Lemon Crazy Cake
Lemon Crazy Cake is just about the best lemon cake you’ll ever have. This lemon wacky cake features moist tender cake and rich cream cheese frosting, both of which are infused with bright, zippy lemon juice.
Lemon is the classic summertime fruit. Who doesn’t love a big glass of ice-cold lemonade or a delicious slice of lemon cake? We can’t think of anyone! That’s exactly why we love to make this amazing lemon crazy cake. It’s fully loaded with lemon flavor and so moist and tender. You can’t beat it for any occasion!
Table of contents
❤️ Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- It only uses a few simple baking ingredients.
- It’s super easy to make.
- It uses fresh squeezed lemon juice for a super-bright lemon flavor in every bite.
🛒Ingredients
This recipe uses basic baking ingredients that you probably have in your kitchen right now. Anything you don’t have is a quick jaunt to the store away! Be sure to check the recipe card for exact quantities.
For the Cake
- All-purpose flour
- Granulated sugar
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Water
- Fresh-squeezed lemon juice
- Vegetable oil
- White vinegar
For the Frosting
- Cream cheese – softened
- Butter – softened
- Fresh-squeezed lemon juice
- Powdered sugar
🔪 How to Make Lemon Crazy Cake
Making this lemon wacky cake is crazy easy. See what we did there? Yes, this cake is ridiculously easy to make, requiring only a little mixing and baking. There’s nothing fancy here.
Step 1: Prep
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease an 8×8 baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
Step 2: Combine the Dry Cake Ingredients
Whisk the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl.
Step 3: Add the Wet Cake Ingredients
Add the water, lemon juice, vegetable oil, and vinegar to the dry ingredients and mix until the cake batter is combined.
Step 4: Bake
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove the pan from the oven and let the cake cool completely in the pan.
Step 5: Make the Frosting
Beat the cream cheese and butter in a large mixing bowl until smooth and creamy. Then, beat in the lemon juice until combined. Finally, add the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, beating after each addition, until the frosting is smooth and creamy.
Step 6: Frost the Cake
When the cake is completely cool, spread the lemon cream cheese frosting over the cake. Slice and enjoy!
📝Variations
Do you want to change up this recipe and make it your own? Here are some ways that you can do that!
- Lemon Juice – If you don’t have lemons, you can use RealLemon juice in the bottle.
- Lemon Zest – Try adding lemon zest to the cake and frosting for even more zippy flavor.
- Yellow Food Coloring – If you want a yellow color, add a few drops of lemon food coloring to your cake and frosting. Otherwise, both will be white.
For another summery, fruity-flavored cake, try our cherry almond cake.
🥄 Equipment
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Stand or hand mixer
- Mixing bowls (if using a hand mixer)
- 8×8 baking pan
🥫 Storage
Refrigerate this cake in an air-tight container for up to a week. For longer storage, chill the cake, wrap it in a double layer of plastic wrap and a layer of foil, and freeze for up to 3 months.
💭 Tips
- Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl when necessary while mixing the cake batter and frosting to ensure all ingredients are thoroughly combined.
- Be sure the interior of the cake pan is fully coated with cooking spray by using long, even, overlapping strokes while spraying the pan.
- You’ll need between 3 to 5 lemons for this recipe depending on their sizes.
⁉️ FAQ
Do you have questions about this recipe? Here are the answers to the most commonly asked questions.
Crazy cake is also called wacky cake, depression cake, war cake, and several other names, depending on the area of the country.
A crazy cake is a cake variation made without milk, eggs, or butter.
Crazy cake’s original name was depression cake. It was created during the great depression and used no egg, milk, or butter, all of which were hard to find in the Great Depression.
🍽 More Recipes
Do you enjoy lemon? Then try these delicious recipes:
📌 PIN IT!!
🧾Recipe Card
Want to make this recipe? Print the recipe card below, or pin this recipe, so you can find it later.
Lemon Crazy Cake
Equipment
- Measuring Cups and Spoons
- Stand or hand mixer
- mixing bowls
- 8×8 baking pan
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup water
- ½ cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon white vinegar
Frosting
- 8 ounces cream cheese softened
- ½ cup butter softened
- ¼ cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
- 4 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease an 8×8-inch baking pan with non-stick cooking spray; set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.
- Add the water, lemon juice, vegetable oil, and vinegar and stir to combine.
- Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan. Bake at 350F for 25-30 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Remove the cake from the oven and cool completely to room temperature before frosting.
- To make the frosting:
- In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter together with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy.
- Beat in the lemon juice until combined.
- Add the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, mixing on low speed between each addition until all of the powdered sugar is incorporated and the frosting is smooth.
- Spread the lemon cream cheese frosting over the cooled cake.
