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Quick and Easy Lemon Cake

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Lemon Jello Cake

This is the lemon cake that my Nana usually always makes for me when I go home to California. We both forgot about it during my last visit and I didn’t realize until I got back to Sicily that I hadn’t had my Lemon Jello Cake fix.

Luckily, I have the recipe! And lucky for you, I’m going to share it!

This is one of the easiest cakes you can make and I will argue that it’s one of the best-tasting cakes you will ever eat.

What makes this cake so great is the glaze. The cake is baked in a jelly roll pan so it is only about an inch thick. After it’s done baking, you pierce the cake all over with a fork and spread it with the sweet-tart lemon glaze. The glaze sinks down into the cake and the result is the best lemon cake EVER!

Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Nana’s Lemon Jello Cake

1 package yellow cake mix
1 small package lemon jello
3/4 C. water
4 eggs, well beaten
3/4 C. oil

glaze:
Juice and zest of 2 lemons
2 C. powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 18 x 13-inch jelly roll pan.

2. Pour cake mix and lemon jello powder into a large bowl; whisk together to remove any large lumps. Stir in the water then add eggs and oil. Blend, using a wooden spoon, with 50 strokes. There will be lumps, this is ok.

3. Pour batter into a greased and floured jelly roll pan; smooth batter with a spatula so that it is even. Bake 25 minutes at 350 degrees, checking after the first 20 minutes.

4. While cake is baking, mix together powdered sugar. lemon juice and zest.

5. While cake is still warm, pierce with fork all over then spread glaze evenly over the top. Allow to cool, then cut into squares and serve.

Mixing the Batter

As you can see, the batter will be lumpy. It’s important to smooth the batter evenly with a spatula after pouring it in the jelly roll pan, so that it will bake evenly.

Cake Batter

One of the greatest inventions ever, the microplane grater is perfect for zesting a lemon in seconds!

Lemon Zest

How do you juice your lemons? I usually just squeeze them by hand, using a small strainer to catch the seeds.

Squeezing Lemons

When making the glaze, you don’t have to use a cute little whisk like this one. But it always puts a smile on my face!

Mixing the glaze

After the cake comes out of the oven, pierce it all over with a large fork. The holes will allow the yummy lemon glaze to penetrate the cake.

Piercing Cake

After the glaze is poured over the warm cake, make sure to spread it out quickly and evenly with spatula.

Pouring Glaze

As the cake cools, the glaze hardens just a bit. Now is the time to dig in with your fork before dividing the rest into squares!

Finished Cake

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Comments

  1. Ruby says

    Lemons, lemons and more lemons! I love them!!!! This recipe looks simple and more importantly delicious! :) I'm going to try this out this weekend, I'll let you know how it turns out. Thanks Nicole, beautiful pictures as always.
    Reply

  2. Corinne says

    NANA'S LEMON CAKE! I loooooooooooove it. This is a MUST TRY for everyone. Even I can make it...it's that easy! Man, now my mouth is watering. I want some of that cake!
    Reply

  3. Nicole says

    Ruby: I really can't believe that I don't have more lemon recipes on here! I really need to get to work and post some more because I use lemons several times a week! Hope you guys enjoy the cake this weekend! Corinne: I know, this is a cake that really is rated "E" for everyone! So easy, soooooooo good! I had to take the cake to the guys in the office today because if I would have left the whole thing here, it would already be in my stomach! It got rave reviews from everyone there too.
    Reply

  4. Erin says

    Wow! You've been baking up a storm. I hope you have lots of neighbors to share all of these delicious recipes with. Lovely images! How did you get pictures of actually pouring batter etc... Tripod? Husband? That's where I always have problems since I usually cook alone. Best, Erin
    Reply

  5. Nicole says

    Erin: I use a tripod and either set the timer on my camera or use the remote shutter release. It's kind of a hassle to take photos while I'm in the middle of cooking or baking something so it doesn't happen that often!
    Reply

  6. Joe says

    So, you have a death grip on the lemon with one hand, and a camera in the other? Sounds like a recipe for a lemon-scented camera, if you ask me ;) Cheers, Joe
    Reply

  7. amy says

    giving away our family secrets, eh? LOL i love this cake and can't imagine anyone not liking it, even a little bit. looks amazing, nana should be very proud of you!
    Reply

  8. Mischelle says

    Aloha, I'm relatively new to your site, and I love it. Thanks for sharing so much with us! Talk about a stroll down memory lane...my mother used to make this very cake for us growing up, but she used a bundt pan. Of course the glaze is the best part. In fact, it was the cake for my first birthday,...37 years ago!!! I just told my kids about that very thing not even a week ago. Now, I HAVE to make it this weekend.. too much of a coincidence to not accept the need for really good cake. We gotta continue the tradition here as well. Your photos are so delightful. Mahalo and aloha!!
    Reply

  11. Nicole says

    Joe: Yes, I actually did get lemon juice on the camera. And today I accidentally got flour and butter all over my remote shutter switch! But hopefully some good biscuit-making photos will come of it! Amy: Haha, some things are so good they have to be shared! Mischelle: I'm sure this cake is great in a bundt pan, too! Isn't it funny to find out that the exact same recipe can be a tradition in other families? I think it's great! I hope you make the cake and that your kids love it as much as we do :-) Cynthia: You're welcome! Thank you for the visits and nice comments ;-) Christina: Did you just make it or have you tried this recipe before? I gave most of this last batch away and now I'm wishing I still had some left!
    Reply

  12. Steven Vollmer says

    What variety lemon did you use? I suppose it doesn't matter. While researching this I found out that a lemon is technically classified as a berry! I prefer lemons with tartness that can be offset easily by its' sugar content.
    Reply

  14. Nicole says

    Steven: Just regular lemons, any variety should work but I wouldn't use Meyers because for the glaze you need something very tart to balance all the sugar: But I don't think you'd find meyer lemons yet anyway :-) Ruby: I was wondering if you made it over the weekend. Glad you liked it!
    Reply

  15. Augustina says

    This cake reminds me so much of my childhood--my mom used to bake lemon cakes for our birthdays (also from cake mixes) and we loved them! i'll definitely give this one a try. looks good!
    Reply

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