This Lemon Buttermilk Sheet Cake is made from scratch and glazed with a sweet-tart icing that will put a wide-eyed smile on your face.
Ingredients
- For the cake:
10 oz. (2½ cups) cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
6.375 oz. (3/4 cup) buttermilk, room temperature
Zest and juice from 3 lemons
1 tsp vanilla
12¼ oz. (1¾ cups) sugar
6 oz. (12 Tbs) softened butter, cut into 12 pieces
3 large eggs plus 1 large yolk, room temperature
- For the glaze:
12 oz. (3 cups) confectioners’ sugar
3 Tbs lemon juice
2 Tbs buttermilk
Directions
- Bake the cake.
- Grease and flour a 13×9″ baking pan; set aside. Adjust oven rack to one position higher than normal, and preheat to 325°F.
- Beat flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together, 30 seconds on medium-low speed (setting 2 out of 9). Pour into a medium-size mixing bowl. Combine buttermilk, 1/4-cup (2 oz.) lemon juice, and vanilla in a roomy 1-cup liquid measuring cup. Set all of this aside.
- Beat sugar and lemon zest on medium speed (setting 4) until moist and fragrant, 1 minute. Transfer 1/4 cup of the mixture to a small bowl; cover and set aside. Add butter to remaining sugar mixture and beat until pale and fluffy, 6 minutes, ramping up to medium-high speed (setting 6). Scrape down the bowl. Add eggs and yolk, one at a time, and beat on low speed (setting 2) until combined: 15 seconds per egg, 10 seconds for the yolk. Switch to lowest speed, and add the flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with buttermilk/lemon/vanilla mixture in 2 additions, beating just until each addition is incorporated, 10 seconds per addition. Scrape down the bowl. Mix on low speed (setting 2) for 15 seconds, and then increase to medium speed (setting 4) for 15 more seconds.
- Transfer batter to prepared pan and smooth top with a flexible spatula. Bake until the cake is set and a tester comes out clean, 40 minutes (see notes). The edges of the cake will brown slightly and pull away from the pan when done, but only slightly. Let cake cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes.
- Glaze the cake.
- As soon as the cake comes out of the oven and you’ve set a 10-minute cooling time, measure out the glaze ingredients. (Repurpose any remaining juice.) When the timer has two minutes left, beat all the ingredients together until smooth, quickly ramping up to medium-high speed (setting 6). Scrape down the bowl and continue to beat until the perfectly smooth. (If the timer hasn’t gone off, but your glaze is smooth, continue beating until the timer goes off.) The glaze should be just as thick as honey, and just as lethargically pourable. Adjust, if necessary. Pour the glaze evenly over the still-warm cake, using a flexible spatula to get all the glaze out of the bowl. Don’t pour directly over the edges, but let the glaze drip into the edges instead. If you do this carefully, you may get full coverage just from your pour. If not, use the spatula to gently spread the glaze out. Sprinkle immediately with reserved lemon sugar mixture. Let cool completely – at least 2 hours – before serving or covering for storage.
Notes
- I make this cake in a glass pan. Making it in a metal pan may reduce the baking time.
Social Learning
When is the cake done?
One of the keys to good baking is to do everying is a perfectly repeatable way. If you do this, once you’ve baked the same cake a couple of times, you’ll be able to rely on timing for knowing when the cake is done. Until then, however, you need to rely on testing. Butter cakes go from underbaked to overbaked in the span of about a minute. If the tester comes out clean the first time you test, there’s no way to know for sure if you’ve caught the cake in exactly right minute, or if you’ve overbaked it. Ideally, your first test should tell you that the cake is underbaked. That will help you know that your first clean test isn’t overbaked.
This cake helps you out, though, in that it starts to brown around the edges just before it’s done. So if you look in, and see that it’s not yet browned, don’t bother to test. I must add, though, that I bake this cake in a glass pan. In a different pan, browning may not occur in the same way. So … test, test, test, and don’t rely on timing until you’ve baked this cake a couple of times. (And you’re going to want to bake it couple of times, because it’s so good.)
The lemon-sugar topping
The sugar unfortunately looks like coconut on the finished cake, although an astute observer will see the difference. I say “unfortunately” only because in my book, a cake should look like what it is. It’d be a bummer for someone to think, “Oh, I don’t like coconut” and pass on this cake, or conversely, “Ooh, coconut” and then be disappointed. On the other hand, if they don’t have the wherewithal to look a bit more closely, that’s on them.
If you want the sugar to be perfectly even, you’ll need to sift it onto the cake, although I don’t mind the uneven look of hand-sprinkled sugar at all.
The Backstory
Perfection
This cake comes from a cookbook called The Perfect Cake. I’ve baked many of the cakes from this book, and this particular one comes closer to perfection than any I’ve baked thus far. I didn’t make any substantial adjustments to the recipe; a few minor things here and there to suit my humble skills and particular kitchen equipment. I’ve really been enjoying this book.
The cake is delightful. It has a texture that only buttermilk can impart: a kind of richness … a kind of denseness … a kind of melt-in-your-mouthiness. If you avoid overbaking it, these things will be balanced by just the right amount of moistness, and the result will be extremely satisfying. The crumb is not overly sweet, and its lemon flavor is somewhat muted. That makes the sweet-tart glaze and sugar coating perfect for it. When the glaze sets, it will have a thin, crackly outer layer, giving way to a soft interior.
If you get it all just right, this cake is raveable. If you get it slightly off, it’s still a great cake.
(The batter is so delicious that you’ll be tempted to eat it without bothering to bake the cake. If you give in, I say hell yeah.)
Storage
This cake will be just as delicious on day two if you keep it airtight, refrigerated. In fact, it will still be absolutely fantastic up to five days later. That makes it a great cake to take to a family reunion or whatnot, espeically if you have a fancy baking pan that has dedicated, tight-fitting lid. And if you do have a pan like this, never keep it stored in the oven, because if you do, I guarantee that one day one of your nephews will turn on the oven while it’s in there, and melt the lid.
Allow the cake (with the lid on, or individual servings covered in plastic wrap) come to room temperature before serving. It’s good cold, but it’s better at room temp.
Slices
I recommend that, unlike the photo below, you slice the cake in thirds along its length, and into sixths along its width, producing 18 pieces. An eighteenth of the cake is a small-looking serving, but it’s not too small. I think it’s perfect. You can always have seconds. If you’re doing this for a party, consider slicing the cake into quarters along its length, producing 24 pieces so small, they resemble large petit fours. These are too small for me to consider them to be servings, but they’re perfect if you’re thinking of them as cocktail party food.
Lemon Buttermilk Sheet Cake
Credit for images on this page: Make It Like a Man! unless otherwise credited. This content was not solicited by anyone, nor was it written in exchange for anything. Thank you, Kesor. References: “Lemon Buttermilk Sheet Cake” in The Perfect Cake, ed. America’s Test Kitchen, 114-115 – Boston, MA: Penguin Random House, 2018. This recipe is also published by Cook’s Country, which as you may know is related to ATK.
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The cake looks very airy and tender. The batter would be excellent to make muffins too.
Oh, I hadn’t thought of that, but yes!
Hi. Your cooking/baking talents kind of floor me. Are there any types of food preparation that you’re not confident and comfortable with?
Thank You! If You saw how much swearing and big messes my cooking involves, you might think differently. Maybe I should post those!
This sounds delicious. I’m going try half it because it is just for the two of us
I love that idea!
That looks so tender, moist, and beautiful, Jeff. I love anything, lemon and, in fact, it’s definitely my favorite dessert flavor. Next time I need to make dessert for a dinner party, this is what I will be making!
I’m telling you, this has become my go-to cake. Thanks!
This cake would definitely bring a smile to my face Jeff. I always glean so much from reading your recipes. Fancy sprinkling lemon sugar over the icing, brilliant and yet I’ve never done that. Looking like hand sprinkled sugar is half the charm of it, and great idea using cake flour which I try to do now too. I can’t wait to make this cake. Perfect in our still hot weather.
Thank you so much, Pauline! Those kind wards really made my day.
I’m not particularly fond of icing. I am disturbed by its consistency under the teeth and the extreme sweetness (my favorite sweets are the “not too sweet” ones) the only sweets in which I tolerate it are precisely those based on lemon in which I appreciate that the extreme sweetness of the glaze is immediately dampened by the sourness of the lemon. For this reason I really think I’ll try this cake because it looks deliciously melty and fragrant.
“if they don’t have the wherewithal to look a bit more closely, that’s on them.” how much wisdom in these words ;-).
Haha! I’m with you on this. I don’t like overly sweet frosting. And I also don’t like too much frosting. This glaze is sweet. It’s dusted with sugar, after all. But The layer of glaze is thin, and is very nicely balanced by the cake.
It sounds like you’re speaking from experience when talking about nephews melting the lid to your favorite cake pan. I’ve been there myself…although it was me being the culprit, and the victim was a mixing bowl with a rubber bottom that I left in the oven to dry. I still use that mixing bowl, by the way. It just has a wonky bottom. In fact, I think I shall pull out that mixing bowl soon to make this cake – “perfection” is an elusive term, but I trust your food prowess immensely…which means I need a slice of this cake in my life ASAP.
Ah! The old “left it in the oven” trick! I know that one well. A different set of nephews once left a bunch of plastic army men in the oven. That made for a fun preheat.
coucou jeff, il est bien appétissant ce superbe gâteau, bien aéré comme je les aime!
à bientôt!
Thank you, Josette!
Jeff, the texture of this cake looks so airy and light. My mom always said, if it’s not chocolate, it has to be lemon. I agree — lemon desserts are special. 🙂 ~Valentina
Thanks, Valentina! I agree.
Although many people associate citrus fruit with winter season (and so do I!), I think lemons are particularly good for spring baking. So fresh and light – just like this moist and crumbly cake!
I know what you mean. Where I live, citrus fruits are in season starting in late fall and early winter. What is it about lemmon that makes it seem like spring? Maybe the color?
Tiene un aspecto delicioso. Lástima que no lo pueda hacer pues aquí no se vende el suero de leche en ningún sitio. He probado a usar leche mezclada con limón porque alguien dice que es buen sustituto pero no encuentro que los pasteles resulten diferentes.
Un saludo.
Isabel
That’s very interesting. How disappointing that’d be for me, because I love baking with buttermilk. I do agree with you. i’ve heard much about that lemon juice workaround, but I’ve never found it to be satisfying. Now, I haven’t tried this with a cake, but I have with pancakes: I sometimes try to approximate the texture of buttermilk by mixing sour cream into 2% milk. It’s not exactly like buttermilk, but it does work. And I do love sour cream in a cake.
Un atortra sempliuce e deliziosa, mi piace molto glassata!
Thank you!
Troppo buona questa torta, la proverò sicuramente, immagino il buon profumo che farà! Grazie!
Thank you Paolina!
Jeff, this looks so, so good! I love cakes with citrus, and the lemon sugar, well that’s the bomb.
It sure is. Thanks, Velva!
I think that buttermilk adds something special to baking. This cake sounds absolutely delicious and I love when a cake continues to last for 5 days.
Me too! Thanks, Judee.
When I see the term “sheet” cake, I always think of a thinner cake such as in a 10×15 (jelly roll pan) or 11×16. Do you think this recipe would work in either of these pans and how long do you think it should bake?
Thank you!
I have no idea. But I’ll take a few wild guesses. I’d try filling a 13×9″ pan halfway with water, and then I’d pour that water into a jellyroll pan to see what it looks like. It’d have to allow at least some room for the cake to rise. If that looked good, I’d give it a try. Obviously, baking time will be diminished, but I still think that the cake would brown around the edges and test clean when ready. Still, I have no idea how well that’ll work.