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Light, lemony and delicious, this Lemon Sheet Cake is the perfect summer crowd pleaser.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
One of my favorite dessert to take to any gathering is a Texas Sheet Cake. It is easy, feeds a lot and it is a sure crowd pleaser. But sometimes, I’m just not in the mood for chocolate and that is when this Lemon Texas Sheet Cake is perfect. Your lemon lovers are going to love you!
This light lemon sheet cake recipe is perfect and the sweet and tangy lemon glaze on top is my favorite part. And this sheet cake feeds a crowd too!
Ingredients Needed
- Butter. I use salted butter.
- Granulated sugar
- Lemons
- Buttermilk
- Sour cream
- Vanilla extract
- Lemon extract
- Eggs
- Flour. I prefer unbleached all purpose flour
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Powdered sugar
How to Make Lemon Sheet Cake
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Grease a 18 x 13 x 1 inch sheet pan.
- Combine sugar, butter and lemon zest in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat until light and fluffy.
- Add in eggs and extract.
- Combine buttermilk, sour cream and lemon juice.
- Whisk in dry ingredients including flour, baking soda and salt.
- Alternate adding dry and wet ingredients to butter mixture, 1/3 of the mixture at a time, ending with flour mixture.
- Pour batter into prepared pan.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool the cake on a wire rack before frosting.
Lemon Sheet Cake Frosting
- In a bowl combine powdered sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest.
- Spread frosting smoothly over cake.
- Allow frosting to set up.
- Cut cake into pieces using a plastic disposable knife for the smoothest cuts.
- Garnish each square with a slice of lemon.
Tips for Making Lemon Sheet Cake
- This cake uses a combination of lemon extract and fresh lemon juice for the best flavor. Always use fresh lemon juice, not the reconstituted kind you find in the green bottle.
- Be sure and use the right size pan for this recipe. You want to use a large jelly roll pan that measures 13x8x1.
- Garnish the top with thin slices of lemons or with sliced strawberries. Add the fruit right before serving as the fruit can bleed onto the frosting.
Variations:
- Instead of lemon use any citrus flavor you like such as orange or lime.
- For other flavor variations be sure to check out Chocolate Texas Sheet Cake and my White Texas Sheet Cake which is my personal favorite.
Frequently Asked Questions
This cake does not need to be refrigerated and can be stored covered at room temperature. I think the lemon flavor is even better with this cake the second day. Refrigerating cake can actually dry it out when you are baking from scratch.
If you don’t need to feed a crowd, I also have a small batch version of this recipe that you can find here.
Try these other delicious recipes:
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Lemon Sheet Cake
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 cup butter salted
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 Tbsp lemon zest
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup lemon juice
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp lemon extract
- 4 eggs
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
Lemon Glaze
- 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 Tbsp lemon zest
- 1/3 cup lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Grease a 18 x 13 x 1 inch pan.
- In the mixing bowl of a stand mixer, combine sugar, butter and 2 Tbsp lemon zest.
- Mix until light and fluffy
- In a bowl combine buttermilk, sour cream, eggs, lemon juice and extracts
- In another bowl combine flour, baking soda and salt.
- Beginning and ending with 1/3 of flour mixture, alternate adding wet and dry ingredients to butter/sugar mixture.
- Mix just until combined, don't over mix.
- Pour mixture into prepared pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool cake completely.
Lemon Glaze
- Combine sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest.
- Frost cooled cake.
- Garnish with lemon slices or strawberries.
Tips & Notes:
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Nutrition Facts:
Janie says
Delicious!!!! Definitely a crowd pleaser. I took cake to a church event and everyone wanted the recipe. Light and airy. Look forward to making again.
Jexica says
I followed the recipe by the book, step by step. And it came out and tasted bitter. The zest measurements were to high and the sugar wasn’t enough. Jk. I loved it not a single bad thing to be said about it. Perfect texture and taste!
Teresa Rich says
This is a favorite. Thank you so much.