This Pink Lemonade Cake from scratch tastes like summertime!
I just love the uniqueness of this recipe and flavor– Pink Lemonade Cake isn’t a dessert that you see too often, but it should be!
Just one bite and you will be convinced. This amazing cake belongs in your recipe file of favorites!
Just the Right Amount of Tartness
As someone who loves all things lemon, I was so excited to add this recipe to our collection.
Unlike our popular Lemon Cake recipe (which we also love), this Pink Lemonade Cake has an extra boost of tartness from frozen Pink Lemonade concentrate. This is a cake flavor that both kids and adults will love!
We decided to frost our pink lemonade cake layers with our lemon cream cheese frosting. It complements this flavorful cake perfectly, making it a dessert that we will turn to for summertime gatherings for years to come.
In fact, I have a feeling that I’ll be making this cake year-round…it’s just that good!
Reverse Creaming Method
Like many of our scratch recipes, this cake is made using the Reverse Creaming Method of mixing.
This method refers to the order that ingredients are added, which is a bit different than the traditional way. Cakes made with the reverse creaming method are slightly denser, and have a wonderful velvety quality.
We go over all of the mixing details clearly in our Recipe, but if you’d like a bit more information, we have a free cake video tutorial on the method here!: Reverse Creaming Method of Mixing.
Mmmm…Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
As we mentioned above, we frosted our Pink Lemonade Cake with one of my favorite frostings: Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting.
This luscious Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting is so easy to make and perfect for so many cake recipes (vanilla cake, white cake, lemon, coconut, and more)! Click here to find the recipe: Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting.
Tips for Working with Cream Cheese Frosting
Keep in mind that cream cheese frostings are softer than buttercream frostings. They are more heat sensitive also.
So, if you find that your frosting is too soft to easily pipe with, chill it to firm it up a bit. (If that doesn’t work, add a bit more powdered sugar to thicken.)
Also, some have trouble with the heat of their hands softening the frosting in the piping bag while they work. If you have hot hands ;0), you may consider rotating between two piping bags (chill one while using the other).
How to Decorate the Pink Lemonade Cake
To decorate our pink lemonade cake, I filled the cake layers with our Lemon Cream Cheese frosting recipe, and then frosted a thin crumb coat.
Then, I used a 2D piping tip to pipe vertical lines around the sides, piping from bottom to top all the way around.
Then, I used a french tip (Ateco 869) to pipe stars all over the top with the lemon cream cheese frosting. I love this simple style of decorating! So quick, easy, and inviting! I wish I had a slice right now.
Pink Lemonade Cake from Scratch
This moist and delicious Pink Lemonade Layer Cake has the perfect amount of tartness, which is balanced with a luscious layer of lemon cream cheese frosting!
Ingredients
For the Pink Lemonade Cake Layers
- 2 ½ cups (285g) cake flour
- 1 ½ cups (300g) sugar
- ½ teaspoon (3g) salt
- 2 ½ teaspoon (12g) baking powder
- 1 ½ sticks (12 T) (169g) unsalted butter....Cut into ½ inch slices onto waxed paper to soften slightly (still very cool
- to the touch). If it becomes too soft, refrigerate for a few minutes. Do not soften in microwave
- 4 large eggs
- ¾ cup (190g) frozen pink lemonade concentrate (thawed) ( if you cannot find pink, you can use regular frozen lemonade)
- ½ cup (121g) milk
- 2 teaspoons (7g) lemon extract
- zest of 1 lemon
- pink coloring gel, if you want the cake layers to be pink....we used AmeriColor Deep Pink
For the Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
- 2 sticks (226g) unsalted butter, slightly softened but still cool to the touch
- 2 8oz packages Cream Cheese (453 total gram weight) Use full fat cream cheese. Do not use reduced fat or cream cheese in the tub containers. Soften very slightly
- 2 teaspoons (8g) lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon (4g) lemon extract, optional
- Zest from 1 lemon, approximately 1 ½ teaspoons (3g)
- 6 to 6 ½ cups (690g - 747g) powdered sugar, adding more if necessary
Instructions
For the Cake Layers
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
- Grease and flour two 8 x 2 inch round pans
- In the bowl of your mixer add the dry ingredients, flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Whisk to combine dry ingredients for 30 seconds.
- In a separate bowl, add the eggs, Pink Lemonade concentrate, lemon extract, zest & milk.
- With the mixer on low speed, add the slices of butter a few pieces at a time to the dry ingredients. Increase the mixer to medium speed and beat until the dry ingredients look crumbly like coarse sand. Scrape sides and bottom of the bowl.
- Method is important when using Reverse Creaming. With the mixer on low speed SLOWLY ADD ½ of the egg mixture, increase to medium speed for 1 ½ minutes. The batter will become thick and fluffy. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl. ADD THE PINK GEL COLOR, Add the remaining egg mixture in 2 pourings, beating for 20 seconds after each addition.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached.
- Let the cakes cool in the pan 10 minutes, then turn out.
- Works well for cupcakes
- Makes 7 cups batter
For the Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
- Cut butter into ½ inch slices and add to the bowl of your mixer, beat until smooth.
- Cut the cream cheese into pieces and add to the butter, beating until blended.
- Add the lemon juice and lemon zest. 1 teaspoon lemon extract, optional for a stronger lemon flavor.
- Gradually add powdered sugar and beat until well blended.
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 and remix. Do not microwave to soften.
Love Lemon? We do too! Here are a few more of our FAVORITE Lemon Cake Recipes!
Sharing our Best Cake Recipes and Cake Tutorials!
Thanks for stopping by! Make sure to check out our full collection of FAVORITE cake and frosting recipes in our Recipes Section! You can also find all sorts of fun, free cake decorating tutorials in our Free Cake Tutorials Section!
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In the UK we dont have access to certain things like frozen pink lemonade ~ lets hope Brexit will allow us to trade more freely with USA and in a few years perhaps we will see all your lovely products in our shops x
In the meantime for frozen pink lemonade concentrate can we just freeze ordinary pink lemonade for this ingredient ? thanks
Looks and sounds delicious! Can’t wait to try it in my own way :) Just need to find a bit of time, very crazy around this place :) I love BeBe’s dedication to recipe creation and perfection. You guys are awesome! :)
Hi June, Yes, I hope all goes well with Brexit. I am sorry but freezing ordinary lemonade will not work for the recipe. The frozen lemonade I refer to is very concentrated, and if you were going to use it to make lemonade to drink , you would need to dilute it with quite a bit of water.
I don’t know if this will help June?
http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/16098/lemonade-concentrate.aspx
I can’t wait to try this cake. I just made your Pink Champagne Cake for a dear friends bridal shower and it was perfection.
Thank you so much and keep the recipes coming.
Thank you ladies, yes I think the recipe will do just fine x
Hi, to the lady talking of using lemonade,I am going to try soda stream lemonade concentrate this weekend with a drop of red colouring for the pink( u could use raspberries?) just a thought as UK alternative. X
Hey thats a good idea Sarah, would you be able to leave your feedback on that idea ? great thinking x
Hi there! Going to make this for hubbies birthday on Sat. Did you defrost the pink concentrate first, or use in frozen state?
Hi Nancy, Yes, I did defrost the lemonade concentrate. Hope your husband loves his cake!
Hi. Sounds and looks amazing. a
ny alternatives for the frozen pink lemonade. Can’t get it in the uk?.
This cake looks amazing. I am attempting to make it right now. Maybe I overlooked it, when do I add the lemon extract to the cake? This is listed as an ingredient but it is not listed in the steps.
Thank you for your help.
Hi Misty, Add it with the other liquid ingredients. Hope you like it!
I want to bake this in a bundt pan , should I double the recipe if not how long should I bake in bundt pan
The finished product – it is not as beautiful as yours but it is a hit with the family.
Yay!! Misty, I’m glad that you made it and your family enjoyed it! :0) xo
What a beautiful recipe!! I’m just curious about using a powdered pink lemonade drink mix instead of the frozen concentrate. If anybody has tried that so I don’t have to mad scientist it up in the kitchen.
I would love to try some of your recipes, but I can’t print any of them. So disappointed
Hi Annette, Just above the ingredient list, click on PRINT VERSION. You will then see a printable version, use the print function on your computer to print the recipe.
Thanks for making me look good! I just made this cake as cupcakes for a very large baby shower – over 30 guests. I got tons of complements. Topped them with your lemon cream cheese buttercream icing in a big swirl. Now they think I can actually bake!
Haha, Belinda thanks so much for your comment! You are too funny, and I’m glad that the recipe came out well for you! Wish I had some of those cupcakes right now ;0) xoxo
Could I use crystal pink lemonade for this recipe?
Hi Diana, I have never tried using that. I don’t know if the crystal pink lemonade will give you the same intense flavor as frozen pink lemonade. If you decide to give it a try, let us know how it goes.
Maybe I overlooked it. But when do you add the gel coloring?
Hi Amanda, Thank you for pointing that out. I would add the gel coloring to the batter after the 1 1/2 minute mixing or anytime during the last 2 additions of liquid. If using AmeriColor gel color, a little goes a long way. Our is actually a bit more pink than we anticipated.
Looks amazing. I don’t understand the icing on the side. Is that not the lemon cream cheese frosting? It says fill the cake layers with cream cheese frosting and then pipe vertical lines and then make stars on top with the cream cheese frosting. But the sides are pink how did that happen?!?
Hi Natalie,
The cake is frosted in our Lemon Cream Cheese frosting. We tinted it with coloring gels before piping. (The top is tinted with Americolor Lemon Yellow, the frosting around the sides was tinted with a very small amount of Americolor Deep Pink).
Hi, i live in the Netherlands and we don’t have frozen lemonade concentrate. What do i use in place of that? I do loooooove lemon very much so i love your cake and want to make it. But Unfortunatelly i miss an ingrediënt. I hope you can help me? Thanks in advance for reading and answering.
Marja.
Hi, I was wondering if I could make this into a 9 x 13?
Hi Roxane, Yes, the recipe can be made in a 9×13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 min. Check at 30 min.
I made your pink lemonade cake for Easter. The photo is attached. One thing I realized after the fact is I should not have used us in the frosting. It clogged up my piping tip. Thanks for the inspiration
Oops that was suppose to be “zest” in the frost not “us”
Hi! How many cupcakes would it make and how long would I cook them for?
Thank you!
Hi, I make the pink lemonade cake squares that our local Dewey’s bakery is famous for but instead I use pink lemonade kool-aid dry mix in the batter, I don’t do a Reverse mix as you stated above but if I did use your recipe would I be able to put it together the old fashion way with dry mix added to wet and would I get the same result? I love making this cake in the spring and summer months but have never made it as a layer cake just squares but very interested to get your reply to see if I can use this recipe to compare
Christine – Do yourself a favor and try making this cake just as directed (reverse method, frozen concentrate, etc.). It is really amazing and I think you’ll be happy with the results.
I made this for my mother’s birthday who has been wanting a pink lemonade cake for YEARS. Everyone loved it! It’s rich, melts in your mouth, and truly tastes like a big ole glass of pink lemonade. I can’t wait to make cupcakes! How long would the baking time be for cupcakes?
Hi Emily, Your cake is lovely!! I’m happy that you like the recipe, and thank you for posting your review. If you are making cupcakes, bake at 350 degrees for 18 to 20 minutes (check at 18 minutes). The cupcakes will bake up with very little dome. The cupcake liners can be filled approximately 3/4 ‘s full.
This cake is absolutely delicious, even without frosting. Thank you so much for sharing the recipe!
Hi Joan, thank you so much for posting your review of the recipe!!
This looks amazing! Is it firm enough to stack a couple layers?
Hi Caitlin, Yes, it is. Hope you will enjoy the recipe.
Hi, I’m about to make it for my niece, how talk would you say it is as an end product or how many kids can it feed? I’m using 8in pans.
Hi Olga, We often refer to the Wilton Serving Chart for the number of servings, here is a link to the chart:
http://www.wilton.com/cake-serving-guide/cms-baking-serving-guide.html
For a 2 layer 8 inch round cake there should be 20 party size servings ……for wedding cake servings, 24 slices.
The completed cake will be approximately 4 inches tall.
Hi there I can tell by the picture this cake will be amazing we do the reverse method at the bakery I work at. Do you think replacing the milk w buttermilk will be an issue?
Hi Brooklynn, Replacing the milk with buttermilk, I would reduce the baking powder to 1 1/2 teaspoons and add 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
Alrighty thank you !
HELP!! First time I made a cake last night, and I chose your beautiful and refreshing looking recipe. It overflowed like a waterfall in the oven at 20 minutes! Half of the top had barely started to brown… But it was complete liquid underneath.
The frosting was amazing!! But I’m getting ready to try to make the batter again and use it for cupcakes hoping for better results. I could really use ANY kind of help in understanding what the cause of this could be. everything I’ve ever tried to “bake” besides chocolate chip cookies have turned out terrible! But I cook like a pro. I just don’t get it. Cooking is therapeutic for me, and I would really love to expand to baking if possible, but hate that I’m wasting so many ingredients and embarrassing myself in front of my husband lol.
Thank you in advance! And O.M.G. what a tasty and refreshing batter(since that’s as far as I got), and frosting! Mmmm.
Hi Callie, I am sorry you had this problem. Did you use the right size pans, two 8 inch by 2 inches deep. Could you have accidentally used baking soda instead of baking powder? Did you use self rising flour instead of cake flour? Over mixing or mixing at too high a speed, don’t mix above medium speed. For cupcakes, fill the liners 1/2 to 2/3’s full. Bake at 350 degrees for 18 to 20 minutes. I hope all goes well. Let me know.
Thank you so much for your prompt response. I’m excited to announce that I successfully completed this cake without burning down the house this time. You were right, I believe I over mixed it previously, I didn’t know that was a thing. It wasn’t pretty enough to take a picture for you since most of the top of the cake came off when I tried to put my frosting on, but I’m still pretty proud of myself. Not only did my husband love it, but I sent half of it to work with him (It’s just the two of us and I didn’t want to waste it), and the whole office loved it!
Thank you and I will definitely be signing up for your newsletter and checking out the rest of the website for more amazing recipes ;)!
Hi Callie, That is great!! Thanks for letting me know that you enjoyed the recipe!! If you were having a problem with the frosting pulling off part of the cake, the frosting just needed to be a bit softer. If you used the Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting, it usually becomes softer as you mix it. If it is over mixed it will become very soft and you may need to refrigerated it for 10 minutes or so to firm up enough to spread on the cake.
You are a beginning baker and I think you are doing great! You made a cake that your husband and his office enjoyed, that is all that matters. You will learn something with each cake you bake, remember we all started out just like you.
I can’t wait to make this, but I’d like to alter it just a little. I would like to put pink lemonade margarita in as the liquid. Would it be the same ratio as the lemonade? Trying to come up with a few different cakes for Cinco de Mayo, where I can substitute some of the liquid with alcohol. Any ideas would be a BIG help!
Hi Tammie, Yes, I think it would be the same measurement as the lemonade. The only cake we have made with alcohol is the Pink Champagne Cake recipe. Good luck, let us know how it goes.
loved it!!!!
Hi we don’t have frozen lemonade concentrate in the uK. Can you tell me what I can use as an alternative please ?
If you can not get Pink Lemonade just use the regular lemonade (the pink color just comes from raspberry juice so you could add up to 10 drops of liquid red food coloring for just the right amount of pink color). This is a great cake!!!
I made this recipie twice and both times the cupcakes rose beautifully but shrunk once taken out of the oven. I am wondering if the baking powder is simply too much? the flavors were amazing, pity more stores don’t carry the pink lemonade…but what do you think? An amazing rise but then the cupcakes shrinking? they still tasted good but I would like them to stay a high cupcake.
My girls and I made these today as cupcakes and they were AMAZING! So happy to have found this recipe and it is so easy to make.
Hi Whitney, That is wonderful!! Thanks so much for posting your thoughts on the recipe!
Can the lemonade cake w/cream cheese frosting be stored at room temp?
Hi Alice, because of the cream cheese frosting, you would want to keep it chilled until closer to the time of serving.
Can I use two 9″ pans with this recipe and did you sift the flour?
Hi Pam, You can use 9 inch pans but your layers will not be as high. I did not sift the cake flour. I spoon the cake flour into a measuring cup and level off the excess with the back of a knife. I hope you will enjoy the cake.
The cake came out wonderfully! Wonderful recipe. Personally I would prefer less lemon extract but definitely a recipe I will use again.
Can you use regular King Arthur flour instead of the cake flour? I find cake flour seems to produce a more dense, less moist and not as high layer.
Hi Ellenmarie, I think the issue is with the reverse creaming method and not the cake flour. Some bakers do not have success with it. You might want to re-write the recipe into the conventional mixing method. I would definitely write out the recipe. The order in which the ingredients are added is different so it is easy to leave out something. Count the ingredients to make sure everything is listed on your new recipe. If you only have all purpose flour, you can make cake flour by doing the following. For each cup of flour, remove 2 Tablespoons and replace with 2 Tablespoons cornstarch (corn flour in the UK). This recipe has 2 1/2 cups flour so you will measure out that amount of AP flour, remove 5 Tablespoons and replace that with 5 Tablespoons of cornstarch. Whisk to blend and you are all set. Cake flour will give you a more tender cake. Hope you will enjoy the recipe.
I made the pink lemonade cake and i t turned out gummy? What did I do wrong?
Hi Rhonda, I am sorry you had a problem. Were there gummy streaks in the cake layers? That usually means that the batter was mixed for too long or at a mixing speed that was too high. It should not be beaten above medium speed.
What is lemonade concentrate? I don’t think we’ve got it in my country. Do think it’d be fine to use 100% fruit juice instead?
Hi Manuella, Lemonade concentrate is made using a process of removing the water from the lemon juice, resulting in a much stronger lemon taste. I am sorry but using 100% fruit juice will not give you the distinct lemon taste needed for this cake.
Hi can you use this recipe for a Bundt cake
Hi Angela, I have not made this recipe in a bundt pan, but it should be fine to do so. This recipe makes 7 cups batter. To find out how much batter your bundt pan will hold do the following. Add cups of water to within 1 1/2 inch of the top of the pan. The number of cups gives you the cups of batter your pan will hold. If you are using a pan that has a dark interior, reduce the baking temperature by 25 degrees. We bake our bundt cakes on the next to lowest level in the oven. Hope you will enjoy the recipe, let me know.
2 1/2 cups (285g) cake flour
1 1/2 cups (300g) sugar
Hello! I am a bit confused with these measurements, you say 2.5 cups of cake flour but 1.5 cups of sugar, but then the actual masses don’t add up because there is more sugar then flour (in grams)
Hi Zayn, The sugar weighs more than the cake flour. Hope you will enjoy the recipe.
Great recipe! A hit with the family. I made cupcakes and used your method for homemade cake flour. Love the texture of the cake. Going to try your red velvet cake recipe next!
Hi PJ, I so happy your family enjoyed the recipe. Thank you for posting your nice comments.
Made this for my daughters birthday. Three layers instead of two. Turned out perfect!
Hi Pam, Thanks for posting a picture, such a cute birthday cake! I love how colorful it is!
Hey,
What is the frozen pink lemonade concentrate. From the U.K. what product is similar to what you use over here.
Hi Laura, We used Minute Maid Frozen Lemonade Concentrate, there are various brands in the US that could be used. I am not sure what is available in the UK but below is a link to making your own, through I have not tried this.
http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/16098/lemonade-concentrate.aspx
I’m using a KitchenAid and am assuming since you say to wish 30 seconds that you do not use the paddle attachment. Wisk attachment all the way through the cake recipe? Im so excited about this cake and am making this as we speak. Fingers crossed. I also cut the recipe in half for 1-8″ layer. Just 2 of us and just don’t need that much cake considering this is my forth cake in less than 2 weeks, lol.
Guess I should have used the paddle not the wisk attachment for the cake. Ugh.
Hi Karen, I am sorry that was not clear. When I put all the dry ingredients in a bowl, I whisk with a hand whisk to blend. I hope you will give it a try another time.
Oh yes, I will. Thanks so much BeBe for responding. The cake is edible, different, dense, moist, level but I can just tell it was over mixed. I should have known better, lol.
I was thinking of making this cake again but using limeade concentrate, no lemon extract or lime extract but the concentrate and fresh lime juice and some vanilla extract swapping where appropriate. I wonder if I can reduce the concentrate on the stove before incorporating. I’ve made a lot of cakes over the last couple of months, some successes and some not. Hard to get one’s MOJO back after a cake that let you down or just a fail. Hate wasting I ingredients and food in general. What are your thoughts on this, swapping out where applicable? Worried that the lime flavor won’t come through in the cake. Thanks for the recipes and inspiration!
Karen,
You should totally be able to reduce the concentrate so long as you have the 3/4 c AFTER you’ve already reduced it. In most recipes you can swap out one liquid for another so long as you are still using the same amount of liquid. So yes to using vanilla and yes to reducing the concentrate. (warning: the concentrate is already a reduced version of freshly squeezed so concentrating it yet again may not give you the desired flavor you are hoping for).
My son made me this for my bday. He’s 15 and loves to bake! It was delicious!!! With the leftovers, I like to heat mine up in the microwave for a short time so it’s hot and frosting is melting! Oh my goodness, it is BOMB
Hi Lisa, Happy Birthday! What a sweet thing for your son to do! Thank you for you nice comments on the recipe. I have never tried melting the frosting, it does sound good.
I made these as cupcakes for my daughters birthday party and everyone seemed to like them. The lemonade flavor shines through, I am not a lemonade lover but I thought these were pretty good. Thank you for another successful recipe.
Hi Mrs C, I’m happy you gave the recipe a try! Thanks so much for posting !
Hello, I am wanting to make a three layer six inch cake. Can I do this using this recipe or do I need to make extra batter and frosting?
Hi Jeannette, This recipe makes approximately 7 cups of batter so
you will be fine with the recipe and frosting as written. A 6×2 inch round pan can hold 2 cups of batter, maybe a bit more. Hope you will enjoy the cake.
Thank you so much!!! The cake turned out beautifully and my granddaughters loved it.
Jeannette, your cake is so pretty! I love the look, thanks for posting!