If you’ve never enjoyed a slice of Italian Lemon Cream Cake, you don’t know what you’re missing.
Our copycat recipe for Olive Garden’s Lemon Cream Cake has a few extra steps, but trust me—it’s worth the effort!
This delightful Italian dessert features a light and airy sponge cake stuffed with a whipped cream mascarpone lemon filling. It is coated with a sweet crumb topping and finished with a dusting of confectioner’s sugar.
You don’t have to be an experienced baker to create our Italian lemon Cream Cake. Made with simple ingredients, our easy-to-follow recipe is guaranteed to impress your friends and family.
If you love delicious Italian desserts, make sure to check out my Italian cream cake and cannoli cake recipes.
Ingredients to make an Italian Lemon Cream Cake
Let’s start by gathering the ingredients we need to make our Italian lemon cream cake recipe. In Chef Speak, this is called the Mise en Place, which translates into Everything in its Place.
Not only does setting your ingredients up ahead of time speed the cooking process, but it also helps ensure you have everything you need to make the dish.
How to Make an Italian Lemon Cream Cake
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Line an 8-inch round cake pan. Grease the sides and line them with parchment paper.
- Add the all-purpose flour, baking powder, and table salt to a large bowl.
- Whisk to combine the dry ingredients and set aside until needed.
- Add the unsalted butter and granulated sugar to the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or a large mixing bowl and an electric hand mixer).
- Whip on high speed until light and fluffy (3-4 minutes).
- Add the room temperature eggs to the creamed butter.
- Mix to combine, scraping down the bottom and sides of the bowl as needed.
- Add the vanilla extract and milk to the mixture and mix to combine.
- Add the dry ingredients to the cake batter.
- Mix just enough to combine.
*Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl as needed. - Pour the cake batter into the prepared cake pan.
- Place the pan on the center rack of the preheated oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Allow the cake to cool in its pan for 5 minutes, and then turn it out onto a wired rack to cool completely.
How to make Lemon Cream
- Add the heavy whipping cream to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whip attachment.
- Whip the heavy cream slowly until you get stiff peaks. Set aside until needed.
- Add the mascarpone cheese, powdered sugar, lemon zest, and fresh lemon juice to a large bowl.
- Use an electric mixer (or wooden spoon) and whip until well blended.
- Add the whipped cream to the mascarpone mixture.
- Gently fold the whipped cream into the mixture.
*Chill in the refrigerator until ready to use.
How to make a lemon crumb topping
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Spread the flour out on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Place the baking sheet on the center rack of the preheated oven and bake for 5 minutes to cook the raw taste out of the flour.
*Let the flour cool for a few minutes before using. - Add the cooled flour and powdered sugar to a large bowl.
- Whisk to combine.
- Add the pieces of very cold butter to the flour mixture.
- Cut the cold butter into the dry ingredients using a pastry cutter, forks, or your hands.
*You should have a pea-size or smaller pieces. - Add the lemon zest and vanilla extract to the crumb topping.
- Mix to combine.
*Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate until the mixture is cold, about 1 hour.
How to assemble an Italian Lemon Cream Cake
- Cut the cooled cake horizontally. Place one layer on a cake plate. Reserve ¾ cup of filling, and spread or pipe the rest of the filling on top of the cake.
- Place the second cake layer on top. Spread the reserved cake filling all over the top and sides of the cake.
- Press crumb topping all over the tops and sides of the cake.
- Dust the whole cake with powdered sugar.
*If you’re not serving the Italian lemon cream cake immediately, wait to dust it with powdered sugar until you’re ready to serve. Keep the cake refrigerated until serving.
Our Italian lemon cake is perfect for your next dinner party, special occasions, or your next family get-together.
The bright lemon flavor makes this one of my favorite Italian cakes, and I know after one bite, it will become one of your favorites too!
Leftover Italian lemon cream cake should be stored refrigerated in an airtight container or well-covered with plastic wrap for 4-5 days.
Freezing isn’t suggested, as the mascarpone cream can break down. If you need to freeze leftovers, cut them into individual slices and double-wrap them in plastic wrap. Store frozen for up to two months.
Recipe FAQ’S
Yes, you can. It can be made up to 24 hours in advance. Keep it refrigerated until ready to serve.
If your local grocery store doesn’t stock mascarpone cheese, you can use cream cheese instead. The frosting will have a little more tang from the cream cheese, but it will still be delicious.
For a light and fluffy cake, it’s important to whip the butter and sugar until it’s light and fluffy before adding other ingredients. Overmixing the batter will result in a denser, tougher cake. When adding the flour, mix just enough to combine.
More Recipes You’ll Love!
Italian Lemon Cream Cake
Ingredients
- 1¼ cup all purpose flour
- 1¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoon unsalted butter room temperature
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup whole milk room temperature
Crumb Topping
- ¾ cup all purpose flour
- ¾ cup confectioners' sugar
- 6 tablespoon unsalted butter cold and cut into 6 pieces
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Cake Filling
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 8 oz mascarpone cheese room temperature
- 2 cups confectioners' sugar
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 2 tablespoon lemon juice fresh
Instructions
Vanilla Cake
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Line an 8-inch round cake pan. Grease the sides and line it with parchment paper.
- Add the all-purpose flour, baking powder, and table salt to a large bowl. Set aside until needed.
- Add the unsalted butter and granulated sugar to the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or a large bowl and an electric hand mixer). Whip until light and fluffy (3-4 minutes).
- Add eggs to the creamed butter. Mix to combine, scraping down the bottom and sides of the bowl as needed.
- Add the vanilla extract and milk and mix to combine.
- Add the dry ingredients to the cake batter. Mix just enough to combine.*Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl as needed
- Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan
- .Place the pan on the center rack of the preheated oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Allow the cake to cool in its pan for 5 minutes, and then turn it out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Lemon Mascarpone Cream Filling
- Add the heavy whipping cream to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whip attachment. Whip the cream slowly until you get stiff peaks. Set aside until needed.
- Add the mascarpone cheese, powdered sugar, lemon zest, and juice to a large bowl. Use an electric mixer (or wooden spoon) and whip until well blended.
- Add the whipped cream to the mascarpone mixture. Gently fold the whipped cream into the mixture.*Chill in the refrigerator until ready to use.
Crumb Topping
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Spread the flour out on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Place the baking sheet on the center rack of the preheated oven and bake for 5 minutes to cook the raw taste out of the flour.*Let the flour cool for a few minutes before using.
- Add the cooled flour and powdered sugar to a large bowl. Whisk to combine.
- Add the pieces of unsalted butter to the flour mixture.
- Using a pastry cutter, forks, or your hands, cut the cold butter into the dry ingredients.*You should have pea size or smaller pieces.
- Add the lemon zest and vanilla extract to the crumb topping. Mix to combine.
- *Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate until the mixture is cold, about 1 hour.
To Assemble
- Cut the cooled cake horizontally. Place one layer on a cake plate.
- Reserve ¾ cup of filling, and spread or pipe the rest of the filling on top of the cake.
- Place the second cake layer on top. Spread the reserved cake filling all over the top and sides of the cake.
- Press crumb topping all over the tops and sides of the cake.
- Dust the entire cake with powdered sugar.*If you’re not serving the Italian lemon cream cake immediately, wait to dust it with powdered sugar until you’re ready to serve. Keep the cake refrigerated until serving.
- Refrigerate the cake when not being served.
Jan says
Can I substitute cake flour for the APflour?
Chef Dennis Littley says
Yes you can, you need to add an extra two tablespoons of cake flour for every cup of all purpose flour used, so for this recipe add an additional 2.5 tablespoons of cake flour.
Lisa says
Easy to follow recipe and amazing results!
Simone says
In your instructions for the crumb topping you say to add vanilla and lemon zest but your ingredient list for the crumb topping doesn’t include vanilla. If it’s supposed to be in there, what’s the amount?
(Also, just a note that your photos show 3 eggs being added to the cake batter, but the ingredients say 2 eggs. I’m hoping the 2 eggs listed is correct. Thanks!)
Chef Dennis Littley says
Thanks for catching that and it is three eggs. Hopefully there won’t be any noticeable differences.
Simone says
Hi again,
I just guessed that it was supposed to be 1 tsp of vanilla in the crumb based on the photo. I doubled the recipe and the 9×13 worked (cutting it in half was a helpful tip!).
I question the ratios on the crumb though. Mine didn’t really clump. I ended up adding butter, so instead of 12 TBS (since I doubled it), I used a full 16 TBS. It still didn’t really form crumbs. Mostly looked like flour… I tried to press it together a bit, but I couldn’t get it to look like your photos. Also, I had about twice as much as I could fit on the cake, but that might be because it didn’t clump.
It seems like it’ll taste pretty good, but TBD as I made it for a dinner tomorrow. If you have any thoughts on the crumb, I’d like to hear them as I’d like to try it again if it’s well received. Thank you!
Chef Dennis Littley says
I just made the crumb topping and it came out fine. I’m not sure where you’re problem happened but 6 tablespoons of butter for 3/4 cup of flour and 3/4 cup of confectioners sugar was a good amount. If you had too much topping it leads me to believe you used too much flour.
Simone says
Do you think I could double this in a 9×13? If so, any idea on bake time? Thank you!
Chef Dennis Littley says
As long as you can slice it in half it should work without any problems. Its going to be a little tricky to maneuver, you may want to cut it in half to make it easier to move.
Simone says
Thank you! Good idea. I’ll give it a whirl and hope the crumb covers any mess I make.
maral Eskenian says
Delicious
Chef Dennis Littley says
Thank you!