Raspberry Lemon Cake

4.23 from 3623 votes

An old fashioned Raspberry Lemon Cake recipe with lemon buttercream frosting, made with yogurt, fresh raspberries, and lots of lemon juice for a sweet/tart delicious dessert.

Prep Time25

Cook Time25

Total Time50

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings:

Calories: 585kcal

Author: Sue Moran

Equipment

8 inch cake pans Buy them here.
parchment paper rounds, optional

Ingredients

cake

9 Tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
zest of 1 lemon
3 large eggs, separated
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup plain greek yogurt (you can use vanilla yogurt as well)
1 1/2 cups raspberries (I like to use frozen berries)

lemon buttercream

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
5 cups confectioner's sugar, sifted
4 Tbsp fresh lemon juice, you may need a bit more.
optional 1 small drop yellow gel food coloring

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

cake layers

Preheat your oven to 350F and butter and flour 2 non-stick 8 inch cake pans. I like to put a round of parchment paper on the bottom of the pans just to insure a good release.
Cream the butter, sugar, and lemon zest together until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
Beat in the egg yolks, one at a time, along with the vanilla.
In a separate bowl beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Set aside.
In another separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.
Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture alternately with the yogurt and mix until well combined. Scrape down the bowl.
Fold in the whipped egg whites, working gently until no white streaks remain.
Fold in the berries.
Spread the batter evenly between the two cake pans and even out the tops with an offset spatula.
Bake the cakes on the same oven shelf for about 30 minutes, or until the center springs back when touched and the edges are just starting to turn golden. Don't over bake.
Let the cakes cool for 10 minutes before turning them out and cooling them completely on a rack.

frosting

To make the frosting cream the butter, sugar, (and the drop of food coloring, if using) adding enough lemon juice to make a creamy spreadable frosting. Beat until smooth and creamy. Add more sugar for a stiffer frosting, and more lemon juice if it's too stiff.
Frost the cake when completely cool. Add a generous amount of frosting to the first layer, then top with second layer and finish frosting top and sides.

Video

Notes

This cake has been wildly popular since its original posting, but a few of you have had issues with it, so I've re-tested the recipe and tweaked a few details. The changes are reflected in the above recipe. It's the same amazing cake, only even better. Hope you love it!

Other amazing layer cakes to try

Nutrition