If you have been searching for the best lemon cake, look no further! This recipe uses fresh lemon juice and zest, no food dye and it’s incredibly flavorful. I adapted this recipe from one of the most popular on my blog, my Texas Sheet Cake. This is an old school way of making cakes (melting the butter instead of creaming) and creates the most moist and vibrant cake, it’s going to be hard to have just one slice 🙂
The original recipe is my Grandma Lily’s and it is a true staple in my house. Traditionally, Texas Sheet cake is made in a large jelly roll pan but I’ve updated it to be made in a 9×13 (I love this one because it comes with a lid) I like the thicker portions of cake, but if you’re needing to bake for a crowd or prefer the thinner slices, you can make this in a larger jelly roll and cut the bake time down to 20 minutes. It’s not the prettiest dessert but once people try it they’re going to be asking for the recipe, I swear!
This Lemon Texas Sheet Cake is a no thrills, simply delicious lemon cake. It’s buttery, it’s light, and perfect for any get together. If you’re interested in find other cake recipes, click here!
Lemon Texas Sheet Cake
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 cup butter I use salted butter but you can use unsalted if you prefer
- 1 cup water
- 4 tbsp lemon juice
- ½ cup buttermilk
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tbsp distilled white vinegar
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 3 tsp lemon zest
For the icing:
- ½ cup butter I use salted butter but you can use unsalted if you prefer
- ¼ cup milk
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla bean paste you can also use vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp salt
Instructions
For the cake:
- Preheat oven to 375°. Grease and flour a 9×13 inch pan. In a large bowl combine the flour, sugar and salt.
- In a medium sauce pan, melt the butter. Add in the water and lemon juice and bring to a light boil, stirring frequently. Once boiling, pour over flour mixture, whisking well until combined.
- Add buttermilk, eggs, baking soda, vanilla distilled vinegar and lemon zest. Mix well.
- Bake about 28-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. When the cake is done, pull from the oven and let cool completely.
For the icing:
- Once the cake has cooled, make the frosting. In a medium saucepan combine the butter and milk and bring to a gentle boil over medium heat, stirring constantly.
- Remove from heat. Beat in enough powdered sugar to make a spreading consistency. Whisk in the salt and vanilla and stir until smooth and creamy, not runny. Add more powdered sugar if needed.
- Pour the frosting over the cake and spread evenly on the top. I like to do this in the pan because the frosting is sort of runny but will set as it cools. Slice & enjoy!
How much water not on ingredient’s
It says 1 cup in the ingredients
For the cake Step 2 says add in water & lemon juice butt there is no mention of water in the Ingredients.