Sicilian Whole Lemon Cake (Using an Entire Lemon: Peel, Juice and Pulp)
Sicilian whole lemon cake is a moist and delicious crowd-pleasing dessert. This flavorful cake uses an entire lemon, peel, juice and pulp, for an amazingly lemony result!
Given the continuous rave reviews of my Sicilian whole orange cake, I now bring you, Sicilian whole lemon cake!
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
After making this cake several times, I’ve adjusted the sugar and made a few other changes to compensate for the difference in sweetness between oranges and lemons. However, please note that best results will come from Meyer lemons, although you can use Eureka or other more sour lemons by adding. a little more sugar.
If you fortunate enough to have access to Meyer lemons, you may also want to try this recipe: the best lemon drop martini you’ll ever have!
You could also try making posset, an incredibly easy and rich dessert!
And my favorite pancakes: lemon ricotta pancakes!
This isn’t a light cake, but a uniquely moist, flavorful, and bit more dense type of cake. It has a big crumb and sticky glaze, and I’ve never heard anyone try it and not gush with compliments! If you like a sweeter cake, you may want to add a little more sugar (especially if using Eureka lemons) as this isn’t overly sweet at all.
If you’d like to make a full size bundt cake instead, use this Meyer lemon cake recipe for a full sized cake (with glaze or icing).
In case you want to buy the PaneAngeli baking powder, I’ve added a link below in the recipe ingredients. It looks like this~
Sicilian Whole Lemon Cake
adapted from my Sicilian Whole Orange cake serves 12
FULL PRINTABLE RECIPE BELOW
NB: I use Meyer lemons which are much less sour than Eureka. I would recommend using a little more sugar if you don’t have Meyer lemons.
Ingredients
- eggs
- sugar
- flour
- Paneangeli (or baking powder)
- butter
- Greek yogurt
- lemon
- vanilla extract
Directions
Make the Whole Lemon Cake
Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C)
Prepare an 8″ springform pan by spraying with oil (or butter) and lining in parchment paper (sides optional, if you want really clean sides), then spray the paper, too.
Place the sugar and eggs in a large bowl and beat with a mixer until light and fluffy.
Sift the flour with the baking powder/PaneAngeli then add to the mixture in the bowl a little at a time along with the softened butter. Continue to mix until completely blended, then stir in the yogurt (and vanilla, if using).
In a food processor, process the whole lemon until it is almost pureed. It should look like this~
Add this lemon to the cake mixture and stir until evenly combined, then put the batter into the prepared tin.
Bake for 50-60 minutes (depending on your oven), but test with a cake tester or skewer to make sure the whole lemon cake is done before removing from the oven. Allow to cool for about 15 minutes, then remove the side of the springform pan.
Make the Lemon Glaze
Prepare the glaze by melting the sugar in the lemon juice and water, and allow to simmer for a few minutes, just until the liquid has a syrupy consistency. Spoon and brush over the top of the cake and allow to cool completely before cutting.
Yes, it’s hard to wait, but the moist lemon cake will cut more easily if it’s cool first.
Garnish with a twist of lemon or a few lemon slices, or just serve plain. So good!
Enjoy with a cup of tea or glass of limoncello!
Sicilian Whole Lemon Cake
Special Equipment
- 1 cake tester optional
- 1 brush optional
Ingredients
Cake:
- 3 eggs
- 1 ½ cup sugar
- 1 ¾ cup all purpose flour
- 2 ½ tsp baking powder or 1 packet Italian Pane Degli Angeli vanilla baking powder
- ⅓ cup butter softened
- ⅓ cup Greek yogurt plain
- 1 Meyer lemon organic, washed and cut into pieces (with the rind, but remove the seeds)
- ½ tsp vanilla extract ONLY if using plain baking powder
Glaze:
- 1 oz lemon juice
- 1 oz water
- 2 ⅞ Tbsp sugar (a little less than 3 Tbsp)
Instructions
Make the Whole Lemon Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).
- Prepare an 8" springform pan by spraying with oil (or butter) and lining in parchment paper (sides optional, if you want really clean sides), then spray the paper, too.
- Place the sugar and eggs in a large bowl and beat with a mixer until light and fluffy.
- Sift the flour with the baking powder then add to the mixture in the bowl a little at a time along with the softened butter. Continue to mix until completely blended, then stir in the yogurt and the vanilla, if using.
- In a food processor, process the whole lemon until it is almost pureed.
- Add this lemon to the cake mixture and stir until evenly combined, then put the batter into the prepared tin.
- Bake for 50-60 minutes (depending on your oven), but test with a cake tester or skewer to make sure the whole lemon cake is done before removing from the oven. Allow to cool for about 15 minutes, then remove the side of the springform pan.
Make the Lemon Glaze:
- Prepare the glaze by melting the sugar in the lemon juice and water, and allow to simmer for a few minutes, just until the liquid has a syrupy consistency. Spoon and brush over the top of the cake and allow to cool completely before cutting.
- Yes, it’s hard to wait, but the moist lemon cake will cut more easily if it’s cool first.
- Garnish with a twist of lemon or a few lemon slices, or just serve plain.
Notes
- NB: I use Meyer lemons which are much less sour than Eureka. I would recommend using a little more sugar if you don't have Meyer lemons.
Nutrition
More lemony bakes~
Lemon Cheesecake Blueberry Swirl Bars
Sign up for my free newsletter at the top of the page, and never miss a post!
Christina’s Cucina is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associate Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
Love your Sicilian orange cake recipe. Lucky enough to have some Meyer Lemons left on a bush and thought I could probably use them instead of an orange..Checked back on your site and you had already made all the adjustments needed. I have not always had yoghurt available and don’t want to go shopping for just one item so have substituted milk and it seems to come out fine.
Awesome, Louise! Yes, it seems this is one of those versatile recipes that can stand up to different substitutions!! Thank you for letting me know, and if you haven’t done so, please leave a review/rating (you’ll see the stars in the printable recipe card.) :) Thank you!
Amazing recipe, the cake has a dedicated fragrant of lemon and also has an intense lemon flavor when enjoying, my wife loves it
I used the lemon from my garden, they grow under the beautiful weather of Cyprus, they are not sour at all
Definitely the choice and variety of the lemon is most essential
Thank you Christina
Absolutely agree! Good quality ingredients are always key, but lemons for this cake are especially important! So happy you enjoyed it. Please try the Sicilian Orange Cake next!
Will you post the GF version of this cake, please? Your GF Whole Orange Cake is so delicious, but I have a feeling the GF lemon version would be even more spectacular. I’d try it myself but I’m not sure how much more sugar would be needed (more than in the orange version, I’m sure).
Hello Christina! I made first your Orange cake with a whole orange (had to use what I found was Orange from Spain) I choose one with thin skin thinking about the bitterness of the white part of an orange. The result was Great! As we are only two and the recipe makes for a Big cake, I splited into muffin molds and even Madelines moulds to keep in the freezer! I did caramelized one of the cakes but I liked it without the orange glaze just as well. I put it into my Instagram account, and passed on to a follower who made it and took exceptionally good photos of your mythical cake!!!!
Next time ai tried the recipe, I went bolder, and made it with 2 oranges, keeping the rest of the recipe as you have given it to us. We’ll the cake was spectacular and even more moist!!! Absolutely loved this version too. I used this time two oranges from Egypt.
Now for my next try…. I would like to try it with 3vmedium limes! What do you think? Limes’s skins are quite thin, I would have to try the taste of their white membrane… Still they are “sweeter” than lemons…. Have you tried it yourself with limes?
I’ll send you a Pic when I’ll do the Lime version… Thank you so much for your wonderful recipes and your patient follow up of your cooking fans!
I LOVED this recipe, but unfortunately your orange cake didn’t live up to my expectations. The range cake did not have enough orangeyness so for the lemon cake I used half an extra lemon. And it was perfect. I also used normal lemons so I used one and two-thirds cups of sugar instead of one and a half cups of sugar. I hope somebody finds this information helpful.
Hi Elliot, glad you loved the recipe, however, I think it’s the actual quality of orange that you used that’s the issue for the lack of orange flavor. The citrus quality is super important for these cakes as they are the main ingredient. Glad you liked the lemon cake. :)
Hey! could I do without the greek yogurt? or would i have to substitute it with something else perhaps?
I have never tried, so I don’t know! Let me know if you give it a try, good luck! CC
I never seem to have Greek yogurt around when I decide to make the orange cake. I’ve substituted sour cream with awesome results!! Can’t WAIT to try the lemon cake!
That’s one thing I always have in my fridge. It’s so great for so many dishes or just to eat!
Hi Christina I made your lemon cake just now. It is cooling right now. I just wanted to let you know that I used regular lemon and I peeled it with a peeler than I peeled the lemon like an orange to remove the white skin. I removed the seeds and then I put in a blender and I purée the the whole lemon. I can’t wait to try it. Thank you for the recipe. I will try the orange one next.
Marisa from Canada.
Hi Marisa, I’m so happy you tried this recipe! Did you still use the yellow, exterior part of the skin? Your cake looks lovely (from your pictures in my FB group!) I think you’ll be pleased with the orange cake, too! Thank you! CC