Lemon sheet cake is a bright and fresh citrusy cake that is perfect for spring and summer celebrations. Tender lemon cake is made with fresh lemon zest and juice and then topped with a silky cream cheese frosting.
This moist lemon cake is a crowd-pleasing favorite! It has a moist, tender crumb and is made with fresh lemon zest and juice for the brightest lemon flavor. On top you'll find a silky and sweet cream cheese frosting.
This cake can be made in a 9x13 sheet pan or 13x18 half sheet pan. Instructions for each are included in the recipe card. You can also make this recipe as a round two-layer cake by following my recipe for lemon layer cake.
This cake is perfect for Easter, baby showers, or any summer celebration like the Fourth of July. It's a total crowd pleaser!
Cake ingredients
Since baking is an exact science, I do not recommend substituting any ingredients in this recipe. If you do not have the listed ingredients on hand, I recommend searching for a recipe that does include those ingredients.
- Unsalted butter - Adds moisture and buttery flavor to the cake batter. Unsalted butter (and the listed salt) can be substituted with salted butter if desired.
- Eggs - Add stability and moisture to the cake.
- Whole milk - Adds moisture to your cake. For best success, I suggest using whole milk, not skim or 1% milk. Your cake can turn out less moist (and may dry out faster) when using lower fat milks.
- Cake flour - Cake flour has a lower protein content than other flours, like all-purpose or bread flour, creating a smaller, more tender crumb. I highly recommend using cake flour rather than all-purpose flour.
- Baking powder - Cannot be substituted with baking soda. The two are not interchangeable.
- Salt - Enhances the flavor of your cake without making it "salty".
- Vanilla extract - Enhances the flavor of your cake.
- Lemon juice and zest - You'll need about two medium lemons for this recipe. I highly recommend using freshly squeezed lemon juice and zest for best flavor. Bottled juice concentrate often has a harsh flavor in comparison. Don't skip the zest! Lemon zest contains the most concentrated lemon flavor. If you'd like even more lemon flavor, add more zest (not juice). Adding extra juice can weigh down your cake batter, making it too wet and heavy to rise properly in the oven.
- Granulated sugar - Sweetens your cake and also helps it retain moisture. I do not recommend using sugar-free substitutes in this recipe because I haven't tested these alternatives and can't guarantee how they'll turn out. I suggest doing a Google search for a recipe that fits the ingredients you have on hand.
Cake batter tips and tricks
Lemon preparation - Zest both of your lemons into a bowl, then slice them in half and juice the halves into a separate bowl.
Room temperature ingredients - Make sure your butter, eggs, and milk are all room temperature before beginning (not melted, not cold). Room temperature ingredients emulsify when mixed and create a creamy, even batter that bakes up fluffy in the oven.
Sift dry ingredients - Sift or whisk your dry ingredients together. This removes clumps and helps create a smooth, even batter.
Don't overmix the batter - Mix your dry ingredients just enough to incorporate them into the batter. Overmixing can overwork the gluten, causing your cake to turn out tough.
Frosting tips and tricks
Use a frosting you love - I've included my recipe below for cream cheese frosting, which is tangy, rich, and slightly less sweet than traditional buttercream frosting. My recipe for whipped buttercream frosting is another great option (and a reader favorite!). If you prefer something less sweet, try my ermine frosting recipe.
Do not frost a warm cake - Buttercream frosting melts around 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius). Adding frosting to a hot cake will cause it to melt. Wait until your cake is completely cooled before frosting.
Storage
Homemade cakes are best served the same day they are baked. However, there are solutions if you need to make your cake a few days (or weeks) ahead of time.
Room temperature - Cake frosted with cream cheese frosting can be stored in a tightly sealed container at room temperature for up to two hours. After that, it will need to be refrigerated. Traditional buttercream frosted cake can be stored in a sealed container at room temperature for up to two days.
Refrigerating - Unfrosted or frosted cake can be refrigerated for 2 to 3 days. Wrap unfrosted cake in plastic and store in a sealed container. Optionally, brush your cake with simple syrup to help keep it moist for longer (see my section below on how to prevent dry cake). Bring to room temperature for an hour before serving.
Freezing - Unfrosted or frosted cake can be frozen for up to two months. For a frosted cake, first freeze for an hour, unwrapped, until firm. Gently wrap in plastic and store in a tightly sealed container for up to 2 months. Thaw your cake in the refrigerator overnight, then bring it to room temperature for an hour before serving.
Freezing frosting - Cream cheese frosting can be frozen in a tightly sealed container for 2 to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then bring to room temperature and rewhip as needed to make it light and fluffy.
Frequently asked questions
This recipe works in three different sizes: a 9x13 baking pan (with 2 inch tall sides), two 9-inch round cake pans, or a 13x18 half sheet pan (with 1 inch sides). 
Both the 9x13 and 13x18 sheet cakes can remain in the pan after baking. Simply frost, slice, and serve! Round cakes need to be removed from their pans, trimmed, assembled, and frosted. To make this recipe as a layer cake, check out my full post for lemon layer cake.
Here are the cake pans I recommend for making vanilla sheet cake:
- Nordic Ware Classic Metal 9x13 Covered Cake Pan
- Natural Aluminum Nordic Ware Commercial Baker's Half Sheet (2 Pack)
- Nordic Ware 9" Round Natural Aluminum Cake Pans (2 Pack)
Check your cake for doneness by jiggling the pan - if it moves, it's not done yet. If your cake isn't jiggly in the center, gently press onto the top with a finger. If an indent is left, it needs more time. If it pops right back, your cake is done.
The toothpick method is another popular way to check for doneness. Insert a toothpick into the center of your cake. If the toothpick comes back dry or with crumbs (not wet batter), your cake is done.
I recommend using an aluminum pan for best results. Glass is an insulator, which means it takes longer to heat up in the oven, taking longer to bake your cake. This can cause the edges to dry out while waiting for the center to finish baking. While I did bake my 9x13 cake in a glass pan for these photos, I recommend using metal for the most consistent results (especially for beginner bakers).
Here's a great article with more details: Bon Appetit - Is It Better to Bake in Glass or Metal?
The serving size on this recipe can be difficult to calculate. Servings depend on how big you'd like your slices to be. A half sheet cake (13x18) can easily be sliced to feed 30 to 40 people. Sliced into about 3x3 inch squares, a half sheet cake feeds 24. Sliced into 2x2 inch squares a half sheet cake feeds 54.
Here's a great article on cake servings for sheet cake: Better Baker Club - The Ultimate Sheet Cake Guide
I recommend adding more lemon zest or some lemon extract, not lemon juice. Lemon zest contains more concentrated lemon flavor and doesn't add extra moisture to the cake. Adding more lemon juice can make the batter too heavy and wet to rise properly in the oven.
Troubleshooting
One of the most common complaints I see in baking is that the recipe is followed "to a T" and the cake/cookies still turn out dry. Dry baked goods can happen for several reasons:
- Ingredients were substituted/omitted/reduced - The fats and sugar (butter, whole milk, eggs, and granulated sugar) help keep your cake moist. Using lower fat substitutions, reducing the sugar, or omitting an ingredient entirely will cause your cake to turn out dry.
- Too much flour was added to the recipe - Either use a kitchen scale to weigh your flour accurately (which is how I measure flour and highly recommend to others), or spoon the flour into your measuring cup and level off with a knife. Scooping with the measuring cup directly from a bin of flour compacts it into the cup, adding up to 25% extra flour to the recipe.
- Cake was overbaked - Baking a cake for too long will dry it out in the oven. Ovens are inconsistent and can run hotter or colder than the next oven. The time that worked for me may not work for you, so I recommend using other cues to tell when your cake is done.
This is a baker's secret that's optional but effective! Brush simple syrup over your cake before frosting. A layer of simple syrup helps keep the cake moist for longer. Simple syrup is a 1:1 ratio of water and granulated sugar, brought to a boil on the stove top until dissolved, then cooled to room temperature. I'd suggest about ¼ cup or more for this size cake.
Cake can turn out dense from expired leavening, overmixing the wet and dry ingredients (this overworks the gluten), not whipping the butter and sugar long enough, or adding extra wet ingredients (like adding sour cream or applesauce to make cake "extra moist"). If the balance of wet and dry ingredients is off, this can cause a change in texture, preventing your cake from rising properly in the oven.
All cakes, even vanilla cake, will brown on the outside edges due to a chemical reaction that happens when sugar is heated up. This is called a Maillard reaction and is completely normal. The insides will remain white and fluffy and the tops will be covered by frosting.
Sinking can happen for many reasons. Overmixing the batter (which adds extra air that's released during baking), underbaking, using expired leavening, using the wrong leavening, or accidentally doubling the leavening can all cause your cake to sink in the middle.
Recommended
📖 Recipe
Lemon Sheet Cake
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 cup (227 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 ¾ cups (346 g) granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons lemon zest
- 4 large eggs, room temperature
- 3 cups (336 g) cake flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (227 g) whole milk, room temperature
- ¼ cup (57 g) lemon juice
Frosting
- 8 ounces (227 g) block-style cream cheese, room temperature
- ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 3 ½ cups (400 g) confectioner's sugar
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Generously grease a 9x13 or 13x18 inch baking pan and set aside.
- In a large bowl, add room temperature butter and granulated sugar. Beat until creamed and fluffy. Add vanilla extract, lemon zest, and eggs, one at a time, mixing until incorporated and smooth.
- In a separate bowl, sift together dry ingredients: cake flour, baking powder, and salt. In a liquid measuring cup, add lemon juice to milk.
- Add half of the dry ingredients to your butter mixture. Mix until just combined. Add half of the milk mixture, again mixing until just combined. Repeat once more to add remaining dry ingredients and milk until just combined.
- Pour batter into prepared baking sheet (or evenly between two round cake pans) and spread into an even layer.
- 9x13 baking pan: 30-34 minutes13x18 half sheet pan: 17-19 minutesBake cakes, using time estimates above, until cake pops back in the center when gently pressed down, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes back dry or with dry crumbs, not wet batter. Ovens can run hot or cold, so I recommend relying more on how your cake looks and less on time.
- Remove cake from oven and allow to cool completely in the pan on a wire cooling rack.
Frosting
- In a large bowl, add room temperature cream cheese and butter and beat with a hand mixer (or stand mixer) until creamy, about 1 minute.
- Add vanilla extract and salt and mix until incorporated.
- Add confectioner's sugar, half at a time, and mix on low speed until sugar is incorporated. Switch to high speed and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- Spread frosting in an even layer onto cooled cake. Optionally, add sprinkles or lemon zest as a garnish before frosting crusts.
Equipment Recommendations
Notes
- Sheet cake can be sliced to serve 24 guests or more. To make a layer cake, check out my full post for detailed instructions: lemon layer cake
- Baking is an exact science. I do not recommend substituting any ingredients. The butter, milk, eggs, and sugar keep your cake moist - substituting any of these ingredients with a lower fat alternative can change the texture and make your cake dry.
- Frosted cake will keep in a sealed container at room temperature for 2 hours, in the refrigerator for 2-3 days, or frozen for up to 2 months. If refrigerating or freezing unfrosted cake, wrap tightly in plastic and place in a tightly sealed container. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then bring to room temperature for an hour before serving.
- Cream cheese frosting needs to be refrigerated if it sits out for longer than 2 hours. Store frosted baked goods in the refrigerator in a tightly sealed container. Remove and bring to room temperature 1 hour before serving.
- Be sure to check out my 10 tips for baking cake, based on reader comments and questions!
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