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This Lemon Poppy Seed Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting is soft, moist & deliciously buttery with a fresh lemon flavor. Dotted with poppy seeds & topped with cream cheese frosting – it’s the perfect dessert for lemon lovers!
Table of Contents
- From Poppy Seed Muffins to Cake!
- What Do You Need to Make Lemon Poppy Seed Cake?
- How to Make Poppy Seed Lemon Cake
- Tips for Making the Best Poppy Seed Lemon Cake
- How to Know If Poppy Seeds are Still Good?
- Does a Glass Dish Require More Cooking Time Than Metal?
- Can This Cake Be Made in a Bundt Pan?
- Can You Freeze Poppy Seed Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting?
- More CAKE RECIPES You Have to Try:
- Watch How This Cake is Made…
- Lemon Poppy Seed Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe
- Lemon Loaf
- Lemon Jello Cake
From Poppy Seed Muffins to Cake!
It’s a soft, buttery, perfectly moist lemon cake that’s dotted with poppy seeds and topped with cream cheese frosting. It’s one of my favorite cakes, and it’s the perfect dessert if you love lemon poppy seed muffins.
The inspiration for this cake came after a friend gifted us with a poppy seed roll. It was a yeast bread with a swirl of poppy seed filling, and absolutely delicious. As I was having a slice with a thick slather of butter, it got me thinking about poppy seed recipes and I realized I hadn’t made any in a very long time.
So – this lemon poppy seed cake was born.
What Do You Need to Make Lemon Poppy Seed Cake?
The ingredients for this cake recipe are simple and pantry friendly. Here are the items you will need:
Lemon Poppy Seed Cake
- Wet Ingredients: Granulated Sugar, Lemon Zest, Unsalted Butter, Eggs, Vanilla Extract, Sour Cream, Buttermilk and Lemon Juice
- Dry Ingredients: All Purpose Flour, Cornstarch, Baking Powder, Baking Soda, Salt and Poppy Seeds
Cream Cheese Frosting
- Cream Cheese
- Unsalted Butter
- Powdered Sugar
- Lemon Juice
The measurements of each ingredients can be found in the recipe card at the end of this post. Keep scrolling for all the details.
How to Make Poppy Seed Lemon Cake
Poppy Seed Lemon Cake
- Prep: Preheat oven and grease a 9×13 baking pan.
- Activate: Place the sugar and lemon zest in a small bowl and rub with your fingers to activate the oils in the lemon zest.
- Beat: Add the butter and sugar (with lemon zest) to the large bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment and beat together until fluffy scraping down the sides as needed.
- Mix: Add in the eggs one at a time and then the vanilla and mix until combined.
- Sift: Place all the dry ingredients in a large bowl and sift (or whisk) to combine.
- Combine: Slowly add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix until almost combined.
- Add: Add the remaining wet ingredients and stir until just combined.
- Fold: Sprinkle the poppy seeds over the batter and fold them into the batter using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon.
- Bake: Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish and bake as directed or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.
- Cool: Let the cake cool completely before frosting it.
Cream Cheese Frosting
After the cake is done baking and cooled, it’s time to make the cream cheese frosting. Simple, creamy, a little tangy, and the perfect pairing for this lemon cake.
- Beat: Add the butter and cream cheese to a bowl and beat until combined.
- Add: Slowly mix in the powdered sugar and finally the vanilla (optional) and lemon juice.
- Frost: Gently spread the frosting over the cooled cake and then cut and serve.
Keep scrolling to the end of the post to the recipe card for the complete instructions. The recipe can be saved or printed from there as well.
Tips for Making the Best Poppy Seed Lemon Cake
- Be sure to use real butter and no butter substitutes. It adds more flavor.
- You might think that since this is a cake, you should use cake flour in place of the all purpose flour but I wouldn’t recommend it. For this recipe, all purpose flour works better.
- To keep the cake nice and moist, we use sour cream because it makes the cake crumb oh so soft and perfectly moist. Just make sure it’s room temperature for easy mixing.
- For the best lemon flavor, we use a combination of freshly squeezed lemon juice and lemon zest. Make sure that you don’t use lemon juice from the bottle or lemon extract, otherwise the flavor will be too sour.
- Be careful not to over mix your cake batter or else your homemade lemon cake can end up dense. Having all the ingredients at room temperature before getting started helps with this.
- Likewise, using room temperature cream cheese and butter will ensure a smooth and creamy texture in the frosting. We don’t want a lumpy frosting!
- Place the baked cake in the fridge or freezer so that it is more firm for easier frosting.
How to Know If Poppy Seeds are Still Good?
The best way to tell if your poppy seeds have gone bad is by smell and appearance. They will smell sour and rancid. Poppy seeds should also not clump together at all. If they are sticking together, then they are probably moist which means they are no longer good.
Does a Glass Dish Require More Cooking Time Than Metal?
A reader recently asked if her cake pan that is a glass dish requires more cooking time than a metal dish does and as it’s such a good question I wanted to mention it here.
Glass heats up slower but holds on to heat longer, so you may require a little more baking time. To help us not over bake this cake we like to open the oven at the end and let the glass dish cake rest for up to 4 minutes more before removing it from the oven to cool.
Can This Cake Be Made in a Bundt Pan?
Yes, this makes a beautiful bundt cake! The batter will fit in a standard 10 or 12 cup bundt pan. Be sure to grease the bundt cake extremely well. You’ll need to increase the baking time. Set the time for 60 minutes but start checking it at 45 minutes.
I like to keep the cream cheese frosting recipe the same but just thin it out a little with milk or heavy cream so that I can drizzle it over the top of the bundt cake.
Can You Freeze Poppy Seed Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting?
You can freeze Lemon Poppy Seed Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting. In fact, cream cheese frosting is ideal for freezing. It is sturdy, with plenty of fat, and it will do better in the freezer than a more delicate meringue-based icing. Just wrap the cake well and freeze. Thaw before serving.
OR You can freeze the cake before it is frosted. Wrap your cooled cake in plastic wrap. Then wrap in tin foil or place in a plastic freezer bag and remove the air. Thaw the cake completely and then frost.
I brought this lemon poppy seed cake with cream cheese frosting over to a family dinner, and there wasn’t even a tiny sliver left over. It’s buttery, moist, filled with fresh lemon flavor, and the cream cheese frosting is everything that you’d want it to be. Seriously – if you love lemon desserts, you need to try this cake!
More CAKE RECIPES You Have to Try:
- Apple Cake with Caramel Frosting
- Better Than Anything Cake
- Chocolate Sheet Cake
- Cinnabon Cinnamon Roll Sheet Cake
- Carrot Cake
- Banana Cake
- Strawberries and Cream Jello Cake
- Banana Bundt Cake (From Cake Mix!)
- Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll Sheet Cake
- Gingerbread Cake
- Double Chocolate Zucchini Cake
- Lemon Jello Cake
- All our Cake Recipes here!
Watch How This Cake is Made…
Lemon Poppy Seed Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
Lemon Poppy Seed Cake
- 2 Cups Granulated Sugar
- 3 Tablespoons Lemon Zest, freshly grated
- 1 Cup Butter, unsalted, softened
- 4 Large Eggs, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 2 3/4 Cups All Purpose Flour
- 1/3 Cup Cornstarch
- 2 1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1/2 teaspoon Salt
- 1/2 Cup Buttermilk
- 1/2 Cup Sour Cream, room temperature
- 1/2 Cup Lemon Juice, freshly squeezed
- 2-4 Tablespoons Poppy Seeds, I used 3 tablespoons
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1/4 Cup Butter, unsalted, softened
- 8 Ounces Cream Cheese, softened
- 3 Cups Powdered Sugar
- 2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice, freshly squeezed
- 1/2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
Instructions
For the Lemon Poppy Seed Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 F degrees.
- Grease and flour a 9×13 inch baking pan.
- Place the sugar and lemon zest in a bowl and mix with your fingers to completely saturate the sugar in the oils of the lemon zest.2 Cups Granulated Sugar, 3 Tablespoons Lemon Zest
- In a large bowl of a stand mixer or with a hand mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat for another minute.1 Cup Butter
- Add in the eggs, one at a time, and then the vanilla.4 Large Eggs, 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- In a large bowl sift together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.2 3/4 Cups All Purpose Flour, 1/3 Cup Cornstarch, 2 1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder, 1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda, 1/2 teaspoon Salt
- Using the electric mixer on low speed, slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix to just combine. Add in the buttermilk, sour cream, and lemon juice mix until all of the ingredients are combined.1/2 Cup Buttermilk, 1/2 Cup Sour Cream, 1/2 Cup Lemon Juice
- Fold in the poppy seeds using a large rubber spatula or wooden spoon.2-4 Tablespoons Poppy Seeds
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 30 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean
- Set aside to cool completely.
For the Cream Cheese Frosting
- Once the cake is cooled, make the frosting.
- In a large bowl, beat together the butter and cream cheese until evenly combined.1/4 Cup Butter, 8 Ounces Cream Cheese
- Then slowly beat in the powdered sugar followed by the vanilla & lemon juice.3 Cups Powdered Sugar, 2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice, 1/2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
- Frost the cooled cake using a flat edge knife & serve
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Lemon Loaf
Super soft & moist lemon loaf with lemon glaze is bursting with fresh lemon flavor. Seriously better than the Starbucks version.
Lemon Jello Cake
This Lemon Jello Cake is perfect for anytime of year. The fresh tastes of summer or to brighten the winter holiday meals.
Hi,
I used a glass pan and, while the toothpick came out clean after 30 minutes, the center of the cake fell after I took it out of the oven. I’m a novice baker – what did I do wrong? Does the glass dish require more cooking time than metal?
Thanks so much!
Hi Liz,
The drop in temperature is most likely the issue. We like to open our oven and bring the temperature down a little, then remove it a minute or two later. A glass pan takes a little longer to heat up and then holds on to the heat so it can occasionally need a few extra minutes. This is why we let it sit in an open oven as the temp won’t be as high and won’t drop too quickly but will still help it be baked well.
Hi, can I use a 9×13 glass baking dish rather than a metal one?
Yup! The baking time might be a little different, so I’d just watch carefully 🙂
I used a Pyrex pan and it took an extra 20 minutes to test done.
I made this yesterday to bring to work and it was devoured right away. My frosting was kind of heavy and limp and I think it’s because I used fat-free cream cheese (I know I’m an animal, it’s what I had on hand), which never seems to whip up nicely. This is a keeper!
I will be posting pics to my Instagram later and will be sure to tag you. Thanks for sharing!
haha, I love when people say “I know I’m an animal” when referring to making subs. We always have the lower fat cream cheese on hand and we go for it anyway as well. Can’t wait to see it!
I made this last night for my roommate whose birthday was back in August as a belated birthday cake. First of all I did use 3 tablespoons of poppy seeds. My bake time was off as each oven is different. I baked mine an additional 6 minutes and it was perfect! He loved the lemony taste with the fresh lemons opposed to bottled lemon juice. However I did cheat with the frosting and used lemon from the bottle. The frosting was super easy to make and oh tasty! Thanks for the great recipe! I know I’ll be making it again.
So happy to hear that and thanks for taking the time to comment on your bake time, I’m sure that will help others. xoxo!
Are the ingredient contents enough to use 2 round cake pans instead of the 9×13?
Hi Linda! Yes, it will make two 8″ or 9″ rounds.
Baked it last night… Will serve it at a baby shower today…
Hope you enjoy it!
Hello! So i made this 2 nights ago and it is delicious! My husband especually loves it. We’re big fans of anything Lemon poppyseed 🙂
I put it in the fridge with an airtight seal and now it’s become incredibly dense. Still tastes amazing but its like cutting through fudge or something. Did I do something wrong or is this normal?
Thank you!!!
Hi Robbie,
There’s no need to refrigerate so it probably just condensed down in the cold. 🙂
Oh okay. On the very bottom of your recipe it says to refrigerate 😊
Thank you!
Would I use half the ingredients for a 9” round or square pan??
Thanks so much!
Yes, that should work. The baking time will be reduced a little too.
This was amazing! The combination of lemon and cream cheese icing was awesome!
So happy to hear you liked it!
I’m guessing that’s a 1/4 cup of butter for the frosting?
Yes – thanks for the catch! 🙂
The recipe sounds delicious and I’d love to try it. What is the purpose of the corn starch in the cake batter though I have never seen that in a cake recipe before.
All purpose flour and cornstarch are a substitute for cake flour. So it makes the cake lighter and gives the cake a more delicate crumb 🙂
Can just cake flour be used? 2 and 1/3 cups? Thank you.
Yup! That would be fine 🙂
I made this cake yesterday. I smells so good but I can taste the cornstarch too much 🥲
I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy the flavor. Thank you for the feedback!
This looks like one of those recipes that looks/feels a bit dainty, but has a powerhouse of flavor. I am gonna try this!
Perfectly said!