Fragrant, fresh, and just the right balance of sweet and savory. This rosemary lemon cake pairs together earthy rosemary and zesty lemon to create a flavor that’s both comforting and unexpectedly refined.
This is the kind of cake perfect for brunch, tea time, Mother’s Day, or as a thoughtful homemade gift for a loved one. In my case, I made this cake flavor as one of the tiers on my wedding cake. Yes, I baked my own wedding cake.
My husband loves lemon desserts. Think lemon meringue pie, lemon shortbread, lemon ricotta pancakes. I, however, prefer lemon in savory applications like rosemary lemon roasted chicken or grilled lemon herb pork chops.
Relationships are built on compromise. As such, I’m learning to appreciate lemon desserts! There was a time when I wouldn’t touch lemon curd, yet now, I’m liking it as a cake filling!
Ingredients
This layer cake has three components:
- Lemon Cake
- Lemon Curd
- Rosemary Buttercream
Lemon Cake
The cake uses the standard line up of ingredients: all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, butter, sugar, eggs, and milk and sour cream. Fresh squeezed lemon juice and finely grated lemon zest provide the bright kick of flavor.
This recipe makes three 6-inch lemon cake rounds. The cake is flavored with lemon juice and lemon zest, absolutely no lemon extract or any fake lemon stuff.
It has to be fresh squeezed juice! Fresh-squeezed lemon juice delivers a bright, clean acidity that bottled juice just can’t mimic. Bottled lemon juice or lemon juice concentrate often taste flat, thus dulling the flavor of the cake.
Lemon Curd
I used store-bought lemon curd from Trader Joe’s. It’s the good stuff imported from England! I also recommend these following store-bought options: Tiptree or Stonewall Kitchen.
Rosemary Buttercream
The frosting is an adaptation of American buttercream. It’s flavor comes from rosemary infused butter.
Add fresh rosemary springs to a cup of melted unsalted butter. Allow the mixture to steep for about an hour or so, until the butter cooled to room temperature. Then, strain out the rosemary and season the butter with quite a bit of salt.
Beat the infused butter with powdered sugar (aka confectioners’ sugar) until smooth and fluffy. That’s it!
How To Assemble
Have your mise en place ready! That means:
- the lemon cake layers should be cooled and leveled
- prepare the rosemary buttercream
- have lemon curd ready
- decorating bag (piping bag with small round tip)
- offset spatula for spreading
- Start with one lemon cake round. Spread a very thin layer of rosemary buttercream on top of the cake.
- Pipe a small border of rosemary buttercream along the perimeter of the cake round. This will serve as a barrier when you filled the cake with lemon curd.
- Carefully spread a layer of lemon curd within the buttercream boundaries.
- Repeat for the first two layers of the cake. The final (third) top layer will not have lemon curd.
- Frost the outside of the cake with the remaining rosemary buttercream.
If you decide to lightly coat the cake (like shown above), you will have plenty of leftover rosemary buttercream to use in other baking adventures. This buttercream pairs well with vanilla cupcakes or as a filling for linzer cookies.
Additional Cake Decor and Toppings
I decorated the finished lemon cake with fresh sprigs of rosemary (to resemble pine trees) and crumbled candied pecans (to mimic soil). And since it’s the holidays, I dusted some powdered sugar on top for a lovely “snow” effect.
The base of the rosemary lemon cake is adorned with lemon thyme. Although I didn’t use lemon thyme in the recipe, I thought it added a nice earthy feel to the cake.
Slice the cake to see all the beautiful and delicious layers hidden inside.
Make Ahead Options
Bake lemon cake ahead of time. Cool to room temperature before wrapping in plastic wrap.
Store in the freezer for up to two months. Simply allow cake to defrost at room temperature before use.
Serving Suggestions
Frost, assembled cake may be stored in the fridge for up to two days before serving. Ensure cake is in an airtight covered container to prevent unwanted flavors from the fridge to seep in.
Allow chilled cake to sit out for at least 30 minutes before serving. The cake layers and frosting need time to soften for best texture and flavor.
Once cake is sliced, store leftovers in a covered container or wrap in plastic wrap to keep it moist and fresh in the fridge. Keep chilled for up to three additional days.
Rosemary Lemon Cake with Lemon Curd Filling and Rosemary Buttercream
Ingredients
Lemon Cake:
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, (293 g)
- 1 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, (170 g) softened, room temperature
- 1 ¼ cup granulated sugar, (250 g)
- 3 large large eggs, room temperature
- ⅓ cup sour cream, (76 g) room temperature
- ⅔ cup whole milk, room temperature
- 5 Tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
- 1 Tablespoons finely grated lemon zest
- high-quality lemon curd, store-bought or homemade, as needed
Rosemary Buttercream:
- 1 cup unsalted butter, (226 g)
- 4 sprigs of fresh rosemary
- 3 ¼ cups powdered sugar, (370 g) sifted
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 Tablespoon heavy cream, or milk
Instructions
Lemon Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line three 6-inch cake round pans with parchment paper. Lightly grease and set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter. Add sugar and whip until smooth. Add eggs and continue to mix on medium speed until incorporated. Incorporate sour cream and mix. Scrape down bowl as needed to ensure thorough mixing.
- Add flour mixture in three additions, alternating with milk. Begin and finish with flour mixture. Add lemon juice and lemon zest and mix until well incorporated.
- Divide batter evenly among the three prepared cake pans. Level batter using a mini offset spatula, or the back of spoon. Bake for 35-40 minutes until a toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Let cake cool in pan for 5 minutes, then run a mini offset spatula around the cake and unmold. Let cake cool to room temperature on wire rack.
Rosemary Buttercream:
- In a heavy bottomed sauce pot, add butter and rosemary. Melt over medium high heat and bring to a boil. Allow to boil for 1 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Allow rosemary to steep for 60-90 minutes until butter is cool to the touch. Strain out rosemary and keep butter chilled in the fridge until ready to use.
- Let chilled rosemary infused butter soften at room temperature before use. Using a hand held mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter. Add confectioners’ sugar, salt, and cream. Mix until buttercream is smooth. If buttercream is too soft, add additional confectioners’ sugar 1 Tbsp at a time until desired consistency is achieved.
Assembly:
- Fit a decorating bag (piping bag) with a small round tip. Fill the bag with about 1/2 cup of buttercream. Set aside.
- If necessary, level cake layers. Place one cake round on a cake turntable. Spread a thin layer of buttercream on cake using a small offset spatula. Using the filled piping bag, pipe a small border of rosemary buttercream along the perimeter of the cake round. This will serve as a barrier when you filled the cake with lemon curd.
- Add enough lemon curd to fill the buttercream boundaries. Place second cake layer on top. Repeat filling cake layer with buttercream and lemon curd. Place the final third layer on top. This layer will not have lemon curd
- Spread buttercream around the cake to create a “crumb coat” layer to seal in any crumbs. Chill cake in the fridge for 15-20 minutes to set frosting. If desired, generously coat the chilled cake with additional buttercream. Chill cake if not serving immediately. Decorate cake with fresh rosemary sprigs and crushed candied pecans. Dust top of the cake with sifted powdered sugar. Let cake sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before serving to allow cake to soften.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this recipe? Rate & comment below!
Remember my obsession with plates? Here’s another one from my growing collection. These delicate, hand-painted plates were made in England. They belonged to my great-grandmother. She received it as a wedding gift in 1896 (meaning these plates are over 100 years old!) My mom brought them back from the Philippines a few years ago. I have treasured them ever since.
ok …I never bake and I never write reviews but I had to comment that this is no doubt thee best dessert I’ve ever had. It took me over 6 hours because, like I said, I don’t bake… but it was so worth it! Instead of a cake I made over 2 dozen cupcakes because I don’t have any cake trays, only one cupcake tray. I cut them in half so there were only 2 layers. They turned out great and perfect for sharing! Thank you so much! I’m definitely making again!!
oh and I made my own lemon curd too.. so that took up some of the 6 hrs.
I’m getting ready to make this for Christmas. When using the 6-inch baking pans — do you use ones that are 2 inches deep? Or 3 inches?
I use 2-inch deep 6-inch round cake pans.
I had some home made lemon curd left over from another recipe, so I searched for recipes using lemon curd, and came across this one. I’m so glad I did! I made it yesterday, and Oh My Goodness! It is the most delicious cake I’ve ever had!
I baked in 2 9″ pans, and next time I will split the layers so there will be more lemon curd. I’ve never done the naked cake look before, but had to with this cake because I couldn’t stay out of the amazing rosemary buttercream! Thank you for posting this recipe.
I’m wondering how I can tweak this recipe to work w 9” cake rounds. I looked for 6” at the store and they didn’t have any. I’m also hoping to serve this at a larger gathering so a bigger cake is probably better. I had this cake once about 2-3 yes ago and I have thought about it every since. I can’t wait to make it for myself.
Thanks!
Hello!
Do you think if I adapted this to use vegan ingredients it would work? I’ve been asked to make a vegan cake for a friends birthday x
Hi Alicia! Unfortunately, I am not well versed in vegan baking. I have only tested this recipe as written.
Made it for a training luncheon and everyone loved it…. They really enjoyed it’s unique fresh flavor. I also made one for my Son-In-Laws Birthday. I really didn’t know if my husband would like it and he acted hesitant and ended up having 2 pieces…. Success !!!!
Thank you for trying out the recipe! I’m so happy to hear everyone enjoyed it!
Hello!
This looks so yummy! What part of this cake requires it to be refrigerated? Is it the curd? Sorry for the silly question, but I am fairly new to baking something like this. I love trying new things and this looks absolutely wonderful!
Yes, because of the lemon curd, I suggest keeping any leftover cake chilled in the fridge.
During the assembly portion, the frosted cake is chilled to allow the buttercream to harden and bring structure to the cake.
I have been looking for a lemon cake with lemon curd, this recipe seems to be what I’m looking for! I want to try and make it. Do you have measurements in grams? Also, can all purpose flour be replaced with cake flour ?
Unfortunately, I do not have the gram measurements for this recipe. No, APF cannot be replaced with cake flour in this recipe. APF will result in a denser cake.
I’m confused by OPs response–the recipe calls for APF. I’m assuming it was just a typo, but Maryanne, could you clarify? You said APF will result in a denser cake. Is that intended? Aaah!
Hi, I’m sorry for the confusion. Yes, the recipe works best with APF. By dense, I meant the cake is strong enough to be stacked with the lemon curd filling.
I made this for my birthday and it was such a hit at the party! Everyone loved the rosemary butter cream and the lemon curd in between the layers! Can’t wait to try more of your recipes :)
Happy belated birthday! I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for trying out the recipe!
When I saw this cake I knew I wanted it for my wedding. So I made it and made it bigger! The best part about this is that I will always be able to recreate my wedding cake in the future. :)
This cake was a huge success at my wedding and I am so glad you created this recipe. I am making cupcake versions of it for Christmas. I cannot get enough of it.
That’s wonderful to hear! I’m so glad you like the recipe and I’m honored you chose this cake for your wedding! (I also made my wedding cake and this rosemary lemon cake was one of the layers.)