This lemon sour cream cake is ultra moist and has a wonderful lemon flavor!

I absolutely love lemon desserts, and we've added several lemon cakes, fillings, and frostings to our recipes section over the years-- this lemon layer cake is sure to be a new favorite!

Not only does this lemon cake taste amazing, but it is really versatile also. It would hold up well to fondant, many choices of frostings or fillings, and it works great for cupcakes too! We have another popular scratch lemon cake in our recipes section, but I love to have options whenever possible. I love them both!

How Does Sour Cream Make Cakes Better?

Like buttermilk, sour cream adds an acidity to the batter that interferes with gluten formation, yielding a softer, more tender cake.

Sour cream also adds just a hint of tanginess which works perfectly in this lemon cake! The thick batter makes it ideal for add-ins like blueberries (as with our Lemon Blueberry Cake recipe)! Trust me, you are going to love this ultra moist, lemony cake!

How to Make Lemon Sour Cream Cake

( Find the Full, Printable Recipe Card at bottom of post- This lemon sour cream cake recipe uses the traditional creaming method of mixing.)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, grease/spray and flour three eight inch pans.

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In another bowl or measuring cup add the sour cream, lemon juice and zest, vanilla and lemon extract. Blend with a fork and set aside

In the bowl of your mixer, beat the softened butter until smooth. Gradually add the sugar and beat on medium speed for 3 to 5 minutes until light and fluffy!

Add the eggs one at a time, mixing until the yellow of the yolk disappears.

Add the flour mixture and the sour cream mixture alternately, beginning and ending with flour mixture (This will mean 3 additions of dry ingredients and 2 of wet). Mix until combined and smooth, do not mix above medium speed or over mix.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 28 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. Let the cakes cool 5 to 10 minutes then turn out.

Lemon Seven Minute Frosting

There are many fillings and frostings that would go perfectly with this lemon sour cream cake (from lemon curd to lemon cream cheese frosting to homemade lemon buttercream). Today, we decided to go with a fantastic Lemon Seven Minute Frosting.

Seven Minute Frostings are so billowy and light, and taste a bit like marshmallow fluff! To me, it has just the right amount of sweetness and I love the fluffy consistency that is created from whipping up a simple combination of sugar, water, egg whites, corn syrup, and flavoring over heat.

We have another version of seven minute frosting which is called Fluffy White Frosting- in that recipe, our method is a little different as we slowly pour a stream of our heated sugar mixture into whipped egg whites and continue mixing until the desired stiff-peak consistency is reached.

The method in today's recipe is more traditional, and involves mixing the ingredients all at once over a double boiler (or makeshift double boiler).

Either method will give wonderful results, and each has it's advantages. If you are using a hand mixer, you may prefer today's recipe's method so that you don't have to juggle holding the mixer with one hand and pouring a stream of hot sugar with the other!

Assembling our Lemon Layer Cake with Lemon Frosting

Once the frosting is made, you'll want to use it immediately to frost your three eight inch lemon cake layers.

I filled and frosted the cake with our lemon seven minute frosting, getting it fairly smooth around the sides with my spatula/bench scraper. Then, I used an 8B french tip (use any large star tip for a similar effect) and piped dollops all over the top of the cake! I love this look and the frosting is so pretty!

Keep in mind that this frosting isn't the thick consistency of a buttercream frosting and so I frosted the cake fairly quickly, not worrying too much about making it perfectly smooth. With seven minute frostings, more of swirly or at least slightly rustic look is the best bet ;0)

Helpful Tips for Seven Minute Frosting

If you are new to seven minute frostings, take a quick look at these helpful hints. This isn't a difficult frosting to make, but these quick tips will ensure success!

For the egg whites: cold eggs separate more easily than room temperature eggs. (We crack our eggs and separate the egg whites rather than using pasteurized egg whites from a carton. The consistency of the frosting holds up better this way!)

It is a good idea to use a separate bowl when separating the egg whites. If any yolk gets into the whites the recipe will not work. So, crack your egg and separate the white into a small bowl, empty that into your mixing bowl, and repeat.

There can be no trace of oil/grease in your bowl or beaters or the frosting will not whip up properly.

When using flavorings, essential oils or oil based extracts can cause the frosting to deflate.

Use a double boiler or a stainless steel/heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water (it should be a snug fit). Make sure the simmering water does not touch the bottom of the top bowl, if it does the frosting could become grainy.

On humid days, the frosting may take longer to whip up.

This frosting cannot be made in advance, so have your cake or cupcakes ready to frost.

This frosting is best the first 12 to 24 hours after frosting the cake. After that, it still tastes good but will begin to deflate and absorb into the cake.

Don't miss these other Great Lemon Recipes!

We've made lots of delicious lemon recipes over the years! Make sure to put these on your list of recipes to try!

Lemon Velvet Cake

Scratch Lemon Cake

Lemon Buttermilk Cake

Lemon Coconut Cake

Lemon Doctored Cake Mix

Lemon Curd

Lemon Buttercream

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Coconut Lemon Cake

Lemon Raspberry Swirl Pound Cake

Lemon Pound Cake

Lemon Whipped Cream Filling

My Cake School Cake Recipes, Tutorials, and More

Thanks so much for stopping by, we hope that you give this lemon sour cream cake a try. You will not be disappointed! We'd love to hear what you think in the comments below!

Make sure to check out our other cake recipes and free cake decorating tutorials in our Recipes & Tutorials section! We have lots o cakes to share with you!

Lemon Sour Cream Cake

This moist Lemon Sour Cream Cake is amazing! It pairs well with so many fillings and frostings, but in this recipe we've chosen a delightful Lemon Seven Minute Frosting. Enjoy!

Ingredients

For the Lemon Sour Cream Cake

2 sticks (226g) unsalted butter, slightly softened
2 cups (400g) sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup (242g) sour cream
⅓ cup — juice and zest of 2 lemons
1 teaspoon (4g) vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon (10g) lemon extract
3 cups (342g) cake flour (plain in the UK) — if you do not have cake flour see substitution below
1 ½ teaspoons (7g) baking powder
½ teaspoon (3g) baking soda
½ teaspoon (3g) salt

For the Lemon Seven Minute Frosting

⅔ cup (150g) water
2 cup (400g) sugar
½ teaspoon (2g) Cream of Tartar or 2 Tablespoons (30g) white corn syrup
4 egg whites
2 teaspoons (8g) lemon extract

Instructions

For the Lemon Sour Cream Cake

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, grease and flour three 8x2 inch round cake pans. Three layers will give you slightly shorter layers but more filling per slice.
In a medium sized bowl add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Whisk to blend, set aside.
In another bowl or measuring cup add the sour cream, lemon juice and zest, vanilla and lemon extract. Blend with a fork and set aside
In the bowl of your mixer, beat the softened butter until smooth. Gradually ad the sugar and beat on medium speed for 3 to 5 minutes until it is lightened in color and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing until the yellow of the yolk disappears.
Add the flour mixture and the sour cream mixture alternately, beginning and ending with flour mixture (3 additions of dry ingredients and 2 of wet). Mix until combined and smooth, do not mix above medium speed or over mix.
Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 28 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. Let the cakes cool 5 to 10 minutes then turn out.
Makes 7 cups cake batter

(This recipe works well for cupcakes too)

For the Lemon Seven Minute Frosting

In the top of a double boiler (see note below if you do not have one), combine the sugar, water, egg whites, and corn syrup or cream of tartar.
Beat with an electric mixer at low speed for 30 seconds, then set the pan over simmering water. Continue beating at high speed for about 7 minutes, or until it's stiff and glossy. It may take longer than 7 minutes depending on humidity, etc.
Remove from the heat, add the lemon extract and yellow coloring gel (optional), and beat for another 1 to 2 minutes. Do not over-mix.
Frost the cake immediately as it will begin to set up/change consistency.

Cake Assembly

We filled and frosted our three layer, 8 inch cake with the Lemon Seven Minute Frosting. I smoothed it around the sides of the filled cake, and piped billowy "stars" using an 8B french tip (any large star tip is good), all over the top of the cake.

Notes

If you do not have a double boiler, use a stainless steel or heatproof bowl that can fit snugly into a saucepan.

Substitution for Cake Flour:

For each cup of flour in the recipe, remove 2 Tablespoons of flour and replace with 2 Tablespoons cornstarch. This recipe has 3 cups of flour, measure out 3 cups of all purpose flour, remove 6 Tablespoons and replace with 6 Tablespoons cornstarch, whisk to blend.