Lemon Sheet Cake

This lemon sheet cake is a tangy, sweet, refreshing sheet cake, topped with an amazing lemon icing.

This lemon sheet cake is so delicious, and it’s one of my new favorite desserts for spring. It’s so fresh, with the perfect lemon flavor throughout.

The cake is delicious as is, but adding berries on top makes it extra tasty, and beautiful. I love the bright colors of the berries against the light yellow color of the cake.

This lemon cake makes about 20 to 24 slices of sheet cake, so it’s perfect for making for a group event. It would be a great dessert option for Easter dinner, a baby shower, or a summer barbecue or potluck.

To make this lemon sheet cake recipe I slightly altered my white texas sheet cake recipe – giving it just the right amount of lemon in every bite thanks to some fresh lemon juice and lemon zest. 

APRIL CITRUS RECIPE CHALLENGE

We are going to start something new for the month of April! We are going to do a monthly reader challenge. For the month of April, the theme is CITRUS! At the end of the month, I’ll randomly select one entry to be the winner and send them a $100 Amazon Gift Card! 

Here’s how to Enter our April monthly reader challenge:

1. Choose any citrus recipe from our website, and make it! It could be a recipe with oranges, limes, or lemons, like this lemon sheet cake. Some of my favorites are our orange sweet rolls, fresh orange julius, lemon loaf, key lime pie, or coconut lime sugar cookies. The easiest way to find a recipe to make is by using our search feature at the top of the page, just search orange, lemon, lime, etc. 
2. Send me a picture of the food you made! Take a quick photo on your phone and email it to me at aimee@lmld.org, or you can DM it to me on instagram at @lmldfood.
3. For Bonus Entries: You can get an extra entry by leaving a comment with a review on the recipe you made. Make sure to let me know in the comment that you made it for our April Citrus Challenge. 
4. You can also make more than one citrus based recipe and email me the photo, and you’ll get entered each time

Unlike what we’ve done for our Christmas Baking Challenge in the past this will be totally random, without any voting required. I like that way better so everyone has an equal chance of winning. We’ll just use a number generator to pick a random number and winner for us!

I would love it if you would share on social media using the hashtag #lmldfood or tagging us @lmldfood, but it’s not required.

The challenge is open to anyone over 18, and ends on April 30th, 2021 at 5pm EST. The winner will be randomly selected, and I will reach out via email to notify the winner on May 1st, 2021. 

Update May 1, 2021: Congratulations to Stephanie B who won our challenge by using this sheet cake in a lovely lemon trifle! We had 12 entries in the challenge, thank you to everyone who participated.

Now back to the important stuff, this lemon sheet cake.

Ingredients needed to make lemon sheet cake?

• all purpose flour
• granulated sugar
• baking soda
• salt
• unsalted butter
• water
• fresh lemon juice
• lemon zest
• eggs
• sour cream
• vanilla extract
• powdered sugar

How to make lemon sheet cake?

This Lemon Texas Sheet Cake starts with whisking together the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt om a large bowl, then set it aside till you need it. In a medium sauce pan, you’ll boil the water, lemon juice, and butter together in a medium sauce pan.  Then when the butter lemon mixture is boiling, you’ll pour the liquid into the flour mixture and stir it all together. Then stir in the eggs, sour cream, and vanilla extract. Don’t over stir it, stir just until it’s all combined.

Pour the batter into a jelly roll pan that was sprayed with nonstick spray. Bake the cake until the top is lightly golden and a toothpick can be inserted in the middle and comes out mostly clean (a few crumbs are okay). Let the cake cool for about 10 minutes while you prepare the icing.

For the icing you’ll start with boiling more lemon juice and butter together. Then pour the melted butter mixture over the powdered sugar and vanilla extract and stir it all together till you have a nice thin icing. Pour the icing over the warm cake and spread it evenly to the edges of the cake. Allow the cake to cool, and the frosting to set then slice and serve it up.

Tips for making a lemon sheet cake:

• If you don’t have a jelly roll pan (10x15inches) you can bake this cake in a half baking sheet pan (13x18inches) instead. The cake will be a bit thinner since the pan is larger, so the baking time should be a bit less. I’d check it after about 15 minutes, and bake the cake until a toothpick comes out clean. 
• The cake can also be baked in a 9×13 pan. This will make it more of a traditional cake shape and size, instead of a sheet cake, so it won’t serve as many people, and you may have some extra icing. The cake should bake for about 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean (or mostly clean – a few crumbs are okay)
• If you want a lime sheet cake instead of lemon, substitute lime juice and lime zest for the lemon, straight across. Lime zest is a little less inconspicuous than lemon, so you may see some specks of the lime in the cake.
• If you want to top your cake with lemon slices or berries, don’t top them until you are ready to serve the cake as they will start to juice and the icing will soften from where they are placed.

How to store lemon sheet cake?

This lemon sheet cake can be stored at room temperature, covered with a lid or plastic wrap, for about 3 days. 

The cake can also be made even more ahead of time as needed by wrapping the cake prior to icing it in plastic wrap, then in foil and freezing for up to 2 months. Let the cake come to room temperature overnight, and make the icing and top the cake with it about 1 hour before you’re ready to serve the cake.

This lemon sheet cake is so moist, fluffy, and delicious. It’s a thin lemon cake, topped with the best fresh lemon icing, giving it just the right ratio of cake to icing. The cake practically melts in your mouth, it’s so good. 

It’s perfect for serving up at a party, or a summer barbecue with family and friends. That is if you want to share, you might want to eat the whole thing yourself. 😉

Looking for more lemony recipes?

• Lemon Loaf
• Lemon Crinkle Cookies
• Lemon Cream Pie
• Lemon Meringue Pie
• Lemon Berry Bundt Cake

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