This stunningly beautiful layered white cake with lemon filling, topped with tangy lemon cream cheese frosting, is a show stopper. A special occasion dessert that is classic and rich!

At a glance

What stands out: While the cake is made from a mix, the from-scratch filling and frosting take it up a couple of notches.

How long it takes: a few hours
Equipment you’ll need: layer cake pans, mixing bowl, mixer
Servings: 8 to 10

This cake has its origin in desperation. We had company coming over for coffee and dessert, and we didn’t have time to get to the grocery store. Usually our go-to is a fruit crisp made with whatever fruit happens to be in season, like apple crisp or strawberry rhubarb crisp.

But after scrounging in our pantry, we came up with a white cake mix, a couple of lemons and a block of cream cheese.

We know, it looks like a pretty ambitious dessert for spur of the moment! But your secret to simplicity is the cake mix. Using a cake mix is straightforward and helps you get a head start on this recipe.

The finished product is this beautiful layer cake mounded with lemon zest flecked creamy frosting and a tangy secret hidden inside, luscious lemony filling. White cake with lemon filling covers all the bases: it’s gorgeous to look at, and tastes heavenly.

We're pretty sure we could live on this cake. Luckily we had a lot of company so we wasn’t tempted to actually try out that hypothesis. The tangy lemon filling is a reliable contrast to the sweet frosting. So tasty. However, we must confess that you could probably put cream cheese frosting on cardboard and we would still devour it.

About This Recipe

This isn’t a last minute dessert, we're just warning you. It will take some time to put together but it isn’t difficult to do.

Zest the lemons before cutting in half and squeezing out juice. If you’ve ever tried doing it the other way around, you’ll know why we're telling you this.
Take the cream cheese and butter for the frosting out of the refrigerator before you get started with the cake so they will be nice and soft when you are ready to make the frosting.
Make the lemon filling before you make the cake (or even while it is baking) so the filling has plenty of time to chill. Chilling time is necessary for the filling to thicken properly and you don’t want to spread hot filling on the cake.
Always make sure the cake is completely cool before frosting it. Don’t hurry and frost a warm cake. It’s disastrous, not that we have any experience with that or anything.

How it comes together

Let’s begin with the lemon cake filling. Flavored with lemon juice and zest, the filling is nice and tangy, a reliable counterpoint to the sweet cake. It’s basically a cornstarch thickened pudding and is cooked on the stove. It takes about 15 minutes to prepare and should be chilled in the fridge.

Next, get started on the cake. A basic white cake mix works great and is straightforward to prepare. No special instructions, just follow the directions on the box.

Once the cake has baked and is cooling, prepare the lemon cream cheese frosting. Hopefully your cream cheese and butter is nice and soft by now. The lemon zest and lemon juice combined with the tangy cream cheese makes this frosting so flavorful! It’s absolutely one of our favorite frostings. We could eat it by the spoonful.

Assemble the cake. Put the first layer on your cake platter. Slather the filling all over the top of the first layer, leaving a small border around the edge so that the filling doesn’t squish out. Carefully place the next layer on top and frost the cake.

Voila! You’re finished! Get ready for the oohs and aahs when you present this white layer cake with lemon filling and lemon cream cheese frosting! And then a moment of silence as everyone digs in and enjoys this wondrous dessert!

Before you start

Make It Your Own

Omit the filling. Make a double batch of frosting. Spread a layer of frosting between the two layers of cake.
Substitute canned frosting for the from-scratch cream cheese frosting.
Substitute a lemon cake mix for the white cake mix for a triple lemon cake.

Keeping leftovers

The cake should be stored in the refrigerator if at all possible unless you are going to serve it that day. Put it into a layer cake holder or cover completely with plastic wrap. We actually have a large Tupperware container that will fit over a layer cake so look in your cabinets and be creative.

Yield: 10 servings
Prep: 45 minutes
Cook: 30 minutes
Total: 3 hours 15 minutes

Ingredients

Cake:

1 box (16.25 oz.) white cake mix (choose your favorite brand)

Lemon Filling:

½ cup sugar
¼ cup cornstarch
¼ teaspoon salt
2 egg yolks
¾ cup water
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
⅓ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest (you'll need more for the frosting)

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting:

1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
¼ cup butter, softened
2 to 3 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
4 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon lemon zest

Method

Prepare white cake as directed on box in two round 8 or 9 inch pans. Cool completely on wire rack.
Have all your ingredients ready before you begin. Mix sugar, cornstarch and salt in small saucepan. Add egg yolks and mix until egg is completely mixed with dry ingredients. Whisk in water until mixture is smooth.
Cook over medium low heat until just boiling. Mixture will be quite thick. Immediately remove from heat and stir in butter. Gradually whisk in lemon juice until smooth. Stir in zest.
Pour into bowl and cover surface with plastic wrap. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.
In a large bowl, with electric mixer, beat cream cheese and butter until fluffy.
Add powdered sugar and lemon juice; beat until light and fluffy. Fold in lemon zest.
Slice off very top of each layer of cake to create a flat surface (not mandatory, but helpful)
Place bottom layer on cake stand or flat plate. Tuck pieces of wax paper under cake which you can remove after frosting and have a neat cake stand when finished (again, not necessary, but helpful).
Spread lemon filling on top of bottom layer. Do not go all the way to the edge (leave about a quarter inch border).
Place second cake layer on top of first (we like to do it upside down so the top of the cake has crisp edges). Frost entire cake with cream cheese frosting.