A big cake to have fun or for a great occasion: the Layer cake lemon poppy has everything to please you... A soft lemon cake base, a creamy lemon curd and a mascarpone icing. We love its beautiful tangy flavor and its little crunchy side with poppy seeds.
If you have never made a layer cake before, do not be afraid of the task. You can start in advance and do it in several batches if necessary. For the decoration of the layer cake, it is not necessary to have perfect icing. Let your imagination run wild!
What you'll love about this lemon poppy layer cake recipe
flavors : if you like lemon cakes in general, then this layer cake is for you! Inside the lemon poppy seed layer cake, there is lemon juice and zest. The poppy seeds bring a little nutty side that goes very well with the lemon.
The lemon curd also brings a little tangy touch in this recipe. It is placed between the layers of cakes at the time of assembly.
The mascarpone whipped cream icing is slightly vanilla-flavored to counterbalance the tangy effect of the lemon.
Texture : the cake itself is soft but dense enough to hold up well in layer cake format. This is essential otherwise everything collapses! The lemon curd and the icing are very creamy. The mascarpone added to the whipped cream allows it to set a little more, which makes decorating easier.
Difficulty level : I would say average level! Once you have the appropriate molds, a pastry bag, a spatula, I think you have everything in hand to successfully assemble your layer cake.
How to make this lemon poppy layer cake?
We start with the lemon cake. This step can possibly be done in advance (1 or 2 days). If necessary, keep the 3 cake discs wrapped in cling film until assembly.
Beat the powdered sugar and butter then add the eggs. Then alternately pour in the fermented milk (purchased or made yourself) and the dry ingredients. Then add the lemon juice and zest with the poppy seeds. The dough is divided equally between 3 molds of 15cm in diameter before being put in the oven.
In a second step, we tackle the lemon curd (lemon cream). This step can also be done in advance. In a saucepan, whisk the butter and sugar before adding the lemon juice and eggs. The lemon curd should be cooked over very low heat and stirring constantly.
Last step vanilla icing : whip the cream and icing sugar into Chantilly cream. Add the mascarpone and vanilla. It's ready!
To assemble, all the elements must be well cooled. Place the first cake disc on the serving dish, sticking it with a dab of icing. Then, with a piping bag, mark out a circle of icing all around: this allows you to fill the inside with lemon curd. Cover the lemon curd with vanilla icing, then place the second cake on top, and so on...
Finally, just cover the entire layer cake with icing. You can use a pastry bag with a decorative tip or a spatula for this.
How to properly store your lemon poppy layer cake
Once decorated, and before tasting it, it is best to put it on approximately 30 minutes in the refrigerator to facilitate cutting.
The lemon poppy layer cake can be stored in the fridge for about 2/3 days. Beyond that, its icing would lose its flavor.
It is possible for you to freeze it. Cake discs can be frozen (without frosting). Once decorated, the lemon poppy layer cake can also be frozen. To do this, cut small portions and store them in airtight boxes before freezing them.
Other recipes to try
If you like this kind of big cakes / layer cakes, then I urge you to take a look at these other recipes from the blog: the Oreo layer cake version, Gingerbread layer cake, Chocolate layer cake, Raspberry coconut layer cake, Carrot cake layer cake version, Raffaello layer cake version.
If you make this recipe, don't hesitate to tag @liliebakery on Instagram so I can see your beautiful cakes!
- 250 ml of milk
- 1 tablespoons of white vinegar
- 250 g powdered sugar
- 250 g soft butter
- 3 eggs
- 300 g of flour
- 1 cc of baking powder
- 1 cc of baking soda
- 2 small lemons juice + a little zest (optional)
- 1,5 tbsp poppy seeds
- 30 g soft butter
- 40 g powdered sugar
- 2 lemons
- 2 eggs
- 20 cl full liquid cream
- 130 g icing sugar
- 500 g of mascarpone
- 1 tsp liquid vanilla extract
- Preheat the oven to 180 ° C traditional heat. Prepare the homemade fermented milk, by mixing the milk and white vinegar and let stand 15 minutes.
- In the bowl of the food processor, whisk the powdered sugar and softened unsalted butter. Incorporate the eggs one by one, beaten with a fork. Then alternately add the dry ingredients and the fermented milk.
- Then pour in the lemon juice, incorporate well and finish with the poppy seeds. Pour the dough into 3 buttered / floured molds 15cm in diameter and bake for 30 minutes.
- In a saucepan, whisk together the soft butter and powdered sugar. Add the juice of the 2 lemons. Separately, relax whole eggs with a fork and add them to the pan.
- Heat over low heat, and do not stop stirring (do not stop, otherwise the cream will cook!). The consistency obtained should be comparable to heavy cream. Remove from heat and cool the pot in cold water to stop cooking.
- Whip the whole liquid cream with the icing sugar into firm whipped cream (in a food processor). Add the mascarpone and whisk until a firm consistency is obtained. Finish with the vanilla. Refrigerate until assembly.
- Place a 15cm cardboard support on your cake pan (which will be used for the service). Secure it with a little icing. Ideally, take a turntable to put under your cake pan, the icing will be easier to achieve.
- Take the 1st cake, fix it on the cardboard support using a knob of icing. Using a pastry bag fitted with a round tip, make the outline of the cake with the vanilla icing (this will prevent the filling from overflowing) then fill the center with lemon curd and vanilla icing then place the 2nd cake and start over.
- Place a thin layer of icing on top of the last cake and spread over the layer cake using a spatula to cover it completely. Be careful, this layer must be very thin, you can see the cakes through. This layer is called "crumb-coat", it is essential because it avoids having cake crumbs in its final icing! Put in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
- Finally, make the final decoration by first covering the layer cake with a good layer of icing on the top and sides and smooth with a spatula. Decorate the rest with a pastry bag and sprinkle with small colored sugars or other decorations of your choice.
Superb cake that makes you want, bravo to you!
It's art Lilie, bravo and thank you for amazing us, and for making us want to make your recipes which are a success every time!
Thanks Nanou!
superb!
it is superb!
I love your cakes too much! !!!
Magnificent layer cake that just begs to be devoured!
Very successful ! Besides, it must be really good :)
He is truly magnificent !
This cake is magnificent! I really want to taste it
Ahhhhh here he is dressed (I saw him naked on Instagram)
As usual it's superb!!!!!
It is too pretty!
[…] by Lilie Bakery […]
Wow, how beautiful it is! And with lemon, it's delicious!
[…] Bakery – yes I love the lemon/poppy seed combination and I would happily bite into this Layers Cake. Why I am gaining weight – for a quick trip to Italy there are its little […]
Your layer cake is beautiful! I just have a few questions to ask you:
1) you never soak your sponge cakes or cakes (for layer cakes) in syrup to make them softer, do you think it is better to do so for a "less dry" result?
2) I made a layer cake a while ago in the same spirit as yours but instead of vanilla icing I chose Swiss meringue buttercream for the hold, but I found it quite "greasy". So, your whipped cream/mascarpone icing recipe tempts me but I'm worried about the hold of the cake (for a wedding), what do you recommend in this case?
Thank you for your answer and again bravo for your achievements :)
Hello Tiphaine, I don't usually soak my sponge cakes because I don't feel the need. But it's quite possible to do so. If you opt for my favorite icing, you have to be careful to keep it in the fridge (avoid strong smells from other foods stored in the fridge because the cream "drinks" everything). Happy baking! See you soon
Hello Lilie and thank you for responding so quickly to my message. However, I have another question to ask you. Can we make your lemon-poppy seed cake a day in advance and assemble it the next day? Your recipe really tempts me, it's a change from a traditional sponge cake and on top of that, your cake looks really moist!
This layer cake is really sublime! wow!
Hello!!! First of all, thank you for all these beautiful shares!!! Which make you want to taste and bake...
I would like to have some little tips on the hardware side:
if it is possible to have the reference of the mold because I tried in an extensible circle but not great
and also that of the spatula because I tested the recipe My beautiful chocolate birthday cakes...taste level at the top but smoothing side not great but I think it is due to the mold and my spatula.
the socket used is the 1m wilton ???
Thank you in advance and thank you again for all these beautiful shares...
Hello Sarah, I use PME brand molds and the 1M Wilton nozzle, an unbranded angled spatula.
It is beautiful!
Hello Lilie Bakery,
I made your lemon-poppy seed cake yesterday and I had a real problem that had never happened to me before! I baked the different layers separately because I only have one mold, so far no problem. It was when cutting and tasting that I realized that the cake was not at all airy but hyper compact, hyper moist as if it had not cooked enough even though I did the knife test. It is true that as I was in a hurry I did not wait long enough for it to cool in the ambient air, I quickly wrapped it in cling film and put it in the refrigerator. Maybe that was my mistake? I also opened my oven several times (it is new, I do not know it very well yet) and I think that deep down I would not have done it at all, it may have prevented my cake from rising. What do you think?
Please enlighten me on this!
Hello Tiphaine, you should definitely not open the oven during cooking, or only during the last 5 minutes, because this disrupts the cooking. You should also wait until they were cold to wrap them. See you soon.
Hello,
How long did it take you to make this cake?
Hello, I never make my cakes in one go, I often make them over 2 days. See you soon
Hello Lili! Your photos are sublime! They really make you want to. We want to make your cake with my mom for my dad's birthday who loves lemon. We already wanted to try the lemon cake on its own and it was excellent. We would like to make it over several days. So make the cake the day before and finish on the day. Only we left the cake in the refrigerator and the next day it was all hard and compact while in your photos it looks airy and soft ... Where could our mistake come from? Thank you very much
Hello Marie, we should have avoided putting them in the refrigerator, because this actually tends to solidify the cakes. @ soon
Hi,
For my granddaughter's second birthday and mine, I would like to design this layer cake. I am a beginner in baking although passionate, and I would like to know if it is possible to make this cake without a robot? I only have an electric whisk (beater).
Also, is it possible to soak the sponge cake in a little milk before filling it?
Many thanks in advance, this cake looks delicious.
Hello, yes it is quite possible without a robot. For the sponge cake too, no problem. See you soon
Thank you bcp, I will go shopping tomorrow and try I will tell you;).
Hello LiLi,
I have a little question about buttermilk. How long do you leave it on? Is it enough to just let it sit or do you have to beat it a little with the vinegar?
Thank you in advance.
Excellent site, I stumbled upon it by chance and became a fan.
Hello Jessica, we put it aside 10-15 minutes after mixing @ soon
Hello! My sponge cake cooked correctly but it didn't rise and is quite compact... Does yours rise and double in volume?
Hello Charline, the cakes should not swell very much, their surface is very smooth. @ soon
Hello Lili,
Another magnificent cake that I really want to try for my son's birthday.
On the other hand, when assembling, do you put the lemon curd in the center on the vanilla icing or do you alternate with the piping bag: a vanilla circle, a lemon curd circle then a vanilla circle... and this up to the center? I hope I'm clear :-).
Thank you!!
Hugs
Hello Sabrina, yes we can do both ways the taste result is more or less the same, @ soon
Hello,
Regarding the baking of the cake, is a pyrex mold good?
If the cake is made the day before, is it good the next day?
Thank you for the answer.
Hello Adeline, I use an aluminum mold for my recipes, for your mold you may need to adapt the cooking time. I always advise making your pastries in advance, it's generally better. See you soon
Hello !!!
So I did it, not exactly the same look, there were only two layers and I didn't have enough topping (I didn't have enough mascarpone so I halved the proportions),
BUT he was REALLY very good !!!!
I was afraid it would be too acidic, but no!!! PERFECT, very soft in the mouth and light.
I absolutely loved it and so did my friends!!
On the other hand, my poppy seeds once the cake was baked was towards the bottom (so the cake would go back to the top)
I think it's because I made them all in the same mold, I couldn't find a mold small enough, so I used a small charlotte mold, so I cut my cake in two (middle not completely cooked), but today I found the diameters I wanted so I will bake two cakes, I think the poppy seeds will stay in place ;)
But in any case thank you for all his delicious recipes !! BRAVO it's great your blog
Good holiday !!!
Thank you Alice, glad your friends enjoyed it! @ soon
Hello Lilie
I cracked and bought your books on Amazon!!
I can't wait to receive them and tonight I'm testing the recipe for the beautiful birthday cake.
The thank you box
Gourmet craving :) Happy reading!
I just tested this recipe which is a real success! Thank you :)
Hello! I totally ruined this magnificent layer cake x) it doesn't cook, the dough has a sticky and very greasy texture, does anyone have an explanation? ^^
Hello,
I've been eyeing this magnificent layer cake several times.
Today I started. I've never had any problems with sponge cakes but this... It's a real headache. It doesn't cook and doesn't rise. It's super compact.
Judging from the comments I'm not the only one this has happened to.
(For the moment I have only cooked one of the three cakes which seems to have failed. I tasted a piece 'not very good, acidic, and you can smell the bicarbonate or the yeast...while I followed it to the letter)
I'm going to add a little yeast to the dough I have left and if that doesn't work I'll use my usual sponge cake recipe which I'll enhance with lemon and poppy seeds...)
I'm still sad not to find a solution and I'm afraid it'll go in the trash.
I'm starting to wonder if there's something missing in the recipe. I had the same problem, so I thought it was bitter and at the office I had to eat it all by myself... I'd love to make it again to have the taste of a successful cake!
Lily help us !!!
Hello Ninoumi, in my opinion the problem comes from the amount of lemon juice that you added to the dough: if there is too much, it makes the dough which contains yeast and bicarbonate "turn". So my solution would be to reduce to 2 lemons (small) but compensate by adding a little zest to add some acidity. I have just modified my recipe accordingly. See you soon
Bonjour.
Your layer cake has been winking at him for months...
So I decided to do it. For that, I would have liked to know if we could make the genoise in a mold 15 cm in diameter and 10cm in height and then cut the genoise in 3 instead of using 3 molds?
Thank you
It works I will try this next time Thank you!
Hello Samira, I would like to leave you this comment to find out if you tried to make the recipe with your mold in one go because I also have the same mold and I really want to make this cake for my sister's birthday. Thank you in advance for your response and if Lille saw this comment, her help would be welcome. Thank you @soon
Sami.
Hello Samia, if you only have one mold, you can bake it twice in a row. The risk of baking it once is that the cake will be undercooked in the center because it is too high...
Hello!
What a wonderful cake! In the photos, it is to die for!
I plan to do it very soon and I hope to succeed.
I have a question, because reading the comments, I see that it is a rather dense cake. So, I was wondering if it was possible, following the recipe, to separate the whites from the yolks, then beat them into snow and add it to the cake batter? I would like a soft and airy cake. Would it be possible to do it like this?
Hello, you can try so yes, @ soon
Hello,
First of all I want to congratulate you for your appetizing achievements but also your magnificent photos. Thank you for sharing this.
I have already made this cake (which was a huge success) which is why my partner asked me for it for our PACS meal. Last time I made everything in the morning for the evening, this time I want to make the sponge cakes and lemon curd today for the next day, can you advise me on the method of preserving the sponge cakes? (refrigerator or not? wrapped or not?)
Another technical problem: I have to transport the layer cake for 30 minutes in a car. I have the possibility to decorate it and assemble it once I arrive at my destination. Is it better to make the icing in advance? I'm afraid the cream will fall during the journey...
Thank you in advance for your help.
Elodie
Hello Elodie, these sponge cakes are best kept wrapped in cling film, at room temperature, while waiting for icing. As for the cream, it needs to stay cool, so I advise you to whip it up at the last minute. See you soon
Hello I would like to make this cake for a friend only she would like to collect it on Saturday for Sunday do you think my icing will hold? Can we freeze the cake and put it in the fridge on Sunday morning ?? Thank you for your reply
Yes, absolutely, in the fridge, it's like whipped cream. It will hold if you've made the icing well :) I never freeze my cakes with icing. See you soon.
Beautiful cake.... Well, I don't know yet because we will taste it this evening!!!
One question though? What is the diameter of the molds used? They are certainly small because the height rendering is not the same as mine.
Mc
It's written in the recipe, these are 15cm diameter molds, ideal for layer cakes.
Hello,
Please, how did you do the cake decoration? The lines on the cakes? Would it be possible to have a tutorial video?
Thanks a lot!!
Hello, it's a spatula with spikes that makes this drawing in one go. See you soon.
Hello,
Do you think I can replace the lemon with orange without too much trouble?
Hello, it is not the same degree of acidity, so be careful with raising agents (bicarbonate, yeast) you have to do tests...
Oh sorry, I didn't specify: replace the lemon with orange, for the lemon curd only (I'll take your chocolate layer cake base for the cake).
Hello,
Is it possible to change poppy seeds to chia seeds?
Thank you!!
Hello, the chia seeds will swell when in contact with the liquid, I don't recommend it too much...
Hello,
does your vanilla frosting harden in the fridge? will it hold up for a 3 tier wedding cake, won't they collapse?
Thanks in advance for your reply and your great blog.
Hello Anissa, no this icing does not really harden, it remains creamy, you have to go with a buttercream instead;)
Hello, can I make this recipe without lemon? How should I do it ?
Hello,
I would like to make 2 cakes following this recipe, one larger than the other and put the smaller one on top. Will the bottom cake support the weight of the top cake? Thank you in advance for your answer and thank you for this recipe that I can't wait to try!
Hello, I haven't tried to do any layering, be careful of the icing which might want to escape on the sides!
[…] explains well how to do it. For me, it's done, let me introduce you to Lilie Bakery, a blogger and food photographer who makes you want to eat, just with photos. […]
I tried your recipe and honestly this cake is amazing, light and beautiful (well mine is 100 times less beautiful than yours). In any case thank you very much for sharing because my whole family and my father loved it (it was to celebrate his 60th birthday). So thank you again very much and if you want to see mine: http://gourmande33.canalblog.com/archives/2017/08/22/35608329.html
[…] Here is the second layer cake I made for my father's 60th birthday, lighter than the oreo layer cake. The latter was also much more popular, the sponge cake is very soft and really excellent. The whole family loved it, as did the oreo one. I found this recipe on lili bakery's blog. […]
Hello, when do we add the milk and vinegar mixture, please?
Thank you
Hello. Do you have to cream the sugar and butter or just mix them because my cake completely failed. I have the impression that the butter melted during cooking and what's more, it didn't rise even though I followed the recipe carefully. What do you think it could be?
Good evening! I have made this superb cake several times before and my guests have loved it. My daughter too and for halloween she asks me for it. As I don't like sugar paste I was wondering if I could decorate almond paste on top of the icing and then keep it in the fridge under a bell?
Otherwise I will color my icing in orange and black. Thank you for your help and thank you for these great recipes!
Hello
I would have liked to make this cake tomorrow,
Did you do well with the sponge cake?
Thank you
Hello I would like to know if the amount of sponge cake indicated in your recipe is made for three cakes or you have to triple or double. Thank you
Hello,
Thanks for this recipe, I can't wait to try it!
Is the cake better the next day? (one night in the fridge after assembly)
Is it possible to do it over 3 days? D1: Cakes + lemon curd, D2: Icing + Assembly, D3: Tasting?
Thanks in advance for your reply :)
Gaëlle
Hello Gaëlle, yes it is quite possible to do it in several batches. Keeping it in the fridge after decorating is important (avoiding having foods that are too smelly in the fridge is better because otherwise the cream will absorb all the smells!)
For me, this diaper was a success for my son's 4-year-old.
I had prepared and frozen the biscuits in advance, done the first assembly the day before, then the finishing touches on the day.
I had planned a syrup anyway because when I put it in my mouth, I found it dense and heavy.
Syrup, cream and ganache sublimated this tangy cake, sweet as we like.
Thank you for this great recipe .
Thanks Anouk for your feedback, glad you liked it! See you soon :)
Hello,
Is the quantity of ingredients planned for a single cake or for all 3 layers?
Thank you in advance !
Hello Eline, these are the quantities for the whole cake (and not just one disc). See you soon :)