My Lemon Sour Cream Cake is a delicate, spongy, light lemon cake that comes together quickly and is beautifully flavourful. It's zesty, bold and light - perfect for that 3 pm craving, Mum playdate or lunchbox treat!
Recipe Overview: Lemon Sour Cream Cake
- ✅ Recipe Name: Lemon Sour Cream Cake
- 🕐 Ready In: 45 minutes
- 🧑🧑🧒 Serves: 8 slices
- 💕 Perfect For: Lunchboxes, playdate, afternoon tea party.
- 🥣 Main Ingredients: Lemon, sour cream and frozen raspberries.
- 📖 Flavor Profile: Light, zesty, tart, balanced.
- 😊 Difficulty: Easy - great for beginner cooks!
- 💡 Quick Tip: Use frozen raspberries to make this cake all year round!
SUMMARIZE & SAVE THIS RECIPE ON
Nothing brings back childhood memories like a good-quality homemade cake! My Nanna's Fluffy Sponge Cake always brings the best memories to mind whenever I make it, and my Apple Shortcake recipe too. Cake is the pinnacle of cozy, comfort home cooking.
While I can never turn down a piece of my Pear Upside Down Cake or Victoria Sponge cake, I do always love coming back to my ultra light and fluffy lemon sour cream cake.
It's easy to make, is an absolute crowd pleaser and is tender, light and fluffy. Perfect with an afternoon cuppa, as a lunchbox treat or office treat!
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Why We Love this Recipe
- Easy to Make - just a few simple ingredients and you've got yourself a gorgeous light and fluffy sponge cake.
- Lighten it up! - swap the sour cream for plain Greek yogurt for a lightened version of this recipe.
- Keeps well - this cake (if it lasts that long!) keeps well for a few days - after a few days it is still light, moist and spongey.
- Flavourful - the lemon zest really comes out in this cake, making it tangy and tart. It's beautifully balanced with the frozen raspberries.
🍎 Need some more lunch box inspiration? Try my Pork Sausage Rolls, No Bake Peanut Butter Slice and my Chocolate Banana Bread! Guaranteed the kids will love it! 🍎
What Readers are Saying
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 Amazing cake! I can't get enough! And it's so easy to make. Thank you! - Taran
Key Ingredients
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.
Raspberries - You can either use fresh or frozen raspberries for this lemon sour cream cake. Raspberries are a beautiful addition to cut through the sweetness of the cake.
Substitutions
🔁 Swap our sour cream for Greek yogurt to lighten up the cake a little bit. It still brings a tartness to the recipe but fewer calories.
🔁Substitute frozen raspberries for frozen blueberries!
Lemon Sour Cream Cake Step by Step Instructions
- Beat the softened butter, lemon zest and the sugar together until well combined.
- Add the eggs, beating after each addition.
- Add the sifted flour and baking powder and mix until well combined.
- Fold in the sour cream and combine until smooth and there are no lumps.
- Pour into your prepared pan then scatter over the raspberries on top.
- Bake for 40-50 minutes until lightly browned on top and cooked in the middle.
Expert Tip 👩🍳
If the cake is beginning to brown on top before it's cooked, cover the cake with tin foil to avoid over-browning on the top.
Lemon Sour Cream Cake FAQs
This lemon cake with sour cream is best eaten within a few days. I found it doesn't dry out, but it can get a little sticky on top. Store in an air-tight container for max freshness, but in all honesty, this cake is so good it won't hang around for long!
This is a personal preference. You can easily make a quick lemon glaze by combining lemon juice with icing sugar, adding each component until you reach a thin consistency. This cake is great without a glaze, however.
A moist cake comes down to baking time! Do not over bake your lemon cake otherwise it will become dry. To test whether it is cooked, stick a knife in the middle of the cake. If it comes out clean it is cooked.
You can, however, using fresh lemon zest is the only way to get that true lemon flavour. To enhance the lemon flavour, use your hands to mix the lemon zest in with the sugar to release the citrus oils. To enhance the lemon flavour even more, add fresh lemon juice to icing sugar for a glaze.
Other Suggested Lemon Recipes
If you tried this Lemon Sour Cream Cake or any other recipe on my blog, please leave a 🌟 star rating and a 📝 comment below to let me know how it went. I love hearing from you!
📖 Recipe
Lemon Sour Cream Cake
Equipment
- 1 Stand or hand held mixer
- 1 large bowl
- 1 square cake tin
- 1 Spatula
Ingredients
- 4.5 oz unsalted butter at room temperature
- ¾ cups sugar caster sugar
- 1 teaspoon lemon rind
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup all purpose flour sifted
- ½ teaspoon baking powder sifted
- ⅓ cup sour cream or sub Greek Yogurt
- 1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries
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 until well combined.
- Using a spatula, gently fold in the sour cream until combined, and no white streaks remain in the batter.
- 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 the oven for 20-30 minutes (depending on the oven) or until lightly golden around the edges.
- 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!