Lemon Rosemary Cake You’ll Love! (With Lemon Curd Filling)

Bring the sunny flavors of the Mediterranean right into your own kitchen with this delightful lemon rosemary cake with lemon curd filling!

What makes this lemon rosemary cake so good?

This recipe makes a dense, substantial vanilla lemon cake with just enough rosemary to keep things interesting.

The subtle, delicate flavors are enhanced by the vanilla icing and sweet, tangy lemon curd filling for a unique and memorable dessert that will ensnare your senses!

Citrus and herbs make a wonderful combination, whether you serve this herbaceous cake with afternoon tea or for dessert.

This cake is:

• Easy – Cake from scratch hardly takes more time than from a mix, but tastes way better!
• Just sweet enough – This is less sweet than a cake from a bakery or grocery store, which means less guilt!
• Versatile – Change up the icing or filling to suit however much time you have to whip it up.
• Customizable – Add more or less herbs or different fruit to suit your tastes and what’s in season, or go gluten-free if needed.

Serving suggestions

The sweetness of this cake makes an excellent complement to the slight bitterness of tea or coffee. I think an unsweetened or lightly sweetened lemon iced tea would go beautifully with this cake.

Of course, you can never go wrong with a cold glass of milk with your desserts.

Fresh fruit makes a lovely complement – consider blueberries.

For the ultimate in decadence, you could even serve this with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or lemon sorbet.

Variations on this lemon rosemary cake recipe

The cake and icing as written are not as sweet as a commercial cake you would buy at a grocery store, which you may find refreshing.

That being said, the lemon curd I bought at Trader Joe’s was extremely sweet, and it made the cake as a whole much sweeter.

If you are sensitive to sugar, or just not a huge fan of a strong and tangy lemon flavor, you may prefer to just using vanilla icing as the filling and skip the lemon curd.

Icing Variations

This icing recipe is my dad’s variation on an old-fashioned icing recipe where you cook the milk and flour to make the icing fluffy.

However, if there is a buttercream or cream cheese icing you know you love, you can of course use your own tried and true favorite.

If you feel like you’ve spent enough time in the kitchen after making the cake, you can always use a simple lemon glaze or just a plain powdered sugar glaze instead of making icing.

In addition, if you want a treat but also want to cut back on sugar, you can serve the cake with just a sprinkle of powdered sugar or whipped cream as a garnish.

You could make the icing recipe below with cornstarch instead of flour if you wanted (or if you ran out of flour). Cornstarch makes it thicker and a little more rubbery, but is okay – use a little less.

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Cake Variations

For a more sweet and savory (and Mediterranean!) flavor, you can try olive oil in place of the butter. Of course, only try this if you enjoy olive oil, as it does have a strong flavor. I personally like olive oil with vanilla in baked goods.

You can make the cake richer by adding in some Greek yogurt (or vanilla or plain yogurt) as well. Half a cup should work well.

Similarly, for more richness and a tangy flavor, substitute buttermilk for 1 cup or all of the water.

Try adding 1/3 cup or so of sour cream or creme fraiche for an even richer cake.

For easier decorating, you can make this as a bundt cake or in loaf pans, especially if you were planning on using a simple glaze instead of bothering with making icing. I would start checking the bundt cake around 30 minutes in to baking it, but it will likely take more like 45.

Dietary Substitutions

Gluten-free: use a 1-to-1 gluten-free flour in place of the all-purpose flour.

Dairy-free: The vegan butter you can buy in grocery stores these days is a quite impressive substitute, and you can use your favorite plant-based milk like almond milk instead of dairy milk if you or someone you will be serving has dairy allergies or sensitivities.

Vegan: Use the same vegan butter and milk as above, but also replace the eggs with flax eggs (recipe at the bottom of this baked porridge post). This may make the consistency different.

I have not had amazing luck using store-bought egg replacers yet. For example, noodles came out okay but a little slimy, and brownies came out quite hard.

Tips for making this lemon rosemary layer cake

• Bring the cold ingredients (butter and eggs) to room temperature before you start.
• Grate your lemon zest from a whole lemon. If you are going to be cutting and/or juicing the lemon for something else later, do so afterwards to make zesting easier.
• No need to over mix your ingredients.
• Try blending each egg into the batter individually to ensure smooth batter.
• Mise en place: measure and set everything you will need out before you start to make things easier.
• Once baked, cool cakes on a wire rack to help them cool faster.
• You can turn the cakes halfway through baking if you have noticed that your oven bakes unevenly.

How long does it take to soften butter to room temperature?

Not as long as you may think!

Depending on temperature and humidity, etc., take butter out of the fridge and leave in on the counter for 30-45 minutes, according to this article on MarthaStewart.com.

If you have frozen butter, place it in the refrigerator overnight (or around 8 hours), then set it out as above, 30-45 minutes before you expect to need it.

Alternatively, you can set frozen butter out at room temperature for 3-4 hours to thaw.

How to tell if your cake is done without a toothpick

First, see if the edges are starting to look golden brown.

Once you suspect that your cake might be done, you can lightly press your fingertip on the top of the cake in the middle. If it bounces back, it’s done!

If there is still a small indentation, it needs a couple more minutes.

Decorating your lemon rosemary cake

I kept my cake decor quite simple and used a fresh lemon slice and additional fresh rosemary sprigs.

However, you can use candied lemon slices instead to make the garnish more palatable. You can buy some pre-made or make some the night before.

Similarly, you could make sugared rosemary, which coincidentally looks gorgeous. Here’s how:

1. Dip fresh rosemary sprigs in simple syrup. Let them sit (on parchment paper) until they are sticky but not dry (about an hour).
2. Roll them in sugar.

They will look lovely and frost-covered! (Feel free to make a note of this for winter, and make sugared cranberries at the same time for some seriously beautiful food.)

Note: if you don’t want to bother with all that, just dust some powdered sugar over the rosemary.

Cake pan sizes

This recipe will make two 8- or 9-inch round cakes to layer, as shown, or one large 9″ x 13″ cake.

Storage

This cake should keep on the counter for 3 days or so, depending on your temperature, or a week in the fridge.

If you don’t expect to finish it by then, it also freezes well in an airtight container. Freeze individual slices so you don’t have to thaw an entire cake to cut one piece off.

Store this cake in an air-tight container such as a cake carrier, or add toothpicks before covering with plastic wrap to form a little tent and keep the icing intact.

Do I have to add rosemary?

I think the rosemary goes very well with the lemon, but if you typically only have rosemary in poultry seasoning you may find it strange. Of course you can skip it and just enjoy a lemon vanilla cake.

Alternatively, you could try a different herb in its place.

Lemon mint would be lovely. Lemon basil would also be lovely, but I would consider that even more adventurous than lemon rosemary. For a really unique cake, you could use thyme, but I’m not sure if I would like that, so give it a sniff to make sure you really want thyme mixed in.

Additionally, you can’t go wrong with lemon lavender!

Finally, you could just carefully fold in some blueberries at the end for a more traditional lemon blueberry cake. A half-cup should do.

Can I use a different icing?

Yes of course! Buttercream, cream cheese icing, mascarpone icing, plain or lemon glaze, sprinkled powdered sugar, or whipped cream would all make lovely substitutions.

Do I need to sift the dry ingredients or flour?

I did not sift anything, and my cake turned out beautifully.

If there are lumps in your flour and you need to get the measurements right without air pockets, sift away, but this recipe, like most I make, is forgiving enough that you can skip that step.

Sifting is much more important if you are using weight measurements (i.e. 250 grams) than volume measurements (i.e. 2 cups) as we are using here.

(If you like sifting to ensure a smooth batter, try using a whisk to help speed up the movement of the flour/dry mix through your sifter.)

Related dessert recipes

• Pistachio torte
• Gateau vert
• Fig bread
• Vegan monkey bread

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Ingredients to make lemon rosemary cake with lemon curd filling and vanilla icing

Before you begin, you will need:

EDIBLE INGREDIENTS

Lemon Rosemary Cake

• 2 1/2 cups flour (plus extra for dusting the pans)

Regular all-purpose flour works just fine, although some people swear by cake flour.

• 3 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 stick butter (1/2 cup) (at room temperature)

I used salted butter. See above for softening times from the fridge or freezer.

• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 tsp lemon extract
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 Tbsp lemon zest

One lemon will provide you plenty of zest.

• 1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh rosemary

Vanilla Icing

• 5 tablespoons flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup butter (one and a half sticks, at room temperature)
• 1 cup granulated sugar

Lemon Curd Filling

• One 10.5 ounce jar lemon curd

I found mine at Trader Joe’s.

TOOLS AND EQUIPMENT

• Stand mixer or hand mixer (or allow plenty of time for mixing by hand)
• Dutch oven or large pot or skillet with plenty of surface area
• Two round cake pans (8 or 9 inch) or one 9″ x 13″ pan
• Mixing bowls
• Spoons and spatulas
• Measuring cups and spoons
• Box grater or something to zest your lemon with
• Knife and cutting board for mincing rosemary

How to make this lemon rosemary cake

For the lemon rosemary cake

1. First, grease your pan(s) with butter and coat them with flour to prevent sticking.
2. After that, zest your lemon and mince your fresh rosemary.
3. Next, mix the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a mixing bowl to create your dry mix.
4. Then, in a separate mixing bowl, use a stand mixer or an electric mixer to beat together the sugar and butter until fluffy. This should take about four minutes. After that, add the eggs, lemon zest, and rosemary, and continue beating until fluffy. This is the wet mix.
5. Preheat your oven to 350°F.
6. Next, add the vanilla to the water.
7. After that, gradually mix everything together, stirring as you go. To start, stir about a third of the dry mix into the wet mix, then add half of the liquid. Next, add another third of the dry mix, then the final half the liquid, and then the last third of the dry mix.
8. The cake batter will be really thick, so you can’t just pour it into the pans. Use a spatula to spread the batter evenly into the pans and make it level.
9. Once the oven is hot, bake for 23-26 minutes (35 minutes if you are using a 9 x 13 pan).
10. Allow to cool completely before icing (you can bake the cake(s) the night before to ensure there is plenty of time for cooling).

For the vanilla icing

1. First, cook the milk and flour until thickened, stirring constantly. It should be fluffy.
2. Then, stir in the vanilla extract. Let this mixture cool completely.
3. Once the pan is completely cool, beat the butter and sugar with a stand mixer or electric mixer until it is whipped up like whipped cream. The sugar will still be grainy at this stage.
4. After that, mix in the cooled thickened milk and beat until thoroughly mixed.

Assembling the lemon rosemary cake

1. First, select your surface: a cake carrier bottom, plate, etc. For a flawless presentation, you can cut four scraps of parchment paper and layer them to cover the perimeter of the surface to catch drips and crumbs.
2. Once your space is prepared, place the bottom layer of cake down. If desired, you can add a smear of icing to the middle of your surface first to help the cake stick.
3. Optional: If you want a truly photogenic cake for hosting, you may wish to cut off the domed surfaces of the cakes for flat layers. (As you can see from the photos, I didn’t bother, and had to do some spackling with the icing.) You can use toothpicks as guideposts to help you cut evenly.
4. Then, spread your lemon curd filling. For a picture-perfect cake with no filling escaping, you can pipe some icing around the perimeter of the cake before you begin to corral the filling. If you go this route, I recommend spreading a thin layer of icing first, then piping the perimeter, and then adding the lemon curd filling within the perimeter.
5. After that, place the second layer of the cake upside down on top of the bottom layer. This will give you a flat surface to ice.
6. Then, spread your icing over the top of the cake. If desired, you can also spread icing around the sides (you will have plenty).
7. Finally, add any garnishes you want, serve, and enjoy!

I hope you love this lemon rosemary cake as much as I do!