Lemon Poppyseed Cake. A tender layer cake recipe brightened with lemon juice, lemon zest and poppy seeds, frosted with a tangy sweet lemon cream cheese frosting.
The weather here has been up, down and everywhere in between. Just when it feels like the heavy cast of winter is lifting, it comes back with gusto. But the occasional warm day brings sunshine, a break to the grey monotony, and a refreshing reminder… that spring is coming!
This Lemon Poppy Seed Cake is everything you want in a spring dessert. Fresh lemon awakens the senses while the soft yellow hue builds naturally from a hefty dose of lemon zest. The influx of poppy seeds not only gives the cake layers a beautiful speckled appearance, but a slightly nutty flavor that only poppy seeds can deliver. A few extra seeds sprinkled on top creates a quick and easy crescent backdrop for our edible flowers. While I chose to brighten the muted yellows with vibrant mini sun daisies, the color tones of this cake could easily sway towards pastels suited for Easter. As is, it would look beautiful next to a large vase of yellow tulips.
And then comes the cream cheese frosting. Oh my gosh, it’s good. This is my favorite lemon cream cheese buttercream from my lemon blueberry cake, but with a few tweaks. I changed up the ratio of cream cheese to butter to allow this frosting to have a bit more body than the lemon blueberry cake. While this reduces the tang a tad because there’s less cream cheese, the overall taste is still delicious and the resulting frosting is a little stiffer and easier to decorate with. Still, by no means is this a “decorator’s frosting”– it’s not overly sweet nor is it a good candidate intricate piping work. For best results, be sure to use a block-style cream cheese, like Philadelphia Cream Cheese. Any cream cheese that comes in a tub will be too soft and you’ll have more of a glaze than a frosting. If you prefer a tangier lemon frosting, revert back to this cream cheese frosting recipe instead.
Lemon Poppyseed Cake
A tender layer cake recipe brightened with lemon juice, lemon zest and poppy seeds, frosted with a tangy sweet lemon cream cheese frosting.
- Yield: One 8" Round Cake (3 layers)
- Category: ✽ ✽ ✽
Ingredients
For the Lemon Poppy Seed Cake:
- 3 cups cake flour, spooned and leveled (336g)
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons organic lemon zest, about 3–4 lemons
- 8 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 4 eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup whole milk
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 3 tablespoons poppy seeds
For the Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 12 ounces cream cheese, block style
- 8 ounces unsalted butter, slightly softened but still cold
- 4 ounces salted butter, slightly softened but still cold
- 4–6 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon organic lemon zest
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
For the Assembly:
- Lemon slices
- Poppy Seeds
- Edible flowers (optional)
Instructions
Make the Lemon Poppy Seed Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350. Butter and lightly flour three 8″ round pans. Line with parchment paper circles.
- Whisk together 3 cups cake flour, baking powder and salt. Add lemon zest and whisk again. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, combine milk and lemon juice. Stir to combine and set aside for milk to curdle. This is similar to making homemade buttermilk.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter and sugar on medium-high using the paddle attachment. Beat until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down bowl.
- With the mixer on low, add eggs one at a time. Mix well after each egg.
- Add vanilla extract. Mix to combine.
- Add the flour mixture in three batches, alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Do not over mix.
- Add poppy seeds and mix to combine. Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl and the mixer blade. Batter will be thick and fluffy.
- Divide batter evenly between the three 8″ round pans. Smooth tops with rubber spatula or knife to evenly distribute batter in the pan.
- Bake for 25-27 minutes, until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.
- Let cool in pans for 10 to 15 minutes, then remove to wire rack to finish cooling.
Make the Cream Cheese Frosting:
- Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the butter and cream cheese until smooth.
- Add vanilla, lemon zest and juice and mix until combined.
- Gradually add confectioners sugar, adjusting amount, until desired sweetness is reached. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Whip on medium until smooth and slightly fluffy. Overmixing will result in a thinner frosting because the butter and cream cheese will be too warm and soft.
Assemble the Cake:
- Place one layer of cake onto serving plate or cake stand and top with about one cup of lemon cream cheese frosting. Repeat with second cake layer, more frosting and then last layer of cake. Crumb coat and frost cake with remaining frosting.
- If desired, create soft swirls in the frosting by lightly placing the tip of an offset spatula against the frosting while spinning the turntable. Your spatula will naturally move up the side of the cake, leaving a imprinted swirl.
- Decorate with lemon slices, a sprinkle of poppy seeds and edible flowers, if desired.
- Store in refrigerator. Serve at room temperature.
Notes
- Be careful not to pack flour into the measuring cups. Too much flour can result is a heavy and overly dense cake. 3 cups of cake flour is 336g when properly measured. If you do not have a scale, spooning flour into the measuring cup and then leveling off the excess is the next best way to measure.
- When finished mixing the cake batter, be sure to scrape down the mixer blade to grab all the lemon zest that has accumulated. Fold back into the cake batter before diving into pans.
- You may bake this as two full-sized 8″ round cake layers. Alternatively, I baked it as three intentionally shorter 8″ round layers – this saves time and effort because the shorter layers do not need to be torted. The resulting layers are approximately 1.25 inches tall. If only using two pans, be sure to only fill them 2/3 of the way full to prevent overflowing.
- I do not recommend substituting 2% or skim milk in the cake batter. This recipe needs the fat from the whole milk.
- If frosting is too thin after whipping, refrigerate for 30 minutes before assembling cake. The chilled frosting will have a thicker consistency. For an even thicker consistency, add additional confectioners’ sugar as desired.
- I used edible micro sun daisies for the decoration. Add the flowers just before serving as they will wilt over time, especially when refrigerated.
MORE LEMON CAKE RECIPES TO TRY:
This cake looks so beautiful I can taste it with my eyes! Please tell me how you created the swirling effect, was it a teaspoon? Thank you so much…
Thank you Sharon! I created the swirls with the rounded tip of a small offset spatula (like this one). See step #2 of the assembly instructions for more details.
Oops #2 was that there yesterday, Lol… Thanks so much…
This recipe was wonderful! My husband and I had lemon poppy seed as our wedding cake and I’d been looking for a recipe that was as good as our baker’s recipe… and I found it! I added a touch more lemon juice in the cake, maybe 2 teaspoons. And then I made a lemon curd filling to put between the middle layers. This cake was perfect. I will definitely be making it again!
What would you say a cup is in grams? Love the look of this recipe but I don’t usually work in grams! ❤️
Your recipes are all beautiful and delicious. You need to publish a cookbook (with pictures) of the recipes you have on your site…and maybe some new ones. Love your recipes.
Awe, thank you Lisa! Hope you like this one as well!
This cake is beautiful. I love all your recipes. I wish you would publish a cookbook – with lots of pictures – and tutorials of your decorating.
Carrie
Everything is perfect on your site. Just beautiful so I hate to even mention this but-
At the start of the cake instructions, it reads
“INSTRUCTIONS”
Make the Lemon Blueberry Cake…….
I’m sure it’s supposed to be “poppyseed”
(although, blueberries sound delightful too!)
Have a wonderful day!
Thanks for catching that Deborah! This cake is based on my lemon blueberry cake… so lemon blueberry was definitely on my mind while writing this post. Evidently in my writing as well! 😉
Can this cake be bake in a bunt tin? It looks like such a lovely recipe and I want to try but do t want to mess thing up
Hi I couldn’t find cake flour could I use something else?. And with cheese frosting I never made it before does it taste more like cheese ?. Does any other frosting goes well with this cake thank you
Cake flour is more finely ground flour with a lower percentage of protein than all-purpose flour. You can find it in most grocery stores. Here’s an article explaining the differences in flours and how they affect your cake recipes.
If you don’t have cake flour but have access to all-purpose flower, you can make cake flour at home. Here’s how:
Measure out 1 cup of all-purpose flour. Remove 2 tablespoons of the all-purpose flour and replace it with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch. Sift this together numerous times to make sure it is well combined and aerated.
As for the frosting, it has a slight tang like lemon and cheesecake. However, you could simply go with a lemon buttercream if you’d rather. Enjoy!
Does pastry flour work instead of “cake flour”?
Hi, I live in the U.K. and I would love to make your Lemon Poppy seed cake, I live in th UK and we don’t use cups, please can you tell me is there a chart so I can convert cups to grams.
Here is a handy conversion calculator for you! This will help you convert all of the ingredient quantities to metric units.
https://www.convert-me.com/en/convert/cooking
Hi Carrie, I love so much lemon cake, and that one looks so wonderful. I can not wait to do it.
I always look forward to your emails because I know there will be some wonderful recipe or decorating tutorial in it. Could I make these into cupcakes? If so, is there anything I need to do different? Thank you!
Thank you Marizza! This recipe will work just fine for cupcakes as well. It will make roughly 30 cupcakes or so. Just fill your liners no more than 2/3 of the way full. Bake for roughly 16-18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Enjoy!
I had to make this right away! It turned out great, the frosting is absolutely divine.
This cake is so beautiful, but it sadly did not turn out for me. The cake did not rise to the 1 1/4 inches you described. I am an experienced baker and I weigh all of my ingredients. I am not sure where 336 grams for 3 cups of cake flour is from– I’ve always seen that a cup of cake flour was equivalent to 120 g (total 360 g). I don’t know that this was enough to cause a problem though. Also, 3 Tablespoons of poppy seeds? I added a tablespoon and my batter was full of seeds like your picture. My ingredients were room temperature, baking soda is brand new, lemon juice is fresh-squeezed… I hate to say anything negative as I love this blog and I’ve made many cakes with success from here, but it is so frustrating when you put in the time and effort, follow every step to a T, and it does not turn out.
I’m sorry to hear you had trouble with this recipe Ashley. I’m not sure what went wrong for you? I noticed you referenced baking soda in your comment, but there is no baking soda in this recipe. Perhaps that is where things got off track? Inadvertently using baking soda instead of baking powder would definitely cause your cakes not to rise.
As for the cake flour weight, I used Swan cake flour and the weight is 112g per cup (total 336g for 3 cups). And yes, I really used 3 tablespoons of poppy seeds. It may look like a lot in the batter but disperses nicely in the baked cake.
I hope this gives you some insight for troubleshooting for next time!
Thank you for your response. I specifically went out to get baking powder for this recipe, so I’m not sure why I said soda. Perhaps it appeared to be a lot of poppy seeds in my cut cake because it didn’t rise, so there wasn’t a lot of space for them to disperse? The frosting is amazing, so we happily ate that with spoons! If I have an abundance of lemons I may have to give this a try again! I adore this blog and I’ve had so many successful cakes come from you and your contributors!
I’m afraid this recipe didn’t rise for me either 🙁
This recipe sounds wonderful – if I were to use the batter for cupcakes, about how long do you think it would take them to bake?
Thank you! This recipe will work just fine for cupcakes as well. It will make roughly 30 cupcakes or so. Just fill your liners no more than 2/3 of the way full. Bake for roughly 16-18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Enjoy!
Thanks! I just made a small batch (1/3 recipe yielded 9 cupcakes). They’re delicious. I wish I could tell you how long they baked, but the power went off while they were in the oven! And of course I was using the (electronic) oven timer. Fortunately the oven came back after about five minutes, not too much heat was lost, and the cupcakes came out just fine.
I am wanting to try this for my little boy’s birthday, but i don’t have multiple 8” cake pans. I have one 9” x 3” cake pan that i was thinking of slicing when done. Do you recommend against this?
This will be too much batter for one 9″ round pan. But you could certainly bake it in two 9″ round pans.
How would this cake be stored for a day? I’m making it for Easter tomorrow. Thanks!
Never mind. Just made it to the end of the instructions. I’m that person today.
The cake was figgly to make (a bowl for this and another bowl for that). It turned out very dense. I was disappointed.
Hi Carrie
Can you confirm it is 1 Tablespoon of baking powder as I have never used that much in a cake receipe before??
Thanks
Hi Midge – yes 1 Tablespoon of baking powder is correct.
I made this cake for Easter and it turned out very well. Thank you! It was a big hit! Wish I could post a photo for you to see.
Thanks for the feedback Jennifer. I’d love to see a photo of your finished cake. You can post one on Instagram using #thecakeblog or you can post one on Pinterest now! How fun is that!?
Is the frosting pipeable? If I wanted to do a scalloped look on the cake would it hold?
Sorry Jackie, this frosting is not a good one for piped decorations. You could make it stiffer by adding more confectioners’ sugar (although this will make it sweeter) or go for an all butter buttercream. Either way, you’d end up with a frosting better suited for piping.
Great recipe! Every time I make this cake I get so many compliments. I even made it in vegan version, it turned out delicious too. It is surprisingly light and so so lemony!
Hi, I made the cake now, thanks for the recipe. Love the smell! Problem the inner part of the cake has sunken in a bit ☹️. Can anything be done?
WAS huge hit! Thanks loads for the recipe! Do you have a similar cake without lemon flavor? Love the dairy heavy flavor but my husband doesn’t go for the lemon taste. Oils love to make another one. Please advise, thanks
Hi Carrie, this cake looks wonderful but I have a small family. Can I divide the recipe in half to make a smaller batch for mother’s day and how long do I bake it for? Love to hear your reply soon.
I made this as a bottom tier for my daughter birthday, the cake taste good but I found it a bit too dry even with frosting it’s still a bit too dry for my liking.
My kids doesnt like cheese could I use something else for the frosting thank you
Hi! I really want to try this recipe, but im lactose intolerant. Can I use almond, soy or another form of dairy-free milk? I saw that you need to fat from the milk but doesnt the butter give enough? Thanks! 🙂
Sorry Ellie – I haven’t tested this recipe with a dairy-free milk. Please also note there would be some lactose in the butter and the cream cheese used in this recipe.
Hi, I actually take recipes I find online and alter them… I myself can’t have dairy n I cook for a diabetic all the time (so I use Splenda too), so what I do is use olive oil (or any oil of choice) or Crisco for the cake, in addition to that I use dairy free yogurt instead of milk, or soy milk (but I find u need alot more than recipe says) they also sell dairy free cream cheese n whipped cream, or use ur frosting of choice… I can give alot more advise, but this isn’t my blog…
This was delicious! This recipe is definitely a keeper, thank you!
I live in Thailand. We normally use lime. It’s difficult to find lemon. Can I use lime instead of lemon?
Sure, I don’t see why not!