I am looking for a nice scratch lemon cake recipe to use for a big event in June (4 layer hex cake for 200 +) but also just to have. I have made many cakes, and love to spend the day with multiple recipes to compare (and my scale can prove it).  I have a favorite just about everything, but lemon has proven to be a challenge.  I have found several very tasty recipes and my favorite so far is Toba Garrett's lemon coconut without the coconut.  The problem is, my lemon cakes come out of the oven full of holes.  I do not have this problem with any other type of cake.  All my ingredients are absolutely positively at room temp.  I don't believe I overmix or undermix, I use heat cores, bake even strips, 325 degree convection oven that is accurate.  I drop the pans on the table to work out the air bubbles.    Looks great on the outside, but torte the cake and full of holes.  Any ideas?  is it the acid in the lemon juice?  Is this the norm?  I don't usually ask for recipes because I enjoy the trial and error process,  but if anyone has a lemon recipe they really like and are kind enough to share, It would be lovely. Thanks!

Hi, a lot of decorators on cc use Ina Gartens lemon recipe. I have it, but haven,t made it yet. I know i wouldn,t be dissappointed. Also, if using a box cake mix inhancer , Macsmom (c/cer) has great recipes for that and also Cakepro has doctored up lemon cake and a chocolate cake on this site and Kakeladi also hth

I add a package of instant lemon pudding mix to my vanilla cake mix. Then I use a lemon curd filling or a lemon glaze to really put it over the top. (Which I use depends on whether they want a filling or not.)

Lemon juice doesn't give good results when baked into the cake...apparently it just evaporates or something whilst also increasing the acidity......or something....(i'm not totally sure on the physics/chemistry of it!)

I always add the zest (rind) into the batter. and that seems to increase the lemon flavour...or sometimes some lemon extract/essence.  The freshly squeezed lemon juice I save to add to the icing/buttercream. Hope this helps a little.  Good luck

ooh! i have some of that crystallized powder too. Please let us know how it works!

AI tried 6 different lemon cake recipes this weekend. I tried using the tru lemon crystals instead of lemon juice, but still got big air pockets in the cake. I'm wondering if it is the acidity reacting with the baking soda. The winner was a hybrid of several others and is made with lemon curd and lemon zest.

I use lemon zest and lemon extract in my vanilla cake and spritz it with lemon flavored simple syrup. I flavor my buttercream with some lemon curd. No holes :)

AI was afraid to use lemon extract, it made my frosting bitter. Does it work well in cakes? The next time I happen to make a lemon cake I was going to cautiously add a little lemon oil, but might try extract as well. Thanks

AJust take your favorite white/yellow cake, invest in some fresh lemons, a microplane, and some lemon oil.

The oil will give you a truer lemon flavor than any extract or lemon juice will (one of the above posters was correct in saying that most of it evaporated, and just leaves your cake tasting like cleaning solution).

Then zest a few lemons in to the batter as well. The zest, again, contains all the essential oils of the lemon, so you are going to get quite a bit of lemony flavor for your buck.

Doing it this way won't mess with the chemistry of the cake =D

Thanks!