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Magical Lemon Cake

Cakes· Desserts· Icing

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There is nothing like using a super easy reliable recipe, changing out one ingredient and it still working just as perfectly taste and texture wise!

Magical Lemon Cake 3

It was the case this weekend when I wanted to use up some gorgeous looking lemons from my parents tree, so I decided to play around with my Magical Orange Cake recipe and use Lemons instead, and it was a success.

So much so that I am going to try it with a few different sorts of fruits over the summer and see how I get on! I know many have tried this recipe with mandarins and it worked beautifully with those too.

This recipe is so easy that it is just 5 ingredients, one of these being whole lemons, you can easily use 3-4 small ones. But you read right, the entire lemon is used, except for the stalky bit at the top!

Magical Lemon Cake

The downside was that my lemons had pips, so I had to do a fair bit of slicing and dicing to remove all of them – what I would do next time is work with the lemons over a bowl so that I do not lose any of the lovely juice while taking out pips! But it needs to be done as with this recipe the entire lemon goes in the cake!

I was not sure what effect this would have with the lemons bitterness compared with a sweet orange but I can assure you it is lovely, lemony & sweet.

Magical Lemon Cake

You could serve this cake in a loaf tin also with a lemon glaze over the top, using vanilla icing or as I have done here a subtle lemon icing to lift the flavours even further.

So here is the recipe, a food processer is needed for the blitzing of the lemon but you could easily do this in a blender and transfer the pulp to a bowl if need be.

Magical Lemon Cake

So enjoy this simple one pot wonder of a cake!

Magical Lemon Cake

Magical Lemon Cake

Yield: 20
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes

Delicious Lemon cake using whole lemons,

Ingredients

  • 2 Medium-Large Lemons, Meyer recommended, washed & pulped, skin and all! (I remove the green stalk bit , the pips and the hard end pieces of both ends) Or 3-4 small lemons
  • 125g Melted Butter
  • 1 Cup Sugar, 240 grams
  • 2 Medium Eggs
  • 1 1/2 Cups Self Raising Flour, 205 grams
  • ~~Lemon Icing~~
  • 1 1/2 Cups Icing Sugar, 205 grams
  • 2 Tbsp lemon juice
  • 1/2 tsp Vanilla
  • 1 tsp Butter Melted
  • Up to 1-3 TBSP water

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 180 Degrees Celsius
  • Prepare a cake tin with baking spray - I use my ring tin, but you can easily substitute any 20-25cm tin
  • Blitz the washed, quartered lemons NOTE: remove all pips before you add to the food processor and search once blitzed for those you missed. Remove the pips over a bowl to ensure you do not lose any of the juice, fiddly but worth it!
  • Add the butter, sugar and eggs to the lemons and combine well
  • Add the Self Raising Flour to the mixture and blend until the mixture just comes together
  • Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 30-40 minutes - always checking early to ensure it does not overcook. Test with a knife or skewer to ensure the knife comes out clean or the cake springs back to the touch in the centre.
  • Remove from the oven to cool for 5-10 minutes
  • Remove cake from the tin to a wire rack and cool completely before icing.
  • ~~Lemon Icing~~
  • In a medium bowl add the Icing Sugar, melted butter, vanilla and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, stir to combine and add a tsp of water at a time until you have the consistency of stiff peanut butter. Taste the icing to see if it is lemony enough for you and add more lemon juice to the mixture if required. If flavour right but not spreadable enough add a few drops of water at a time until you have a lovely smooth spreadable icing.
  • Spread the icing over the cooled cake and store in an airtight container.
    •

    Did you make this recipe?

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    © Just a Mum

    This recipe results in a light, fluffy delicious cake that I just know will become your favourite go to cake when the citrus is overflowing at your place!

    Magical Lemon Cake

    I hope you enjoy this recipe. Please do follow me on Facebook where you can see my recent and old recipes, and also feel free to register your email above right to receive my new recipes as I post them straight to your inbox!

    Thanks for stopping by and Happy Baking! 

    Anna

    Comments

    1. Sonia says

      I made this yesterday and it was a huge hit with my teenagers! Such a lovely texture and incredible flavours, and so easy to make in the kitchen whizz. This will be one I will make regularly. Thank you!

      Reply

      • justamumnz says

        I haven’t tested it with GF flour sorry but I do know many followers can substitute it in a lot of my recipes. Let me know how you get on.

        Reply

    4. Kathy says

      I have found if any sneaky pips get in then they make a bitter cake especially if they get whizzed thru the cake

      Reply

    5. Debra says

      Mine was great but when I cooled the cake it flopped. Not sure why. It still tasted good. Used a ring tin too. Will try again.

      Reply

    7. Karl says

      Very much would depend where in the world lemons are being obtained from. Meyer lemons are sweet and not so much pith. If you tried this with lemons in the UK it’d be exceptionally bitter, too much pith and lemons are extremely sour here. Would need to boil the skins and change the water a number of times before use. Would be better just to zest the lemons and blend the fruit part, though that removes the magic aspect.

      Reply

    10. Sylvia says

      Sorry but this cake has turned out bitter and heavy…made exactly to the recipe..not happy at all with it. Can’t serve it to guests.

      Reply

      • justamumnz says

        I’m sorry to hear that. It does happen from time to time and appears to depend on a few factors. In this case it’s based on the lemons used. Normally it’s a light and fluffy cake.

        Reply

    11. Rob Pinington says

      After blitzing the lemon do you add the other ingredients into the food processor and mix them in there too, or put lemon pulp & other ingredients into a bowl and mix with a spoon?

      Reply

    13. Renee says

      Hi there, I am wanting to make a lemon layer cake (only 2 layers to make one big cake), and am thinking of using your lemon cake recipe because my oven won’t fit 2 tins on one rack (which is what most recipes require).

      So I was wondering, do you think making 2 of your lemon cakes will be a good size? Or will it be too much and I should only make one, and maybe cut in half to make the 2 layers?

      I am wanting to put lemon curd between the layers and frost it with lemon cream cheese icing. Does this sound like it’d taste good with your lemon cake?

      Sorry for all of these questions!
      Thanks xx

      Reply

      • justamumnz says

        Hi, you can definitely make cakes with one cake per rack if your oven fits two racks. Just set to multi bake or fan forced and watch them but I do it all the time. Only time I might not is for a sponge. Making two cakes would be lovely if you are looking for a larger cake. Be sure the lemons are a lovely quality and sweet, remove the pips. I also have a delicious lemon drizzle cake in my ebook in my online shop. Otherwise your ideas sound lovely.

        Reply

    14. Clare says

      Love this cake. So easy to make & so moist. Do you think you could replace the lemons for feijoas and it would work as well?

      Reply

      • justamumnz says

        Hi yes it would be the lemons. All lemons are so different. I learned today from my Dad the PH of the soil plays a big factor in the sweetness and juicyness of the lemon. Sorry it didn’t work out as you’d hoped.

        Reply

    18. Tash says

      Just made this lovely delish lemon cake and it is Devine. I love that it uses whole lemons too.

      Reply

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