It’s one of my favourites. I will definitely be scrutinizing my eaters to see their reactions when they eat my food…
Mindy
Oh, don’t think I’m not thinking of making more of this stuff as soon as possible. It didn’t last long in our house!
Jenn & Sarah, thank you so much!
Mindy & Joudie’s Mood Food, so glad you are liking the HB! I love hearing that, makes it all worthwhile. Thank you, and I hope you come back and visit again soon. 🙂
Making this right now….noticed a teeny, tiny discrepancy….. ingredients say use baking powder, but the directions say baking soda. I looked at the original recipe and figured it out. But, just thought you might want to edit that. 🙂
Sonia, thank you so much for letting me know! Fixed.
Even though I triple check recipes after writing them, I’m sort of petrified I’m going to mess one up badly and completely screw up someone’s dish… so I’m really glad you figured it out (and I hope you loved it!)
Thanks again. 🙂
Doing the glaze right now…..will report back soon.
*fingers crossed*
I love lemon cake.
This one looks delicious.
I don’t see a way to print out the recipe so I can try it.
Am I missing something?
Hi Ilene! There is actually a “Print this recipe” link at the top of the recipe, on the right. If you try it out, please let me know how you like it!
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Moist and delicious– plus a scientific feat– making it right in the pan! I was skeptical about that part but it worked and even came out of my glass baking dish cleanly.Â
Yay! So glad you liked it. 🙂
This is a really tasty simple cake. Since finding this recipe a few months ago I have enjoyed it half a dozen times. I top the cake with sliced fresh strawberries and pour some heavy cream over all. The unsweetened cream balances out the sweetness of the cake. It always disappears immediately!
Can this be made into a loaf please?
Finally, my search for a super moist lemon cake has come to an end! This recipe is super easy, moist and delicious! The only thing that I did different is instead of lemon zest , I used 2T of lemon juice. It made 12 cupcakes and baked for 25minutes. Â I must have tried 3 other recipes and all claimed to be moist and they were super dry and so much work! Thank you for sharing this amazing recipe!
I really loved the recipe but there are some people who don’t have as much access to some ingredients so maybe you should use some simpler ingredients.
I hope this is a jesting comment ’cause I’m not really sure how the ingredient list can get much simpler…
This is delicious! It was very moist, I probably could have baked it a few minutes longer than 30 although it tested done. I made it vegan due to saving my butter and eggs for other purposes while we are home during the pandemic. I used a flax egg and vegan butter (Melt butter sticks) and didn’t notice any off flavors or problems with rise. I also used 1/2 c ww pastry flour and the rest AP. I used more lemon juice in the glaze since mine was thick and I liked the zing that gave. We couldn’t wait for it to cool completely, added the glaze to warm cake and spread it and then put it in our garage to cool more quickly. Cut it into 9 squares and we all had more than 1. Thank you for the quick and easy recipe!
does this make 2 8×8 cakes or just one?
Does this cake only fit into one 8×8 pan or two?
Please answer the question about the pans because I would like to make a layer cake and your recipe seems like the best one I’ve looked at!
it is awesome. taste like those delicious Panera bread sugar cookies
Delicious and so easy to make!