Hi,

I want to make a scratch lemon cake with a raspberry chambord smbc this week for Valentine's day.  I always refrigerate my cakes so I need a recipe that stands up to refrigeration and I have found that butter and refrigeration do not mix.  Every time I make a cake that calls for butter, I end up with a beautiful cake out of the oven, but then the texture changes when it is refrigerated and it is never quite the same afterwards.

My chocolate, vanilla, and red velvet all have oil instead of butter and are moist and perfect out of the fridge.

I did find a lemon cake recipe that looks amazing, but calls for butter - can I substitute oil for butter 1:1?

When I do lemon cake I just add lemon zest to my vanilla cake.  Take a bit of the sugar and smush it together with some zest (to release the oils).

Great!  How much zest should I add?

If you are happy with your vanilla cake, use that recipe but substitute natural lemon extract for half the vanilla and add the zest of one large lemon. Use a rasp grater so the zest is very fine and mix it in towards the beginning.

You can also bump up the lemony-ness by making a simple syrup with lemon juice and sugar in equal parts, and some lemon rind. Let that simmer on your stove until all the sugar is dissolved, strain the rind and use it to brush on your cake layers. It really amps up the flavor.

I add two to three tablespoons of lemon extract, and the zest of one lemon.

Thank you!  I will test it out today.

OT: AnnieCahill - is that a Boston terrier in your avatar photo?  So adorable!  :)

Yes!  That is my Boston Geoffrey.  We also have his sister, Bridget.  They are a riot!

Good luck with your cake!

There is an amazing cake by the Cake Mix Doctor that uses vanilla cake, lemon pudding, lemon juice and zest, and lemon yogurt. It's delcious and moist. No one can ever tell it's not from scratch (most of my cakes are).

Hi Tsal

I'm a,so looking for a lemon cake recipe with no butter for the same reasons as yours...would you mind sharing the recipe you used?

thank you!!