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
Hi i do not have lemon extract or pudding but i do have fresh lemons. Could i use the juice of the lemon instead ?
Hi Lauren, The lemon extract gives the cake a more definite lemon flavor. You could use the juice and zest of one lemon but the lemon flavor will be milder. If not using the pudding, reduce the water to 1 cup. You could add more lemon flavor by making a lemon curd for the filling. Here is a link
https://www.mycakeschool.com/recipes-tutorials/lemon-curd/
You could also use our Lemon Buttercream or Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting for the filling and frosting. Links to those recipes are in Melissa's description of the cake in the text above.
Does lemon jello work? Limited resources during quarantine lol
Hi Rachel, You do not need to use lemon jello. Make the recipe without the lemon pudding, just reduce the water to 1 cup (242g). Your cake will still be good with enough lemon flavor.
Hi Rachel: I was wondering if you can use 1 1/3 cup of milk instead of the water and will the sour cream be enough fat for this recipe without adding oil and butter?
Hi Romona, You could use 1 1/3 cup milk instead of water. You don't need to add oil or butter. Hope you will enjoy the recipe.
No lemon pudding? can I use vanilla pudding instead and if so do I add more Lemon extract to compensate for lemon pudding?
Hi Mrs. Neal, Yes, you can use vanilla pudding. Since the recipe has 1 Tablespoon lemon extract and you are using only 1/2 of the vanilla pudding. I think you will be fine on flavor. Also, you will have lemon flavor in the frosting. I am just going to add this caution since this happened to me the last time I made the recipe. I forgot to smell my lemon extract before using it. It had gone bad and ruined my cake. Make sure your bottle smells like lemon. Hope you will enjoy the recipe.
Have you ever made this recipe in a 13 x 9 Pan? I’m about to put it in the oven. I thought checking at 25-28?
I read through some of the older comments and found one who made this recipe in a 13x9 for 45...yikes! Well I will watch it closely! The batter was absolutely beautiful, I would hate to ruin it by baking it too long! Wish me luck!
Hi Holly, I hope all went well with your cake. The recommended time for a 13x9 cake is 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes. Some ovens bake more slowly or quickly than others. It is a good idea to have an oven thermometer to see if your oven is heating to the temperature that you have set. Hope you will enjoy the cake!
I made this cake today and put the lemon curd inside. My husband loved it! I was wondering if this has to be refrigerated because of the buttercream icing, curd and sour cream in the cake?