Lemon Almond Cake

This is the perfect lemon almond cake recipe for summer gatherings! Bursting with refreshing, lemony flavor and nuttiness, this super tender, light, and moist cake keeps well and is freezer-friendly.

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Why You'll Love This Recipe
Ingredients For This Recipe
Almond Flour vs Almond Meal
Step-By-Step Instructions
Recipe Expert Tips
How To Store And Freeze
Recipe FAQs
More Lemon Recipes
Watch How To Make It
📖 Recipe
💬 Comments

Why You'll Love This Recipe

This lemon almond cake is one of our readers' favorite lemon recipes, besides our lemon blueberry cake and lemon loaf cake with icing. It's very straightforward, and you can't go wrong with it. Here's why our readers love it so much!

Flavorful—This delicious almond lemon cake boasts a burst of fresh, tart lemon flavor and nuttiness, perfectly balanced with sweetness. It's a refreshing bite of summer, just like our fantastic no-bake lemon cheesecake!

Tender and moist—It's tender and super moist due to our secret ingredient, sour cream, and drenching it with lemon syrup. Although it has almond flour, it's so light and spongy!

Easy—It's much easier than you think to make with easy-to-find ingredients. Prepare this almond and lemon cake a day before and serve it to your loved ones at your next gathering.

Ingredients For This Recipe

Almond flour—This recipe's distinct nutty and sweet flavor is due to almond flour, and it's light and spongy, like our gluten-free Spanish almond cake! We don't recommend using all-purpose flour as a substitute because almond flour has different binding properties and a higher moisture content. However, oat flour can be used as an alternative, although it won't be exactly the same.

Lemon—We're using a generous amount of lemon zest to give this lemon almond cake a vibrant flavor. Not only that, we will use lemon juice in our syrup to drench the cake, enhance the refreshing lemon taste, and get a moist lemon almond cake! If you love lemon, see how to make lemon curd that's so easy and delicious!

Sour cream—Our secret to making this lemon cake with almonds moister and richer! If you haven't started using it in baking, you should. Our chocolate sour cream bundt cake and devil's food cake with sour cream chocolate frosting are must-try. and If you don't have it, use full-fat Greek yogurt instead.

Almond slivers—Add a contrasting texture to this fantastic cake, apart from reinforcing the almond flavor. You also have to admit, they make the cake look so fancy!

See the recipe card for complete information on ingredients and quantities.

Almond Flour vs Almond Meal

Almond flour and almond meal are both made by grinding almonds but differ in texture and color. Almond flour is made from peeled or blanched almonds and has a finer texture and lighter color. Almond meal is made from raw, unpeeled almonds and is coarser in texture and darker in color due to the skin.

Step-By-Step Instructions

1. Mix dry ingredients—Preheat the oven to 350ºF (175ºC) without the fan. Butter and line a 9-inch (23cm) round pan. Add all-purpose flour, almond flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl. Mix well with a spoon and set aside.

2. Cream butter and sugar—Add butter and sugar into the standing mixer bowl. Whisk at medium-high speed, using paddle attachment for 10 minutes or until you get a pale mixture. From this onwards, make sure to scrape the sides of the bowl now and then for better mixing.

3. Add eggs and dry ingredients—Add lemon zest, vanilla extract, and one egg at a time, mixing everything well after each addition.

Add half of the dry ingredients at a time, mixing the batter on the lowest speed until everything is well combined. Do not overmix the batter from this point onwards.

4. Add sour cream and lemon juice—Mix in sour cream with lemon juice.

5. Bake—Pour the batter into the pan and sprinkle with almond slivers. Bake on the middle rack for 30-35 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

6. Lemon syrup—Heat sugar and lemon juice in a pot and stir until sugar dissolves. While still hot, poke all around the cake with a toothpick and pour the lemon syrup evenly on top. Let it cool completely in the pan before serving. Enjoy your lemon almond cake!

Recipe Expert Tips

If you're going to make this almond lemon cake recipe, make sure to follow these top tips!

Scrape the sides of the bowl. Do this now and then. This will help the ingredients to mix better.
Don't overmix. Once dry ingredients are incorporated into the wet ingredients, make sure not to overmix the batter. This prevents gluten from forming, avoiding a dense and hard cake.
Pour lemon syrup while the cake is still hot. The cake will absorb the amazing tangy lemon syrup better.
Serve at room temperature. The fridge's cold temperature hides the wonderful tart flavor and makes the cake seem dense. It tastes so refreshing at room temperature!

How To Store And Freeze

Store—This fantastic lemon almond cake can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for three days. It lasts longer in the fridge for up to five days. Let the cake reach room temperature before serving. Cold temperature masks the amazing tart flavor and makes the cake seem dense.

Freeze—Place it in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw in the fridge and bring it to room temperature before serving.

Recipe FAQs

What can I use instead of sour cream?

You can perfectly use full-fat Greek yogurt.

Can I use Stevia?

We haven't tried it, but one of our readers said she successfully used half of Stevia for baking and half of sugar.

Can I make it in advance?

Yes! We made it one day before serving it to our family and friends, and it was delicious, if not even more! In our opinion, cakes always taste better the next day.

Showing the texture of a slice of the cake.

More Lemon Recipes

If you tried this Lemon Almond Cake or any other recipe on our website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let us know how it went in the comments below!