🍋🍋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!
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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. 😉
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.
For over 10 years I have been serving this lemon coffee cake on Easter morning, but it would also make a great addition to a bridal shower or Mother’s Day brunch. 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. 😉
🍋Ingredients
Batter
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.
🥣Instructions
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.
Filling
Lemon Curd: Take store-bought or homemade lemon curd 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.
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.
🙋 Questions & Answers
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 & 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.
👋🏻 Connect with us!
If you try this recipe, please leave a comment and star rating to let us know how it is! We’d also love to connect with you on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest. Tag @borrowedbites or hashtag #borrowedbites to show us your food!
📋 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.
- Stir the remaining ingredients together in a separate bowl. Then pour over dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Do not over mix.
- 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.
Topping
- In a food processor or a mixer combine all topping ingredients until they resemble fine sand.
- 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.
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.
Alise says
Really interesting cake! You have the buttery bottom layer, then the wonderful lemon curd layer (my Stonewall Kitchen jar had 11oz--I used the whole jar), then the wonderful crunchy streusel coconut topping! I baked mine in 9X13. This would be a great 'traveling' cake.
Misty says
The lemon curd layer is the best! We're glad you enjoyed it.
S.Lynn says
I halved the recipe and put into an 8x8 pan. It's up to the edges but not overflowing. It's in the oven right now. Can't wait to taste it.
s.Lynn says
S.Lynn: This is a fantastic coffee cake. I made my own lemon curd with a gift of lemons from a friend. It has great flavor, not super sickly sweet. Tender, moist. I only made a half to test out the recipe but the next one will be a whole recipe divided into 2-8x8 pans so I can eat one and freeze the other for later. Yay. Thanks for the recipe.
Danielle says
It's one of our favorites as well! Thank you so much for taking the time to let us know how it turned out!
Ann says
I made this over the weekend. The cake itself is pretty tasteless. Yes, the lemon curd is good, and so is the topping; however, it doesn’t offset the lack of taste in the base. I wouldn’t make it again and hate that I wasted good ingredients (including fresh lemons, lemon curd, and 1/2+ lb of butter. (I have better recipes and will stick w/them.)
Danielle says
I am so sorry to hear that you were disappointed. My daughter and I work hard to make sure the recipes we publish are stand out winners. This is a recipe we have made several times a year for over a decade without ever experiencing a bland cake. I would love to help troubleshoot it if you are interested.This is a traditional coffee cake in the sense that the cake batter itself is supposed to be softly flavored (but definitely not bland) with the punch of flavor coming from the lemon curd layer and the topping. If you want something that is intensely lemon flavored throughout might I suggest this loaf cake instead https://borrowedbites.com/lemon-yogurt-cake/. Please feel free to reach back out if you have any questions or concerns. Have a great day!
Jill Cecil says
I served this to a group of friends last night and got rave reviews! Delicious and a perfect excuse to eat lemon curd!
Danielle says
Thank you so much for taking the time to let us know! It is one of my all-time favorites.
Mel says
I’ll have to find a way to halve this recipe…Way too much yummyness for me.
There’s some leftover Lemon Curd in my freezer waiting to be used.
Can’t wait to make this.
Danielle says
Luckily for you, it freezes well! Hope you enjoy it as much as we do.
Melinda says
Just questioning if this can be frozen. Too much for us at one sitting. Thank you.
Danielle says
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. Enjoy!
Laurie Lynn Hardin says
Hi! On tricks and tips* for this recipe. Did you mean refrigerate the batter for a super moist cake or the cake itself? Sorry if it's a dumb question 🙃 I can't wait to make this!!! Thank you 💞
Danielle says
Hello! Not a dumb question! We mean to refrigerate the bakes and cooled cake. Be sure to bring it to room temperature before serving. If you have a minute, we would love to hear how it turned out! Have a great day!
Victoria Cerrato says
I would love to make this but I’m very short on time , is there anyway to make this from a boxed cake and add extra ingredients into the batter ? If so what extras besides the vanilla would I add and what type of cake would I buy
Danielle says
I haven’t used a cake mix for this recipe so I am not sure if it would work. However, based on my experience cake batter is too soft for this application. I think the topping will cause the cake to fall. Hopefully you can make this as written when you have an extra couple minutes. Good luck!
Maureen Francis says
Hello.
I am not a big fan of crumbled tops so I made the whole cake like the bottom part but since it included the 2cups of flour, I added one more egg and adjusted the buttermilk to 1cup and then layered with the lemon curd finishing with the batter.
I also added the zest of 1 lemon the the cake batter.
Made from a round 9” springform pan and baked at 350F for 50 min. I serve it with a little Coolwhip, I made this many times, we love it. 😘
Misty says
We're glad you enjoyed your new take on it 🙂
Katie says
We're not coconut fans. Can I leave that out or sub it for something else for the topping?
Danielle says
I would just leave it out. Hope you enjoy it!
Cristina says
Absolutely delicious! I too had the overflowing pan problem though:( I measured the depth of my 9x9” and it’s 2.25”, so I thought I’d be fine. I did prepare for overflow though by putting a silicone grill mat under the pan so I didn’t have a huge cleanup ahead of me;) I think next time I’ll make it in my 9x13”.
Misty says
Hi Cristina! Thank you so much for the feedback! We're so glad it tasted great, but definitely don't want you to experience any overflow again. Based on the feedback, we will adjust the instructions for just the 9x13 pan. Thanks again, we really appreciate it!
Debbie says
OMG!!!! This is the best lemon coffee cake I’ve ever had! Everything went together really well. The flavor of the lemon just gets better the longer it sits. Thank you for sharing your recipe. It is a winner!!!
Danielle says
Thanks so much for letting me know that you loved it! I agree... the lemon flavor only gets better.
Larissa says
Is 1 tbsp. Vanilla correct or is it supposed to be 1 tsp.? That seems like a lot of vanilla but I just made it following the recipe so I hope it turns out!
Misty says
We lovvvee vanilla flavor, so that's how we prefer to make it. Hope you love it!
Courtney says
OMG! I just made this cake and took my first bite. I have to say that I am in love. Shhh... Don't tell my boyfriend. I could eat the whole thing to myself but I will refrain. For now... Thank you Danielle for the super delicious recipe! I cannot wait to share this with others
Danielle says
Your secret is safe with me. 😉 Thank you for letting us know that you enjoyed it! Happy eating.
Theresa says
This is the most delicious lemon cake! My family loved it! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe with us.
Danielle says
So glad your family enjoyed it!
Cindy says
I made this in a 9x9 as directed. It's overflowing all over my oven!!😕😕 What a mess! I questioned whether to use a 9x13, because it seemed like a alot of batter, but followed the recipe because I wanted a nice high coffee cake. Next time I'll follow my gut.
Danielle says
Oh my gosh! I am so sorry that happened. The coffee cake in the pictures from this post were made in an OXO 9x9 inch pan. We have never had it even come close to overflowing. How deep was your 9x9 pan? I would love to figure out why this happened so that I can make sure it doesn't happen to anyone else. Thank you for your feedback.
Jo says
Do you cook the lemon curd with the cake. Lemon curd is usually already cooked so I was confused on if I should cook it again
Would it curdle?
Misty says
You add the cooked/finished lemon curd on the cake, then bake. It won't get curdled. Enjoy!
Aspen says
I’m going to have a hard time not making this every weekend. I was so impressed by how moist and flavorful it was!
Danielle says
Thanks for your feedback! So happy you love it!