Delicious Moist Lemon Sour Cream Cake

Moist Lemon sour cream cake is the latest addition to our growing number of dessert recipes made with lemons. It’s a butter cake made with sour cream which creates a moist, rich cake. Brushed with a sweet lemon syrup and topped off with a layer of lemon glaze it’s the perfect afternoon tea cake. There’s just something about lemons isn’t there?

This cake is moist, yet dense with a lovely lemon flavour and we love to serve it with fresh blueberries with their tangy sweet flavour that marries beautifully with the lemon in the cake.

Pouring the hot lemon syrup onto the cake makes it even more lemony and moist, then topped off with a sugar and lemon glaze it’s a perfect marriage in our opinion. 

easy to make

This cake is super easy to make.  First off you beat the sugar and butter together until the butter is well incorporated with the sugar. Next comes the eggs added one at a time and beaten in between each addition. Now add the lemon zest and fold it through. Add the flour and sour cream alternating in three stages and beating lightly in between each addition. 

Now the batter is ready to spoon into the cake tin and bake away. The cake needs to cool down for just 10 minutes before you release it from the tin. Next pour some sugar and lemon syrup over the cake whilst it’s hot and allow it to cool down completely. Now make up the glaze and drizzle over the cake. Job done!

sour cream

Cakes made with sour cream have wonderful moisture and flavour. The acid in the sour cream produces a very fine crumb because it tenderises the gluten in the flour. Sour cream also adds richness that makes the cake super moist, and tender.. 

creaming the butter and sugar

Creaming butter and sugar is all about aerating and creating little pockets of air with every beat. Air makes the cake fluffy, and fluffy is good. At first the mixture will look like wet sand, then as you keep beating the mixture lightens and after each minute of beating the mixture softens and hence the saying ‘ light and fluffy’.

Start with your chopped butter at room temperature and add it to your mixing bowl. Now add the sugar and start to mix. Beat for 4-5 minutes until the mixture turns pale in colour and is light and fluffy. 

The cake gets its rise from the air bubbles expanding in the oven as well as the steam generated from the moisture evaporating as the cake cooks. 

add the eggs slowly

The eggs need to be added one by one and beaten in between each addition with your mixer on medium speed.  The reason for this is to allow the fat in the butter to incorporate into the egg allowing the mixture to emulsify. 

don’t over-mix

Over mixing a cake batter produces too much air, that trapped air expands and then deflates in the oven. You need to only mix the wet and dry ingredients until just combined. Once the flour is added you want to gently fold the flour and sour cream together. As soon as it’s incorporated stop mixing as the more the batter is worked the more gluten structure will occur. Gluten might be great for cookies, but not for cakes.

freezing 

You can freeze this lemon sour cream cake without the glaze by wrapping it in some plastic wrap and then wrapping in foil. The cake will last for 3 months, but is probably at its best after one month which is perfect for the holiday season.

Watch How To Make Moist Lemon Sour Cream Cake 

Scroll down for the Moist Lemon Sour Cream Cake recipe

check out some more winning lemon dessert recipes

click on the link for the recipe…..Easy Crustless Lemon Tart

click on the link for the recipe…..Easy Italian Lemon Mascarpone Tart

click on the link for the recipe…..Edna’s Lemon Curd Cake

click on the link for the recipe…..Upside Down Lemon Delicious

We would love to hear from you in the comments below when you make this Delicious Moist Lemon Sour Cream Cake recipe.

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Yield: 10-12 serves

Moist Lemon Sour Cream Cake

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 55 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes

Lemon sour cream cake is moist, yet dense with a delicious lemon tang. It keeps well for days and freezes beautifully.

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Ingredients

• 240g (8 1/2 ounces) room temperature softened butter chopped into small cubes - plus a little extra to butter the pan
• 2 1/2 cups caster sugar
• 6 large eggs at room temperature - for a quick way to warm up the eggs, place them in a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest ( and some extra zest for sprinkling over the glaze)
• 330g (2 1/2 cups) plain (all purpose) flour, sifted
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon bicarb soda (baking soda)
• 1 cup full fat sour cream, at room temperature

Syrup

• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup caster sugar
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Glaze

• 1 cup icing (powdered) sugar
• 2 tablespoons milk or cream (depending on how thick you like your gaze)
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• zest of 1 medium lemon

Instructions

• preheat oven to 175c (350f) on bake, not fan
• butter a 25cm (10 inch) bundt pan - make sure you butter every tiny bit of the tin as bundt pans are notorious for sticking as happened to us
• cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy (5 minutes) with a mixer - see notes on creaming butter and sugar above
• sift flour, salt, bicarb soda (baking soda) together and set aside
• add eggs one at a time to the butter and sugar, mix each egg until well incorporated (scrape the sides of the bowl)
• add zest and stir
• remove the mixer and use a spatula to add the flour and sour cream alternately (add 1/3 flour and 1/3 of sour cream at a time gently folding in between each addition being careful not to over mix or your cake will be tough)
• spoon mixture into the bundt tin and tap the tin 2 or 3 times on the bench to remove any air bubbles
• bake on middle shelf for 55-60 minutes, or until a skewer comes away clean
• remove from oven and slide a knife down around the middle of the tin to release any stuck cake and allow to cool for 10 minutes
• carefully release the cake from the tin and place on a sheet pan with a cooling rack
• make the syrup
• brush the hot syrup over the still hot cake and allow to cool completely before adding the glaze
• spoon glaze over the cake and let the glaze drizzle down the sides
• garnish with some lemon zest
• serve and enjoy!

syrup

• heat water and sugar till sugar has dissolved
• remove from heat and add lemon juice

glaze

• sieve icing (powdered) sugar in a bowl
• whisk in the cream until smooth and no lumps appear
• add lemon juice and mix

Nutrition Information

Yield

12

Serving Size

1
Amount Per Serving Calories 287Total Fat 9gSaturated Fat 5gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 4gCholesterol 128mgSodium 243mgCarbohydrates 48gFiber 0gSugar 47gProtein 4g

Nutritional information provided here is only intended as a guide.