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slice of cake with several bites taken out of it on a plate with a fork

Lemon Poppy Seed Cake

This lemon poppy seed cake features soft, buttery cake layers and lots of cream cheese frosting. It's a delicious dessert for spring or any time of year!

Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Prep Time 45 minutes
Cook Time 42 minutes
Soaking time 2 hours
Total Time 1 hour 27 minutes
Servings 10
Author Kelsie

Ingredients

Cake layers

  • 1 1/2 cups buttermilk*
  • 1/2 cup poppy seeds
  • 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
  • 2 cups granulated sugar
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • Finely grated zest of 1 or 2 large lemons**
  • 3 large eggs

Frosting and assembly

  • 3/4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
  • 8 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 4 to 4 1/2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 to 2 tablespoons milk or heavy cream if necessary
  • 1/4 cup lemon curd

Instructions

Cake layers

  1. Stir together the buttermilk and poppy seeds in a glass measuring cup or small glass bowl. Let sit for 2 hours.
  2. Once your poppy seeds have soaked, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray 2 8-inch round cake pans with cooking spray. Line the bottoms of the pans with parchment, spray the parchment with cooking spray, and set pans aside.
  3. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
  4. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter with with an electric mixer until smooth.
  5. Add the sugar, vanilla, lemon zest, and eggs and beat on medium until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. (Stop the mixer a few times to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.)
  6. With mixer on low, beat in half of the dry ingredients until just combined. Beat in half of the buttermilk mixture.
  7. Beat in the remaining flour, then the remaining butter milk until just incorporated. Use a rubber spatula to stir a few times to ensure everything is well mixed.
  8. Divide batter between the prepared cake pans and bake for 42 to 50 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean.
  9. Cool the cake layers in the pans for 20 minutes, then run a knife around the edge of each cake layer to loosen. Gently turn the cakes out onto a wire rack to cool completely before frosting your cake.

Frosting

  1. Beat the butter and cream cheese in a medium mixing bowl until smooth.
  2. Beat in the vanilla and salt. With mixer on low, gradually beat in 4 cups of powdered sugar.
  3. Once all the sugar is incorporated, turn mixer to medium and beat until the frosting is smooth. If frosting is too thick, beat in a little milk. If it’s too thin, beat in more powdered sugar.
  4. Assembly
  5. Use a long serrated knife to trim the cake layers if they’ve domed.
  6. Place one cake layer on a cake stand or cardboard cake circle and spread a thin layer of frosting over it. Spread the lemon curd over that, leaving a slight perimeter all around the edge so it doesn’t leak into your final frosting layer.
  7. Top with the second cake layer, then frost and decorate as desired.
  8. Frost cake with the remaining frosting and decorate as desired. Serve.
  9. Uneaten cake can be stored, covered, in the fridge for up to 3 days or in the freezer, tightly wrapped, for up to 2 months.
  10. (If you refrigerate your cake, let the slices come to room temp before you serve them so the cake layers are nice and soft.)

Recipe Notes

  • *You can substitute 1 1/2 cups whole milk mixed with 2 1/2 teaspoons of fresh lemon juice or white vinegar. Stir them together and let the mixture sit for 5 minutes, then you’re ready to use it. If you use lemon juice, you'll want to zest your lemons first because they’re hard to zest after you’ve squeezed the juice out.
  • **Use less zest for a subtle lemon flavor and more zest for a more pronounced flavor.
  • Use store-bought lemon curd between the cake layers or use your favorite homemade recipe.
  • You can add some lemon zest and/or a couple tablespoons of lemon curd if you want the frosting to be lemon-flavored. Add it when you add the vanilla and salt.
  • You can also mix a tablespoon or two of poppy seeds into the frosting if you want.