This lemon buttermilk sheet cake is one of those go-to recipes for me. It’s easy and unbelievably delicious, and it’s not a layer cake and therefore pretty close to fail-proof when it comes to cake baking. The cake itself is incredibly light and tender and instead of a thick, rich frosting on top, it’s covered in a light and tangy lemon buttermilk glaze and topped with lemon sugar, which gives it a unique little crunch on top. This lemon buttermilk cake is perfect for just about any occasion!
Ingredient Notes
- Cake Flour – You can find cake flour in a box near the other flours on the baking aisle. It has a finer texture than all purpose flour and is part of what makes this cake so tender and light. If you make this cake with all purpose flour, I’m sure it will still taste delicious- but it won’t be as light and tender as it would be with cake flour. I recommend taking the time to purchase cake flour for this recipe. If it’s not something you will use often, store the extra in your freezer to last longer.
- Lemons – You will need both the juice and the zest. Use fresh lemons, no bottled juice or dehydrated lemon zest.
- Butter – For best results, use real butter in this recipe.
- Add ons – This cake is delicious on its own. If serving for an event, it looks beautiful topped with or served alongside blueberries, raspberries, and/or strawberries. A dollop of Sweetened Whipped Cream would be delicious as well!
How To Make Lemon Buttermilk Sheet Cake
Here’s a quick overview of the process, keep scrolling for full detailed, printable instructions.
- Heat oven to 325 degrees and prepare your baking pan.
- Whisk together your dry ingredients and your wet ingredients separately and set aside.
- This is where the magic happens. You’ll beat together granulated sugar and fresh lemon zest until it creates this gorgeous lemon sugar that you will want to eat with a spoon! Part of this will be reserved for sprinkling on top of the cake after, and the rest will be used to start your cake batter.
- Add the softened butter to the remaining sugar mixture and beat until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and yolk, one at a time, until incorporated. Then add the flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the buttermilk mixture.
- Scrape the batter into your baking pan and bake until the cake is golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (about 25-35 minutes). Be careful not to over bake!
- While the cake is cooling, combine the glaze ingredients in a small mixing bowl and whisk until smooth. Gently spread the glaze over the cake and sprinkle evenly with the reserved sugar mixture.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Can I make this cake ahead of time? Yes. Feel free to bake ahead up to 24 hours in advance. Make sure the cake has cooled completely before covering with foil and storing at room temperature.
Related Recipes
Looking for similar desserts? Try these Our Best Bites favorites:
White Texas Sheet Cake
Texas Sheet Cake
Creamy Lemon {or Lime!} Bars
Glazed Lemon Cake Family Ties
Blueberry-Lemon Ricotta Cheesecake Bars
Did You Make This?
I’d love to hear from you! Snap a picture and tag me on Instagram, then come back and give this recipe a rating!
Lemon Buttermilk Sheet Cake
A light, tart lemon sheet cake. Easy to make, yet elegant enough for company. Perfect for showers and parties!
Servings people
Ingredients
Cake
- 2 ½ cups cake flour 10 ounces (no substitutions)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon table salt
- ¾ cup buttermilk
- 3 tablespoons lemon zest grated
- ¼ cup lemon juice freshly squeezed
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ¾ cup white sugar
- 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened softened
- 3 eggs large
- 1 egg yolk large
Glaze
- 3 cups powdered sugar 12 ounces
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons buttermilk
Optional
- fruit or whipped cream for serving see notes
Instructions
- Make sure the oven rack is in the middle position (unless you've found that another position works better in your oven for baking) and heat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a 9x13" baking dish and set aside.
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside. In a measuring cup, combine buttermilk, lemon juice, and vanilla. Set aside.
- Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the white sugar and lemon zest on medium speed until moist and fragrant (about 1 minute). Remove 1/4 cup of the sugar mixture and place it in a small bowl. Cover and set aside.
- Add the softened butter to the remaining sugar mixture and beat until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes). Beat in the eggs and yolk, one at a time, until incorporated. Reduce speed to low. Add the flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the buttermilk mixture in 2 additions. Mix until smooth (about 30 seconds)
- Scrape the batter into the reserved baking pan and smooth out the top. Bake until the cake is golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (about 25-35 minutes). Be careful not to over bake. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and allow to cool for 10 minutes.
- While the cake is cooling, whisk the glaze ingredients together until smooth. Gently spread the glaze over the cake and sprinkle evenly with the reserved sugar mixture.
- Allow to cool completely, at least 2 hours.
Notes
- Cover any leftovers with foil and store at room temperature. Eat within 2-3 days.
- This cake is delicious on its own. If serving for an event, it looks beautiful topped with or served alongside blueberries, raspberries, and/or strawberries. A dollop of Sweetened Whipped Cream would be delicious as well!
Nutrition
Calories: 229kcal, Carbohydrates: 40g, Protein: 3g, Fat: 7g, Saturated Fat: 4g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.5g, Monounsaturated Fat: 2g, Trans Fat: 0.2g, Cholesterol: 45mg, Sodium: 108mg, Potassium: 42mg, Fiber: 0.4g, Sugar: 30g, Vitamin A: 231IU, Vitamin C: 3mg, Calcium: 29mg, Iron: 0.3mg
Calories: 229kcal
Cost: $10
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Questions & Reviews
i just tried this yesterday to bring to a baby blessing, and it was a hit with everyone! thank-you so much
I made this yesterday in a 9 x 13 pan and mine was double the thickness as yours looks in the picture. What pan did you use? It’s called sheet cake but says use 9x 13 baking dish. I was planning to make it for a baby shower in a couple of weeks so was doing a trial run.
Weird! I just used a 9×13″ pan. Not sure what happened!
I don’t even have words for how amazing this was. I halved the recipe (and use 2 whole large eggs) and baked it in an 8″ square pan. I ended up increasing the temp to 350 because when I checked it at 25 minutes it wasn’t even close to being done, I ended up baking about 10 or so minutes more at 350 and it was perfect. Seriously, the most moist, delicious, lemony dessert I’ve ever made. Thanks for sharing!
Parents and mine. Ill have to keep playing around with it. I made quite a few things from your site at Christmas and they were great!! But I had to bake longer or some things didnt get done all the way. My next item is the cookie pie for a birthday so ill have to try adjusting the temp and seeing if it works to make the temp higher like I did here.
I’ve never thought of hot spots in a conventional oven but maybe that’s it. However earlier I did bake this at my patents house at 350 after my dad said to try bumping up the temp (he runs a bakery and went to the American institute of baking so he’s kind of my go-to for advice). It turned out wonderful! And my oven does the same thing at my house… I’ve noticed baking temps from your site are off for my oven as well. Do you guys live at a higher altitude? I’m from toledo and we kind of sit in a valley so I’m wondering if this is the difference… I can’t think of to many other things since its my
I’ve noticed you guys have low temps for the oven for your desserts. I end up with the middle not baked all the way and the edges browned from me keeping it in there longer. Do you have a confectioners oven?
Nope, just a regular oven. And this recipe comes straight from America’s Test Kitchen, so my guess is your oven is just a tiny bit off. You might want to see if there’s an internal oven thermometer to check the temp.
I actually have a gas oven and I don’t love it. It has hot spots and cooks things a little differently than my electric oven. Through trial and error, I had to kind of figure out what works (I have to move the rack up a notch, turn things halfway through baking, and throw baking times completely out the window.)
Just wanna say, this is literally one of the yummiest lemon cakes I’ve ever tasted and have found myself craving it so much (pregnancy!).. so much so that I just sent my husband out for lemons and buttermilk. Thank you guys!
Excellent!
Has anyone tried this to make cupcakes???
Do you think I could use a lemon cream cheese frosting?
We like the glaze in the recipe, but you can certainly put anything on top of it that you want to 🙂
I am decorating this cake for a birthday, so I still have to frost it. Should I still do the glaze, but not the sugar, or leave off the glaze and suagar completely?
I’m thinking of making this cake for my anniversary next week. However I want to make a chocolate frosting. Do you think I ahould go ahead or will it ruin the taste? Advice pls
I probably wouldn’t do chocolate in this particular recipe.
I made it with All Purpose flour instead of cake flour. It was AMAZING! An excellent recipe!
Oh, I meant to add that the leftovers kept well for several days too. Even covered with plastic wrap, the glaze/sugar combo didn’t get gooey and the cake stayed nice and soft.
This cake is AMAZING! I made it for a huge family gathering, so I doubled it and baked it in a half-sheet pan (18x13x1) and it fit perfectly. It was a huge hit, and this recipe is a keeper. The crunch of the lemon sugar over the glaze is the perfect finishing touch!
UPDATE 2/17/13. This time the doubling didn’t go so well, and I had spillover like crazy in my oven. I’m now baking my double batch in two 9×13 pans! Not sure what I did differently.
My daughter made this with regular flour, soured the milk with vinegar,and added blueberries to the batter. It turned out absolutely delicious and she and I will definately be making it again.
I am looking at making this cake for a luncheon. It looks divine! How many servings do you get? Is it OK made a day ahead?
Made it last week for a ladies dinner. LOVED IT! Used a regular old hand mixer, which worked fine. Thanks for a great one!
Can this recipe be made in a jelly roll pan or is it better to have the cake part thicker? I’m wondering if this can be made just like a good ol chocolate sheet cake. Thanks.
This cake is excellent!!!
I made this cake today and oh my goodness! It was SO good! I had to call my mom and sister over to have some so I didn’t hork it all down myself. Usually when I bake a cake for my family of seven, we each have a piece or two but I end up putting some of it down the disposal a few days later. This cake is already GONE and my daughter is asking if there is any more. We loved it! Thank you. By the way, I made your lemon poppy seed scones and passed them out after Relief Society a couple Sundays ago. The sisters were all abuzz about them and I had LOTS of recipe requests so I gave them a link to your recipe. YUM.
This cake is fresh out of the oven – my mother just made it. It smells AMAZING! Thanks for another fab recipe.
Yup, I pretty much need that in my life, and our bbq this weekend will be the perfect time. Can’t wait!
This cake turned out fantastic and was a huge hit with my work colleagues! I served it on a bed of Triple Raspberry sauce (google Ina Garten for the recipe) which really took it over the top! Highly recommended!
So I used regular flour. I had all the other ingredients and I really wanted to make it and wasn’t going to go to the store for one ingredient. It was super delicious. The middle seemed just a tiny bit depressed when it was done baking but not noticeably so when it was glazed and it tasted just terrific. Maybe the cake flour would have kept the middle nicely puffed up though?
I used cake flour and the middle of mine was slightly depressed, too. Could it be an altitude issue? I am at 5,300 feet.
If the baked cake is anything like the batter…..we are in for a treat! Seriously, the lightest, fluffiest, yummiest batter ever! Can’t wait to dig into the actual cake tonight!
Should the ingredients be room temperature, or is it fine to fly by the seat of your pants?
Made this for a baby shower this morning and got all kinds of oohs and ahhs. The cake just by its self is amazing! My husband who’s not much of a cake person even told me I have to make another one because one piece wasn’t enough 🙂 Thanks again ladies, your my heros!
Hi Kate-
Congrats on the baby! He is perfect! I love your website. I own your cookbook and use it at least twice a week. I am making this on Sunday for my dad and his picky wife-wish me luck. I had to tell you that your ingredient picture in this post has the word BUTT in it. Made me laugh out loud, are you trying to send subliminal messages?
I made this cake last night for a lunch in the office with the girls today. Everyone loved it. The lemon sugar on the top was extra special!