Lemon Berry Cake with the BEST Lemon Frosting Ever!
This moist, lemon berry cake is bursting with lemon flavor, your choice of berry and an incredible lemon curd frosting for the lemoniest frosting ever! Whether filled with blackberry, raspberry, or blueberry jam, it’s the perfect dessert to share with friends and family while enjoying a sunny afternoon in the garden, birthday, or holiday.
Looking for more delicious lemon treats? Try these fun Moist & Tender Lemon Glazed Cupcakes, this easy summery Blueberry Cobbler with Lemon Honey Sauce, or this Glazed Zucchini Lemon Bread (Whole Grain, Dairy Free).
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This moist and flavorful lemon berry cake is one of my favorite desserts to make for our family’s Easter meal – it’s light and lovely and just right for any spring-time celebration.
However, it’s just as good at any birthday, Mother’s Day, or as the finishing touch to a summer garden party.
Basically, if you’re looking for wonderful lemony desert for a celebration, look no further – this is as easy as making a cake, filling and frosting, but with colorful layers that are special and a frosting that is to.die.for. Trust me on this.
The cake is a nice ratio of moist and spongy, carrying it’s own lemon flavor from zest, juice, and extract. Oh, yes – three lemon sources makes for a very good cake!
Ingredients
Here are the ingredients you’ll need for both the lemon berry cake recipe and the amazing frosting:
Ingredient Notes & Substitutions
As you can tell, this is a rich cake that uses a lot of eggs and then butter in both the cake – which makes it moist – and the frosting, which makes it rich.
- Unbleached Flour: you can use all-purpose, but I’ve not tried any type of whole wheat with this recipe, since it’s a treat and whole wheat would impact the texture.
- Butter: I have not tested this recipe with any type of oil instead of butter, so I can’t recommend substituting oil for butter.
- Sugar: cakes like this are best made with a fine sugar, like C&H cane sugar, versus the larger-grain organic cane sugars that are available now. I’ve found the larger grain cane sugar doesn’t dissolve completely and so affects the texture.
- Berry Jam: you can use your favorite berry jam for the filling (I love using a Marionberry or raspberry freezer jam, or this blackberry maple canned jam – a blueberry jam would be wonderful, too).
- Lemon curd: I like Trader Joe’s brand – or use a homemade lemon curd. You’ll use this in the frosting and if you choose to cut the cake into more layers, it will be a cake layer as well.
- Lemon oil or extract, optional: Adding this in addition to the fresh lemon juice and zest increases the lemon flavor, which we love. The recipe below is written for extract (which is lemon oil + alcohol and sometimes food coloring and/or sweetener) but I now use this lemon oil exclusively, which is simply oil squeezed from lemon rinds with no other additives. You need a lot LESS oil, though – only 1/8 tsp. to the extract’s 1 teaspoon – which is reflected in the recipe.
How to Make Lemon Berry Cake: Step-By-Step
Here are a few helpful visual instructions – the full instructions with exact ingredients can be found in the printable recipe card below.
Step 1: Prep pans. Brush two 9-inch round cake pans with butter or oil and then line the bottoms with parchment paper (waxed paper will work here, too). This is very important to removing the cakes from the pans after cooking.
TIP: Use a pencil to trace around the bottom of a pan as it is sitting on a piece of parchment, and then cut out on the inside of the circle.
Step 2: Cream butter and sugar. You’ll want to use a mixer – stand or hand-held – to cream the butter and sugar for the cake a full 3 minutes to incorporate air into the finished product.
Step 3: Add eggs. Again to help add air and lightness to the batter, add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Then add the lemon ingredients.
Step 4: Bake. Pour the cake batter into your lined pans as evenly as you can. Bake 25-30 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cakes comes out clean.
Step 5: Cool. Leave the baked cakes for 10 minutes in the pans and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely. TIP: Use a second rack to flip the cakes onto.
Step 6: Layer with filling. There are two options for layers: 1) cut each cake in half to create four layers, then add jam filling to two of the layers and lemon curd to the middle layer (shown in the cake slice photo) OR 2) fill only the middle layer with jam, resulting in a two-layer cake (like I show here above).
Step 7: Assemble cake. Once the layers are filled that you’ve chosen, put the cake together with the TOPS towards each other as shown above. Cake pans are slightly slanted so you want the same edges touching each other for the smoothest sides.
Filling Options: In addition to choosing the number of layers and the type of jam, if you choose the four layers you can make all the filling layers berry – or all lemon, for that matter for the lemoniest cake.
The Best Lemon Frosting Ever
Step 8: Make frosting and frost cake. Whip the frosting really well to make it light and airy.
The frosting was my best discovery when creating this recipe – it’s so easy and SO good with just the right amount of lemon.
The secret? Lemon curd.
In the past I’ve always used lemon juice in the frosting, and if you’ve done that, too, you know the problem: if you use too much (for more lemon flavor) it becomes too runny.
But with a yummy, thick, and tart lemon curd? You can add more without affecting the consistency- which results in the best.lemon.frosting.ever.
Swirl the frosting all over the sides and top of cake. Leave plain or choose to decorate the top with:
Option 1: A sprinkling of edible pearls. Simple and elegant.
Option 2: A mound of fresh berries sprinkled with lemon zest to let everyone know just what this cake is all about. Choose the berries from the jam you used – blackberries, raspberries or blueberries.
I’m sure I’m not the first person to think of using lemon curd to flavor frosting, but I’m glad I did, because now it’s the only lemon frosting I make.
Storage
Make Ahead: This cake can be assembled and frosted the day before serving – store the cake in the refrigerator (do not decorate until serving, though).
Storage: Slice the cake and store individual pieces in airtight containers in the fridge for 3-4 days or freeze slices wrapped in foil or in airtight containers for about 3 months.
More Special Occasion Recipes To Try
- Triple Chocolate Cake with Crispy Bark Topping
- Foolproof Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Recipe
- Peanut Butter Celebration Cake
I hope you love this lemon berry cake – if you make it, be sure to leave a recipe rating so I know how you liked it!
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Lemon Berry Cake Recipe with the BEST Lemon Frosting Ever!
Equipment
- Stand mixer or hand held mixer
- large mixing bowl
- 2 9-inch cake pans
- Parchment Paper (or wax paper)
Ingredients
For Cake:
For Frosting:
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1 cup butter 2 sticks, softened
- 2/3 cup lemon curd or more, depending on taste and consistency*
- 1 – 2 tablespoons milk as needed to lighten frosting
For Filling:
- 1 cup jam of choice, blackberry, raspberry, or blueberry
- 1/2 cup lemon curd**
- Optional for decorating: edible sugar pearls or fresh berries and lemon zest
Instructions
- Make the cake:
- Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter two 9-inch cake pans, line the bottoms with parchment paper and lightly butter the tops of the parchment.
- Using a mixer on medium speed, cream the butter and sugar until light – a full 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each. Add lemon zest, juice, and extract or oil (if using) – mix until smooth.
- Add the flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix on low just until combined. Pour evenly into prepared pans, smoothing tops.
- Bake 25 – 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cakes comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool 10 minutes on a rack.
- Loosen edges with a knife and invert onto a cooling rack, remove parchment paper, and then turn right-side-up onto another cooling rack. Cool completely.
- Make the frosting:
- Cream the butter and lemon curd in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a whipping attachment. Add the powdered sugar a cup at a time.
- After all the sugar has been added, add 1 tablespoon of milk and whip the frosting on high for a minute. Check the spreading consistency. If it seems thick, add another tablespoon of milk and whip again on high for a minute. TIP: The key to a light and airy frosting is whipping air into it, so keep whipping until it is very light and easy to spread.
- Assemble the cake:
- Cut the cake layers in half to make four layers (optional: do not cut and use just two layers, filling only one layer with jam).
- For four layers: Place one layer on a cake plate and spread with 1/2 cup of jam. Place second layer on top and spread this layer with 1/2 cup lemon curd (or more jam). Repeat with third layer, spreading with another 1/2 cup of jam and then top with remaining layer of cake.
- Frost the sides of the cake with the lemon frosting, swirling the frosting with a knife. Finish by frosting the top, using the remaining frosting. Sprinkle with decorative, edible sugar pearls or a mound of fresh berries sprinkled with lemon zest, if desired.
Notes
- Slice the cake and store individual pieces in airtight containers in the fridge for 3-4 days.
- Freeze slices wrapped in foil or in airtight containers for about 3 months.
Nutrition
I made this yummy cake for my birthday and, like someone else said, it didn’t rise that much. Maybe each layer is about 1 1/2 inches, which makes a pretty short layer cake. Not sure why, but I did it exactly as written, my eggs and butter were room temp. I’m thinking because it has so many eggs and butter, it is just going to be a dense cake and could possibly use some baking soda to it? Or use less eggs for a lighter batter? I would love your feedback Jami? I love your recipes and have done countless ones with good success.
Hmm, I’ve made this so many times, Nancy. I’m wondering if the texture is just not what you like? I prefer moist, denser cakes vs. the light and fluffy ones – they’ve never been my favorite. This was adapted from a Martha Stewart recipe and it’s meant to be a rich, moist cake. I’ll have to make it again soon to see! I think the photos show the layers are about what you describe? If you’d like higher layers, you can bake in an 8-inch pan for a few minutes longer, too.
Hi Jamie:
Just baked this luscious looking cake. The cakes didn’t rise as much as I thought they would – only about 1″ thick. Is that how your’s turn out too? The only thing I can think of is not having the butter completely at room temperature when I beat it with the sugar, but I did beat it very well and in between each egg. I’m sure it will taste wonderful.
Your house looks amazing! Great natural light in all the rooms. Congratulations!
Joanna Rainer
Hmm, did you use the same size pan as I did? I don’t usually have completely room temp butter, so that’s probably not it.
I think they should be between 1-1.5 inches to be able to split them.
Hope you enjoyed it as is!
This looks so good, I would need to make it gluten free. Do you think that if I changed the flour, would I need any other change.
Hi Maryjane, I would probably find a gluten free cake recipe and add lemon flavoring to it. Then continue with this recipe to fill and frost.
Oh my goodness, that looks just heavenly. I have always loved your recipes but that one looks so good I almost feel like getting married again just to have someone to make it for – errrl maybe not. I guess I could take in to work though right. Anna
Ha! It works for Easter and spring parties, too – you don’t have to make a life-changing decision. 😉
So i did a test-run on this cake, before i make it for a “gender reveal” party for a friend. Once i added the lemon juice and before i added the dry ingredients, it curdled. I figured it was the lemon juice reacting with the butter. OK, no problem. I baked it up anyway and it seemed to be just fine. But the same thing happened with the frosting. It definitely does not look like the thick delicious frosting in your picture! It looks oily and curdled. Tastes fine, but looks awful! Any suggestions how to avoid and/or fix this???
Wow, Melissa, I’ve made this frosting numerous times and that’s never happened – so sorry it turned out like that for you! It’s hard for me to trouble-shoot since I don’t know exactly what you used – was your butter too melted? was the lemon curd homemade or store-bought? did you mistake lemon juice for lemon curd? did you try adding more powdered sugar or whipping it more? These are all just questions I would ask to trouble-shoot… 🙂
Hi Jami
this looks delicious but seems to have a lot of eggs in it?
does it really need 8??
Yes, it’s a rich cake, which is why I like it. But I also like the “Lemon Curd Cake” in Martha Stewart’s Baking cookbook and it only calls for 4 eggs – you can substitute that if you want. 🙂
This is our favorite cake too. I use seedless raspberry jam and lemon curd filling. I had a lot of lemon curd left over, wish I had thought of using it for the frosting too. I’ll definitely try it next time. Thanks!
Looks delish! I make a similar cake every Easter and posted my version in Pinterest!
Wow, that’s a big statement, best lemon frosting ever. I’ll just have to make this cake and judge for myself. Have I thanked you yet for helping me stick to my diet?
Ha! I only had a little piece – the key is to take it to a gathering. 🙂
And I know I’m going out on a limb, but I felt it was a good discovery and warranted the big statement. Feel free to call me on it if you don’t agree! 🙂
My problem is going to be not eating it all! I love Lemon and Berry flavors! You always have awesome recipes on here. I’m going to use this recipe for my teacher luncheon I’m hosting on April 30th. I’ll send you some pix.
My husband can’t stand lemon desserts. Insanity, I know. So poor me will have to make this and eat it all to myself. :o)
Ack! It’s either lemon or chocolate at our house, basically. 🙂