Lemon Cake- A Doctored Cake Mix Recipe
If you've been searching for the BEST recipe for Lemon Cake from a doctored cake mix, we are happy to say that this is it!
This easy lemon cake has a lovely soft texture, is ultra moist, has fantastic lemon flavor, works for cupcakes as well as cake layers, and is sturdy enough to hold up to fondant! What's not to love?
We've frosted this lemon layer cake with a luscious Lemon Buttercream, which is a new recipe for our site also! We've fallen in love with its lemon flavor and it pipes like a dream.
We're so glad to have this lemon buttercream option for slathering and swirling onto all sorts of cakes from lemon cake to homemade vanilla buttermilk cake to classic yellow, coconut and even strawberry! Lemon buttercream pairs perfectly with so many cake flavors.
However, our Lemon Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting as well as our homemade Lemon Curd Filling would both be great choices!
Table of Contents
How to Make a Lemon Cake- Doctored Cake Mix Recipe
You can find the full, printable cake recipe further down in this post, but here is a quick rundown of our steps!
First, you'll start with a simple white cake mix (look for recipes that do not contain pudding in the mix as we'll be adding a bit of lemon pudding to this recipe). We used Duncan Hines.
- Combine the sifted cake mix with the flour, sugar, and pudding and whisk to blend. *Just 4 tablespoons of pudding is all that we needed to really make a difference in the texture and flavor of this cake.
- We tried baking without the lemon pudding, and while it was good, the stand-out favorite among all of our family taste-testers was the version that contained pudding. The texture is more velvety and the lemony flavor is really nice. We also tried using Lemon Cake Mix instead of White, but didn't like the flavor as much.
- Add the remaining ingredients, including the eggs, water, sour cream, extracts, and lemon zest. The addition of pudding, sour cream, and flour give the cake a from-scratch feel, as it is a bit denser than a straight from the box cake mix cake...but I wouldn't describe this as a dense cake. It is light, has a soft texture, and did I mention an amazing lemon flavor? SO good!
This recipe makes about 7 ½ cups of batter which was just the right amount to divide between three 8 inch layers. I love cake recipes that have enough batter for three layers so that you can have an additional layer of filling! Mmmmm....bring on the lemon buttercream!
Looking for a Lemon Scratch Recipe Also?
I should also mention that while we LOVE this doctored Lemon Cake Mix recipe, we have a favorite Scratch Lemon Cake Recipe as well! If you enjoy baking scratch recipes also, this is a great one.
We hope to eventually have a doctored cake mix version and scratch version of all of our recipes!
Lemon Cake: A Doctored Cake Mix Recipe
Nobody would guess that this amazing lemon cake recipe all starts with a simple cake mix! So moist and lemony!
Ingredients
- 1 box (15.25 oz.) white cake mix, sifted (Any mix without pudding in the mix)
- 1 cup (114g) all purpose flour (plain in the UK)
- 1 cup (200g) sugar
- ½ box (4Tablespoons, (48g) instant lemon pudding (we used Jell-O brand) Do not make pudding, use the dry mix.
- 3 large eggs
- 1 ⅓ cups (322g) water
- 1 cup (242g) sour cream (we use full fat sour cream)
- 1 Tablespoon (12g) lemon extract
- ½ teaspoon (2g) vanilla extract
- zest of one lemon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour three 8x2 inch round cake pans.
- In the bowl of your mixer, add the dry ingredients and whisk at least 30 seconds to blend.
- Add the remaining ingredients to the bowl and mix on medium speed for 1 minute. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl and mix for 1 more minute. If you are using a hand mixer, mix for a bit longer.
- Pour into prepared pans and bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes. Check at 25 minutes, if a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached, it is done.
- Cool in the pans 5 to 10 minutes then turn out.
- Makes 7 ½ cups batter
- Works well for cupcakes
What if you don’t have a cup of flour??
Hi Lindsey, I am sorry I did not see this yesterday. Yes, the cake does need to be refrigerated with a lemon curd filling. Take out of the refrigerator an hour or so before serving. The sour cream in the cake is fine, it it just the lemon curd that necessitates refrigeration.
Hi Erica, If you do not have the 1 cup flour, I suggest you use the simple doctored cake mix recipe. Link below...........leave out the 5 T. flour in the recipe and change the flavoring to 2 teaspoons lemon 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Adding lemon zest to the batter will also give you another layer of lemon flavor.
https://www.mycakeschool.com/recipes-tutorials/white-cake/
I was wondering if I were to add in some fresh blueberries to the mix, (tossing them in some flour to help them not sink in the batter) would there be anything I would need to change or do differently in the recipe or cooking process to make sure it turns out okay? Thank you!
Hi Jillian, It will be fine to add 1 1/2 cups blueberries to the recipe. It is best, if possible, to use wild blueberries because they are much smaller and less likely to sink to the bottom of the pan. I usually use Wyman's frozen blueberries. If you don't have access to those you could cut larger blueberries into smaller pieces. I think thickness of batter helps suspend the berries. I have not used blueberries with this recipe but it is somewhat thick. If using frozen blueberries, keep frozen until just before stirring into the batter. Toss with maybe 2 Tablespoons flour. Don't over stir when adding or you will have blue streaks in the batter. Hope all goes well.
Can I do a pound cake with this recipe?
Hi Darlene, I have not used the recipe for pound cake but I'm sure you can. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until cake begins to pull away from the sides. We lower the oven rack to the next to lowest position for pound cakes. If your pan has a dark interior, lower the temperature by 25 degrees. The cake will be done when a toothpick inserted comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached.
I’m planning on making this beautiful cake for my granddaughters birthday. She requested a Lemon cake. The mix I have is, Betty Crocker-Super moist lemon cake mix. It does have pudding in the mix. Can I still add the additional lemon pudding?
Thank you in advance!
Hi Maureen, Since you are using lemon cake mix with pudding in the mix, make these changes: 1. Do not add the lemon pudding
2. Reduce the water to 1 cup
3. Use 1 teaspoon lemon extract
4. 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Everything else the will be the same. Let me know if you have other questions.
Oh, thank you so much for your fast reply.??
I’ll definitely let you know how it turns out.
Does it take 25 mins to cook it as cupcakes
Hi Lauren, For standard size cupcakes bake at 350 degrees for 18 to 20 minutes