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Lemon Almond Cake

Last Updated On: December 24, 2023 | Published: September 19, 2023 by Melissa Diamond | 6 Comments
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Lemon and almond are a delicious pair in this elegant layered Lemon Almond Cake recipe!

We are huge fans of lemon cakes as well as almond cakes but had never considered combining the two until we recently saw this cake flavor on a local bakery menu. It is heavenly!

Lemon Almond Cake, sliced, on a cake pedestal.

You are going to love this recipe, which combines our popular Lemon Buttermilk Cake with our scratch Almond Cake recipe. This cake is light, moist, and has the perfect balance of lemon and almond flavor.

Why we Love It

There are so many reasons to love this lemon almond cake!

  • Super moist and lemony cake layers with a hint of almond
  • Almond Cream Cheese frosting is perfect with this cake and is so easy to make.
  • Finely chopped almonds give an extra boost of almond flavor to the lemony cake layers.
  • Cake flour and buttermilk make this recipe extra soft and tender.
  • Perfect cake or special occasions year-round. Makes a great birthday cake recipe, bridal shower cake, baby shower cake, and more!

Key Ingredients for Lemon Almond Cake

Here's a quick look at the star ingredients for the cake layers in today's recipe. Make sure to check out the recipe card at the bottom of this post for the full, printable list of ingredients and instructions!

Ingredients for Lemon Almond Cake.

Buttermilk: We use whole buttermilk rather than reduced fat for added richness. The extra boost of acidity from buttermilk softens the strands of gluten in the cake batter, resulting in a more tender cake!

Cake Flour: Cake flour has a lower protein content, which which results in a softer cake.

Lemon Zest and Lemon Juice: Lemon juice adds more acidity to the cake batter, which softens the gluten. While it adds some lemon flavor, it is the lemon extract and lemon zest that adds the biggest boost of lemon!

Sliced Almonds The cake pans are sprinkled with sliced almonds (finely chopped in blender) before batter is added to the pan. You could do the same with chopped slivered almonds, but we like the look of the sliced almonds for decorating the frosted cake.

How to Make Lemon Almond Cake

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, grease and flour three 8×2 inch round pans.
  • Chop sliced almonds in bullet blender or food processor (finely chop or rough chop for more crunch). You can put them in a ziplock and break up with a rolling pin if you don't have a blender.
  • Sprinkle the half cup of almonds evenly over the three prepared cake pans.
Three prepared round cake pans sprinkled with chopped sliced almonds.
  • In a medium bowl, whisk the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt for 30 seconds. Set aside
Bowl of dry ingredients with whisk
  • In another bowl, add the buttermilk, vegetable oil, lemon zest, almond extract, lemon extract and lemon juice.  Set aside.
Wet ingredients for Lemon Almond Cake.
  • In the bowl of your mixer, add the butter and mix at medium speed until smooth. Gradually add the sugar and continue to mix on medium speed for 3 to 5 minutes until lightened in color and fluffy.
Butter and sugar mixture in mixing bowl with paddle attachment
  • Add the eggs one at a time, mixing after each until the yellow of the yolk has blended in.
Adding eggs to cake batter.
  • With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients (3 additions of dry ingredients and 2 of liquid). After the last addition, mix just until incorporated.
Cake batter in mixing bowl.
  • Divide batter between three prepared 8 inch cake pans, scooping the batter over the chopped almonds. Spread batter with back of a spoon to even it out.
Three cake pans of cake batter.
  • Bake at 350 degrees for 22-24 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with just few crumbs attached. Let cool 10 minutes and turn out.
Lemon almond cake layers in cake pans, cooling on wire rack.

Almond Cream Cheese Frosting

To me, the lemon almond cake layers have a bit more lemon flavor than almond. To balance this, we went with an almond frosting. This almond cream cheese frosting is based on our favorite cream cheese frosting recipe. It is so easy to make!

This frosting is a simple combination of softened butter, softened cream cheese frosting, a pinch of salt, confectioners sugar, and for today's recipe, almond extract. It is delicious!

*As always, keep in mind that cream cheese frostings are bit on the softer side. For this reason, you may need to chill the frosting for a bit if it gets too soft while decorating with it.

Also, cakes that are decorated with cream cheese frosting should be refrigerated until within 2-3 hours of serving. If you need a less perishable option, you can also use our classic vanilla buttercream frosting recipe with 1-2 teaspoons of almond extract added to it.

Assembling and Decorating the Lemon Almond Cake

Once the cake layers have completely cooled, you can frost the cake!

  • Place the first lemon almond cake layer on the cake pedestal or cake base. Spread with a layer of almond cream cheese frosting. Repeat for the second layer, top with the third layer.
Spreading lemon almond cake layer with frosting.
  • Fill in any gaps between the layers with frosting. Then, apply a thin layer (crumb coat) of frosting on top and around the sides of the cake. At this point, I like to chill the cake in the freezer for 15 minutes (or longer in the refrigerator to firm everything up)
  • Apply the second layer of frosting and decorate however you like! We added texture with a small offset spatula, and added a top border with a 1M (large star) piping tip.
  • We then added a sliced almond bottom border and decorated the top border here and there with almonds as well.
Adding texture to the frosted Lemon Almond Layer Cake using an offset spatula.
Lemon Almond Cake, sliced, on a pedestal.

Recipe FAQs

Yes! Just as with most of our cake recipes, from carrot cake to Italian Cream Cake, white chocolate cake and more, these layers freeze beautifully.

Lemon almond cake layers can be baked in advance, wrapped individually in plastic wrap followed by foil, and then frozen or up to three months!

To thaw, move the wrapped layers from the freezer to the kitchen counter for 30-45 minutes before unwrapping and thawing to desired amount for assembling the cake.

This lemon almond cake does need to be refrigerated, because of the almond cream cheese frosting. However, for best flavor and texture, remove the cake from the refrigerator 2-3 hours before serving. This will allow plenty of time for the cake to warm and soften.

Buttermilk is a wonderful ingredient in cake recipes because the boost of acidity softens the gluten in the cake batter, creating a softer and more tender cake.

We love buttermilk cake recipes and have made many over the years! Some of our favorites are our Orange Cake, Vanilla Buttermilk Cake, and Buttermilk Pound Cake!

This lemon almond cake recipe has the perfect balance of lemon and almond flavor. The cake layers themselves probably have a more lemony flavor although the almond is definitely noticeable.

This is why we filled and frosted the cake with almond frosting. So, altogether, the cake has an equally light lemon and almond flavor.

We love this recipe just as it is written, but if you want the lemon to be the stronger flavor, you can substitute the almond extract in the cream cheese frosting with lemon extract (adjust amount to your liking).

More Cakes

We have made many lemon cakes over the years!

Some of our most popular (aside from our lemon buttermilk cake mentioned at the beginning of this post) are our lemon cake from scratch, lemon cake mix recipe, and lemon pound cake, and lemon coconut cake.

Keep these recipes in mind the next time you have a craving for lemony goodness.

Thanks so much for stopping by! We hope that you enjoy this recipe. Don't miss our full collection of cake recipes, which includes favorite cake recipes from scratch as well as cake mix recipes!

We also have a huge collection of free cake decorating tutorials if you are interested in cake design.

You'll find basics like how to make a cake, easy ways to frost a cake, as well as elegant cake tutorials and themed birthday cake ideas!

Have you made this? We would LOVE for you to leave a ⭐️ rating as well as a comment and photo below! We really appreciate your feedback!

Lemon Almond Cake, sliced, on a pedestal.

Lemon Almond Cake

BY Melissa and Bebe
This moist and flavorful cake has the perfect balance of lemon and almond. It is soft, fluffy, and very moist. Perfect for birthdays and other special occasions!
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 18 minutes
Course: Dessert
Servings: 15 servings
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Equipment

Ingredients

  • 1 ½ sticks (170g) unsalted butter, softened (Holds its shape but easily dents when pressed.)
  • ½ cup (48g) sliced almonds, chopped (You can chop finely or a rough chop if you like more crunch) This will go in cake pans rather than in the batter.
  • 2 cups (400g) sugar
  • 3 eggs, room temperature (If in a hurry, place the eggs in a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes)
  • 3 cups (342g) cake flour . (If not using a digital scale, lightly spoon flour into measuring scoop and level.)
  • 2 teaspoons (8g) baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon (3g) baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon (3g) salt
  • 1 ¼ cups (296g) buttermilk (If needed, see substitution below.)
  • ¼ cup (57g) lemon juice (Approximate amount of juice in one lemon.)
  • ¼ cup (54g) vegetable oil
  • 1 Tablespoon (10g) Lemon Extract
  • ½ teaspoon (2g) Almond Extract
  • Zest of two lemons

Almond Cream Cheese Frosting

  • 16 oz cream cheese, softened (We used two 8 oz packages of full fat cream cheese.)
  • 2 sticks (226g total) unsalted butter, softened
  • ½ teaspoon salt 2g
  • 6 to 6 ½ cups (690g -747g) powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon (4g) almond extract

Decoration

  • We used additional sliced almonds for a bottom border as well as accents on top of the cake.

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, grease and flour three 8×2 inch round pans. We like to add circles of parchment paper to the bottoms as well.
  • Finely chop the almonds in a blender or food processor. (We used a small bullet blender for this) You could also do a rough chop of the almonds, if you like more crunch.
  • Sprinkle the half cup of finely chopped almonds evenly over the three prepared cake pans.
  • In a medium bowl, whisk the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt for 30 seconds. Set aside.
  • In another bowl, add the buttermilk, vegetable oil, lemon zest, almond extract, lemon extract and lemon juice.  Set aside.
  • In the bowl of your mixer, add the softened butter and mix at medium speed until smooth. Gradually add the sugar and continue to mix on medium speed for 3 to 5 minutes until lightened in color and fluffy.
  • Add the eggs one at a time, mixing after each until the yellow of the yolk has blended in.
  • With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients (3 additions of dry ingredients and 2 of liquid). After the last addition, mix just until incorporated.
  • Divide batter between three prepared 8 inch cake pans, scooping the batter over the chopped almonds. Spread batter with back of a spoon as needed to even it out.
  • Bake at 350 degrees for 22-24 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with just few crumbs attached. Let cool 10 minutes and turn out.

For the Almond Cream Cheese Frosting

  • Place the softened butter into the mixing bowl and mix until smooth.
  • Add the softened cream cheese, salt, and almond extract to the butter, mixing at low to medium speed until incorporated.
  • Gradually add the powdered sugar, mixing on low speed. Mix on low to medium speed until well incorporated.
  • If it becomes too soft, just refrigerate a short while to firm it up a bit.This frosting will pipe best if used while still chilled. You can make it in advance, refrigerate and when ready to use let it soften slightly, then remix.

Assembling the Cake

  • Place the first lemon almond cake layer on the cake pedestal or cake base. Spread with a layer of almond cream cheese frosting. Repeat for the second layer, top with the third layer.
  • Fill in any gaps between the layers with frosting. Then, apply a thin layer (crumb coat) of frosting on top and around the sides of the cake. At this point, I like to chill the cake in the freezer for 15 minutes (or longer in the refrigerator to firm everything up)
  • Apply the second layer of frosting and decorate however you like! We added texture with a small offset spatula, and added a top border with a 1M (large star) piping tip. Add sliced almonds.

Notes

Substitute for Buttermilk: No Buttermilk? Here is a substitution: To a measuring cup, add 1 Tablespoon plus one teaspoon vinegar or lemon juice. Add milk to the 1 ¼ c. mark, stir. Wait 5 minutes and it is ready to use.
Substitution for Cake Flour: Using all purpose flour (plain in UK) to make Cake Flour: For each cup of flour in a recipe, remove 2 Tablespoons of flour and replace with 2 Tablespoons cornstarch (cornflour in the UK). This recipe has 3 cups of flour so you will measure out 3 cups of all purpose flour, remove 6 Tablespoons and replace with 6 Tablespoons cornstarch, whisk to blend
Recipe makes approximately 7 ½ cups batter.
*If making standard sized cupcakes with this recipe, bake at 350 for 18-20 .minutes or until toothpick comes out clean (or with a few crumbs attached).

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