Lemon Sheet Cake is fresh and light and perfect for warm weather! Soft Lemon Cake frosted with Cream Cheese Frosting with a hint of fresh lemon.
This recipe is easy peasy lemon squeezy and so yummy! Who doesn’t love some lemon cake with lemon frosting!?!
Making the Lemon Sheet Cake
Lemon sheet cake made with fresh lemon is easy peasy lemon squeezy!! I love that it uses fresh squeezed lemon juice for the cake and frosting!
You will mix your dry ingredients in one bowl. Then, mix your wet ingredients in another bowl. Slowly add your dry ingredients to your wet ingredients and stir until combined.
The dry ingredients you need are flour, white sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
For the wet ingredients for this lemon cake with lemon frosting, you will need butter, eggs, fresh squeezed lemon juice and sour cream. If you have made my Super Soft Sugar Cookies, you know that sour cream used in baking makes everything so soft!
Pour your batter into a greased half sheet pan.
Note: A jelly roll pan is a bit smaller than a half sheet pan so leave out some of the cake batter if using a smaller jelly roll pan or you may end up with a mess in your oven.
Baking the Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy Sheet Cake
You will bake your sheet cake at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean when poked in the center of the cake, and edges start to brown. Let the sheet cake cool completely before frosting.
The Frosting
Every sheet cake needs a sweet and creamy frosting. Lemon cake with lemon frosting is a must!
This recipe has the best frosting ever. I use my popular Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe. The frosting calls for vanilla extract but I add in some fresh squeezed lemon juice.
It is subtle in the frosting but is the perfect addition to go along with the soft and moist lemon cake! You can add the lemon juice to taste. If you want a strong tart lemon flavor add more, add less if you want it more subtle, or skip the lemon because the cream cheese frosting on its own is perfect!
Let the cake cool and then frost it with the lemon cream cheese frosting.
Slice your cake and enjoy!
If you liked this recipe please take the time to leave a comment and a star rating below! Also, don’t forget to follow me on Pinterest, Facebook and Instagram!
For some other delicious sweet treats, try my Banana Bars, Sheet Pan Carrot Cake Bars, my Peanut Butter Fingers, Mom’s Pumpkin Bars, or my Super Soft Sugar Cookies, Sheet Pan Brownies with Cream Cheese Frosting, Texas Sheet Cake or Banana Cookies!
Lemon Sheet Cake
Equipment
- half sheet pan See notes below
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup sour cream *do not use light or low fat
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup lemon juice *fresh squeezed *6-7 medium lemons, about 9 smaller lemons
- 1 1/3 cups white sugar
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
LEMON CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
- 1 8 oz. pkg cream cheese *not light or fat free
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 4 tbsp lemon juice – fresh squeezed *more or less to taste
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375° Grease your sheet pan.*See the post above to see the half sheet pans I use.** Se notes below if you are using a jelly roll pan (it is a bit smaller).
- In a bowl add the dry ingredients together : flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- In a separate bowl, mix the butter, eggs, sour cream, and lemon juice together.
- Fold the dry ingredients into the wet mixture. Mix well.
- Pour the cake batter into the greased sheet pan.
- Bake for 25 minutes, or until the cake starts to pull away from the pan and a toothpick comes out clean when poked in the center of the cake. NOTE: The top of this cake will not turn super golden brown like some white cakes will do when baking.
- Let the cake cool before frosting.
LEMON CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
- Using a mixer, hand mixer or by hand mix all of the frosting ingredients together. You can add more or less fresh squeezed lemon juice to taste. ***I love a lot of frosting on my cake. If you are frosting it and it just seems like too much for you, don't worry about using it all! Use only what you like!
Notes
Nutrition information is automatically calculated and should only be used as an approximation.
Check out these yummy photos!
Sounds wonderful and I’d like to make it. What are the measurements of the half sheet pan you used since I could not find the link to it that was mentioned.
Hi Lillian! Thank you for the heads up about the link!!! The half sheet Ian measures about 13×18 inches and I have Nordicware brand you can get on amazon!
Can I use dairy free sour cream and dairy free cream cheese? I know I can use plant butter for the cake but wondered if you had any instructions.
Hi Ceda!! I wish I had an answer for you….I have never tried dairy free sour cream or dairy free cream cheese! I would think it would work just fine! If you try it, let me know so if others ask I can let them know! 🙌🏻
Can I use a regular cake pan instead of a sheet cake pan?
Hi Laurie! You sure can… if you want it to still be a thin “bar” or like a sheet cake thickness I would half the recipe!!! If you want it a thicker cake then bake it at 350 degrees F for about 25 minutes (start checking it at the 20 minute mark because everybody’s oven is a bit different!)
Soooo soooo good
Valerie I am so happy to hear it was so good!!! Thank you so much for trying it and thank you so so much for taking the time to comment and give the recipe a star rating…I appreciate it so much!❤️
Can you use bottled lemon juice. Fresh lemons are expensive in my area
Yes you sure can!!! 😊
Made this for a potluck party. Was a big hit! Not too much frosting for me!
Pat I am sooooo happy to hear it was a hit!!!! Thank you for trying it and thank you for taking the time to comment!! I appreciate it so much!❤️❤️❤️
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