A soft, spongy moist lemon sour cream cake with raspberries. This cake is light and tangy, with a pound cake like texture. A great cake for an afternoon tea party, office pot luck, play date, Mother's Day morning tea, or Easter feast.
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Why We Love This Recipe
Then this lemon sour cream cake won't disappoint. I love cakes that are light and fluffy, and are super flavourful and this lemon cake is one of those 'won't stop at one slice' kinda cake! It's perfectly light and tangy, with a subtle sweetness to cut through the raspberry and lemon flavours.
My lemon sour cream cake is;
- light and tangy without being overly sweet
- a great way to use up leftover sour cream
- so ridiculously easy to make
- one bowl, one oven tray meaning less mess to worry about
- perfect for an afternoon tea, school lunchbox or office treat.
Recipe Ingredients
Butter - You'll need 125g of unsalted butter at room temperature. I always use good quality butter in my baking. 125g is around 4.5 ounces, or a bit over a stick of butter if you're in the US. It's always best to weight your ingredients when you're baking so I recommend getting a set of digital scales that convert between metric and imperial.
Sugar - I prefer using caster sugar, which is essentially super fine sugar. It's great in baking because it doesn't leave a granulated texture that regular white sugar can. If you can't find it, regular sugar is good.
Plain All Purpose Flour - I use plain all purpose flour for this recipe, and baking powder. The baking powder will add height and plumpness to your cake. The flour and baking powder will need to be sifted first.
Sour Cream - Sour cream makes this cake really moist and brings a beautiful tangy flavour that matches really well with the lemon flavour. The sour cream adds moisture without thinning out the cake batter, leaving you with a gorgeous dense (but still light) cake.
Eggs - Like all baking projects, using good quality eggs are a must. I use Sunnyvale Free Range eggs that are the extra large (700g/25oz) weight. This is approximately 60g per egg!
Lemon Zest - Fresh lemon is the key here as you are using lemon rind. I find I can get a tablespoon of lemon rind out of one large lemon.
Raspberries - You can either use fresh or frozen raspberries for this lemon sour cream cake. I prefer to use fresh raspberries because they are easier to place in the cake and look nicer but either is fine. If using fresh, you'll need around a 125g punnet (6oz punnet in the US). If using frozen you'll need around ½ a cup of frozen berries.
Step By Step Instructions
See the recipe card for full details further down this post.
Step 1 - Cream the butter, sugar and lemon zest in a bowl together. This releases all the gorgeous lemon oil flavour into the mixture.
Step 2 - Add in the eggs, then add in the sifted flour and baking powder.
Step 3 - Fold through the sour cream, then pour into a prepared pan and scatter over the raspberries.
Step 4 - Bake in a moderate oven for 30 minutes or until lightly golden on top.
What equipment do I need?
To make this cake you'll need;
- a stand mixer or hand held mixer
- a large bowl (if using a hand help mixer or use your stand mixer bowl)
- measuring cups (Australian standard or American)
- digital scales that convert from grams to ounces
- a 25.5cm/10", square baking dish (glass or aluminium)
- baking paper to line your baking dish
- spatula for smoothing the cake surface
FAQ and Tips
Can I Substitute Sour Cream
I have used plain greek yogurt as a substitute before with similar results, but I do prefer to use sour cream. Greek yogurt makes a great substitute if you're looking to lighten up the cake calorie wise.
How Long Does it Take to Bake?
Like all baking, this is oven dependent. In a fan forced oven this should take about 30 minutes to bake at 180C/350F. The best way of testing to see if it's cooked is to stick. a metal skewer or knife into the centre of the cake. If it comes out with a little crumb on it, the cake is cooked.
I also go by smell, and how brown the edges are. If you're finding it browning too quickly you can put some aluminium foil over the cake to stop it from browning too quickly.
Does This Cake Need a Glaze?
This lemon cake doesn't need a glaze. You can always dust some icing sugar (powdered sugar) over the top of it. The raspberries bring out another element of flavour and the cake is sweet enough without a glaze.
Is this cake easy to make?
Short answer - yes! It's one of the easiest cakes I know how to make. Why? Because it's only one bowl, and requires a few simple ingredients that are all found in supermarket shelves!
How Do I Store This Cake?
This lemon cake with sour cream is best eaten within a few days. I found it doesn't dry out, but can get a little sticky on top. Store in an air tight container for max freshness, but in all honestly, this cake is so good it won't hang around for long!
This raspberry lemon sour cream cake is so, so SO good. It's light and creamy, zesty with just a hint of sweetness. The addition of the sour cream makes the batter so smooth and it's just a really, really good cake that works every time!
A great cake for any occasions whether it's a family-do, work morning tea, a time that you need to use up leftover sour cream or just want cake!
Much Love,
Georgie x x
Got leftover sour cream? Try these recipes;
- Smoked Salmon Pizza
- Chocolate Sour Cream cake (via It's Not Complicated Recipes)
- Green Goddess Dip (via It's Not Complicated Recipes)
- Cheddar Spinach Muffins (via A Baking Journey)
📖 Recipe
Lemon Sour Cream Cake
Ingredients
- 125 g unsalted butter 4.5 ounces, at room temperature
- 165 g sugar
- 5 g lemon rind
- 3 eggs
- 160 g all purpose flour sifted
- ½ teaspoon baking powder sifted
- 85 g sour cream
- 125 g fresh raspberries 6 oz fresh, or ½ cup frozen
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180C/355F (fan forced). Grease a 25.5cm/10" square baking tray with butter and line with parchment paper.
- Cream (aka beat together) butter, sugar and rind with a hand beater in a large bowl until light and fluffy.
- Add eggs, one at a time beating 1 minute after each addition.
- Add sifted flour and baking powder. Beat 1 minute then add sour cream.
- Pour mixture into a prepared cake tin and spread out mixture evenly.
- Arrange whole raspberries in a nice pattern on the cake mixture.
- Bake in oven 20-30 minutes (depending on oven) or until lightly golden around the edges. Insert a clean knife or skewer into the middle of the cake. If it comes out clean, it is cooked.
- Remove from cake tin to cool. Cut into slices and serve.
Taran says
Amazing cake! Wow. I can't get enough! And it's so easy to make. Thank you!
Georgie says
thanks so much for the positive feedback!
Veena Azmanov says
I am drooling with the thought of a bite to this cake. Love the combination of lemon and Raspberries. Delicious and yum.
Georgie says
thanks Veena, its certainly a great flavour combination!
Shelley says
Oh wow! This looks fantastic! Just the perfect thing to bake right now - with fresh springtime flavors, but also super-easy and without many ingredients. A great little treat that can be cut into those pretty squares, instead of the over-the-top kind of cake that requires you to commit to a whole giant wedge LOL! Love the suggestion that it's ok to sub Greek yogurt, too - we're BIG fans of that, so it's a perfect swap for me. Thanks for this lovely recipe!
Georgie says
thank Shelley, it's such a light cake that you probably won't stop at one piece!
Adrianne says
Yes, I am ALWAYS in the mood for cake, haha! This looks so inviting, simple and easy. I love everything about it. I really want to try this recipe soon. Cheers
Georgie says
how good is cake! ha ha thanks Adrianne, let me know how it goes!
Farah Maizar says
I think your photos actually made me drool a little. This looks so easy to make and absolutely wonderful! I'm a fan of lemon anything, can't wait to try this!
Georgie says
aw thank you Farah! I'm also a fan of lemon, sometimes you need something a little lighter!
Dannii says
I love lemon and raspberries together in desserts. Definitely going to try this.
Georgie says
it's a match made in heaven! love the tanginess of the lemon and raspberries!
Jordin says
Wow! These look so delicious and easy to make! I need to make these ASAP, everyone will love them!
Julie says
This is such a pretty cake. I love the flavors in it. Will have to make this week.
Georgie says
thanks Julie, it's one of my favourite recipes!
Laura says
Hi, I can't wait to make this for a family get together but I was wondering if it is suitable to freeze or is it best to serve freshly baked?
Georgie says
Hi Laura! Thanks for stopping by! To be honest, I haven't tried it frozen. However I have frozen similar cakes. I'd always say fresh is best, but I can't see any issues with freezing it. I usually put my cakes in a very large snap lock bag and seal it really well. Let me know how it goes!
Laura says
Hi! So I ended up making it fresh and it was a hit! I used wholemeal flour and stevia and it still worked perfectly. I also used a 20cm tin and I did need to bake for maybe 15 minutes longer but it was so cute and delicious...definitely one of my favourites and I will be making it again ?
Georgie says
Hi Laura! I'm so glad you liked it!! Thank you for leaving a rating too 🙂 happy Sunday!
Angela says
Hi,
Really pleased I found your blog. Loved finding out you are an Aussie ex-pat. I live in Brisbane, Queensland and think relocating to the other side of the world would be an amazing experience.
Anyway, I look forward to reading more of your recipes and blog but first;y, this cake. What size baking tin do you use? From the ingredients it does not look like it would be a big cake but your help would be appreciated.
Warm regards from Australia,
Angela
Georgie says
Hi Angela! Thank you so much for stopping by! My husband's grandparents are from Brisbane! I've never been but I'd love to go! The cake tin I used was 9 inch cake tin, but I really probably would have preferred to use an 8 inch round dish as it probably would have been a little higher! We've also used a regular loaft in in the past, and a 8x8 inch square tin! I think the rounder cake tin looks better though! hope that helps! thank you so much for stopping by!
Deepika|TheLoveOfCakes says
The texture looks so amazing!! I love fresh raspberries and lemon together, and this looks like the best way to eat them!
Georgie says
thank you!!! this cake is so fluffy and moist! the sour cream really makes it!
Neha says
Man this lemon cake with raspberries look so appetizing!! Desperately want a bite. 🙂
Georgie says
thank you! it's so SO easy to make, I love it!