This Lemon Curd Coffee Cake is the best lemon coffee cake I have ever tasted. Moist cake layered with a bright and tangy lemon curd finished with a crisp buttery crumb topping. Perfect for any weekend breakfast!
Try more lemon recipes including breakfast, dinner, and refreshing lemonades!
Doesn’t lemon just scream spring and summer? I find myself making this lemon coffee cake as well as lemon scones and lemon loaf as often as my waist line can handle it. It is even one of our go-to Easter Recipes.
This is truly one of the best coffee cakes I have ever had. Not only is it not too sweet, but it also has the perfect ratio of tang to sweet and cake to crumb. It stores beautifully in the refrigerator or in the freezer. Perfect for making ahead.
Many years ago I found this recipe on Taste of Home. Unfortunately that recipe has several problems with it. The batter is too thick. The lemon layer is too thin. It calls for a pan size that isn’t standard in every kitchen. Over the years I have perfected it. You can thank me later. 😉
Decadent and delicious.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Carol
Skip to:
Ingredients for lemon curd coffee cake
- Flour: All purpose is best.
- Salt: Needed to balance the sweet.
- Baking powder and soda: Essential ingredients to help the cake rise.
- Butter: Salted or unsalted will do, but my preference is salted.
- Buttermilk: Adds the perfect amount of moistness to the cake.
- Lemon juice and zest: The thin layer on the outside of the lemon and the juice are the best way to add bright, fresh lemon flavor to the cake.
- Vanilla: Rounds out the flavor profile.
- Eggs + yolk: An extra egg yolk keeps cake super moist.
- Sugar: Regular granulated sugar.
- Lemon Curd: Take store-bought or our microwave lemon curd recipe and spread it evenly across the surface of the batter. If you use store-bought lemon curd it might be easier to spread if it is warmed a little bit first. My favorite brands are Dickinson's and Trader Joes.
- Coconut: Shredded sweetened coconut flakes.
Helpful kitchen tools
How to make lemon curd coffee cake
Batter
The batter part of this recipe has three easy steps:
1. Combine dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.
2. Slice butter into pats and mix it into the dry ingredients.
3. Mix the liquid ingredients into the dry.
Topping
Flour: All Purpose.
Sugar: Granulated sugar.
Butter: Salted or unsalted.
Coconut: Shredded sweetened coconut flakes.
The topping has only two steps.
1. Place topping ingredients in a food processor or mixing bowl.
2. Pulse (or mix) until the topping looks like sand.
How to assemble
Evenly spread the cake batter across the bottom of the pan. It is a thick batter but should spread easily with an offset spatula or a rubber spatula. Next goes the lemon curd. Be sure to take it all the way to the edge. Now it’s time to spread the amazing crumb topping across the lemon curd layer. It will look very thick, but don’t worry. Some of it combines with the lemon layer. After baking it is the perfect ratio of batter to crumb topping.
Baking
Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes in a 9x13 inch pan.
Look at that. The bottom layer is a cake that isn't too sweet. Then the lemon curd layer sits on top waiting to brighten up your tongue. Finally, is the crisp and sweet topping. Time to stick a fork in it.
For a crowd
When making this for a crowd the best option is to make as many as needed ahead. Freeze and thaw according to the directions below.
FAQs
I prefer to make this the night before and store it tightly covered in the fridge. It's best at room temperature so pull it out at least an hour before serving.
This coffee cake freezes beautifully. Once it has thoroughly cooled, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and a layer of foil. One day before you are ready to eat it, place it on the counter to thaw. Leave it tightly wrapped until it's time to serve.
Coffee cake is named because traditionally it is eaten while drinking a cup of coffee. However, hot tea goes equally as well with this cake.
More lemon recipes
- Try this Lemon Yogurt Cake for a moist, fresh, and simply delicious treat!
- For another special weekend breakfast, these Soft Lemon Cream Scones are just the thing.
- For a quick 25 minute dinner this Lemon Broccoli Pasta is a guaranteed winner!
- Chicken Breasts in Lemon Sauce make for a go-to weeknight meal.
Tips and tricks
- As with all cakes, it is important to not over mix the wet batter. It will make for a tougher cake.
- Please use a real lemon. The flavor of bottled juice can not compare.
- Make it ahead and refrigerate for a supremely moist cake.
Recipe
Lemon Curd Coffee Cake
Ingredients
Batter
- 3 ⅓ cups all purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 sticks butter salted or unsalted, cut into cubes
- 1⅓ cup buttermilk
- 1½ tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 2 eggs
- 1 egg yolk
- ½ cup sugar
Filling
- 1 cup lemon curd homemade or store bought
Topping
- 1 cup flour
- ⅔ cup sugar
- 6 tablespoon butter cold, cut into 6 pieces
- 1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Spray 9x13 pan with baking spray or grease with butter and flour.
Batter
- Combine dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Using either a stand mixer or by hand cut butter into the flour until it looks evenly distributed about the size of peas.3 ⅓ cups all purpose flour, ¾ teaspoon salt, ¾ teaspoon baking powder, ¾ teaspoon baking soda, 2 sticks butter, ½ cup sugar
- Stir the remaining ingredients together in a separate bowl. Then pour over dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Do not over mix.1⅓ cup buttermilk, 1½ tablespoon lemon juice, 1 tablespoon vanilla, 1 tablespoon lemon zest, 2 eggs, 1 egg yolk
- Spread batter evenly in pan.
Filling
- Spread filling out to the edges of the batter. If using store-bought curd, warm slightly to make it spread easily.1 cup lemon curd
Topping
- In a food processor or a mixer combine all topping ingredients until they resemble fine sand.1 cup flour, ⅔ cup sugar, 6 tablespoon butter, 1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
- Spread across lemon curd layer. It should be quite thick.
Baking
- Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool to room temperature on the counter.
Notes
- As with all cakes, it is important to not over mix the wet batter. It will make for a tougher cake.
- Please use a real lemon. The flavor of bottled juice can not compare.
- Make it ahead and refrigerate for a supremely moist cake.
Add Your Own Notes
Nutrition
All nutrition information is provided by a third party and is an estimate only. Use your own nutritional calculator for more specific measurements.
Kathy says
Can I make this without coconut? What would you substitute for it?
Danielle says
You can just leave the coconut out if you want to. It should work just fine. Happy baking!
Dona Brodeur says
Hi, I am making this now, is the butter supposed to be cold in the batter part of the recipe, it doesn’t say. Thank you, this looks delicious..
Danielle says
So sorry that we weren't able to respond immediately. The butter should be cold in this recipe. I am shocked that detail went unnoticed for all these years. We will fix that in the post!
Carol says
Decadent and delicious
Misty says
So glad you liked it!
Michael says
When you mix all the dry ingredients, does that include the sugar?
Danielle says
So sorry that it took so long to answer your question. Our notification system is being troublesome. In this case, the sugar should be included in the wet ingredients. I will clarify that in the recipe card.
Karen, the food scientist says
This cake was OK. The flavors were good! The batter is much more like a muffin batter than a cake batter. I think it could be downsized because it was a LOT of batter. It’s also a bit dry despite all the butter. It was definitely better fresh from the oven (most baked goods are). The topping could use a little bit more butter as it was still dry and flour-y on top after baking. I think I’m going to tweak the topping and use my trusty Joy of Cooking sour cream coffee cake batter and add lemon zest.
Mary Richardson says
I would love to make this coffee cake, but would like to know if I can use regular milk instead of buttermilk?
Danielle says
Hi, Mary! Good question. We do not recommend using regular milk instead of buttermilk. You could try greek yogurt instead, and if you do we would love to know how it turns out.
Karen, the food scientist says
In a pinch, you can put 1 1/2 tablespoons of lemon juice (that’s in addition to the lemon juice called for in the recipe) in your measuring cup and fill to the 1 1/3 cup mark with fresh milk and let it stand for a minute. This is a reasonable substitute for buttermilk.
Michele Cooper says
Made this yesterday. It was well recieved at an event today. I'm curious...the recipe says use a 9X13 and the recipe makes 12 servings. The pieces would be huge! I cut it into 24 nice sized pieces. Was this originally written for a 9" square pan?? There were some comments of it overflowing the pan... so wondering if the lemon curd and topping ingredients were for a 9 square rather than a 9X13?? The topping was not what I consider "thick" in the 9X13 and I feel like I could have used twice the amount of lemon curd, which I would if I make it again.
Misty says
The ingredient ratio is for a 9x13 pan. We haven't tried double the lemon curd or topping, so I can't say how it will turn out. But let us know how it goes!
Huz says
We love lemon... this was very tasty, thanks v much. We live at 7,400 feet and so I made some adjustments and it came out great (3 eggs total, + 4 tbsp flour, - 1.5 tbsp sugar, -¼ tsp of both baking soda and powder and 375f for 45 mins).
Danielle says
So happy it turned out so well even at high altitude! And thanks for leaving your adjustments.