Lemon Sheet Cake With Raspberry Whipped Cream
Published Aug. 3, 2020
- Total Time
- 1½ hours
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
Ingredients
- Nonstick cooking spray
- 2cups/400 grams granulated sugar
- 3lemons, zested (about 5 tablespoons), plus ⅓ cup/80 milliliters lemon juice (from about 2 lemons)
- 4cups/510 grams all-purpose flour
- 1tablespoon baking powder
- 1teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½cup/115 grams unsalted butter (1 stick), at room temperature
- ½cup/120 milliliters vegetable oil
- 6large eggs, at room temperature
- 1¼cups/300 milliliters buttermilk, at room temperature
- 12ounces/340 grams (about 2¾ heaping cups) raspberries (thawed, if frozen)
- ¾cup/150 grams granulated sugar
- 1½cups/360 milliliters heavy cream
- Lemon zest or sprinkles, for finishing (optional)
For the Cake
For the Frosting
Preparation
- Step 1
Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9-by-13-inch pan with nonstick spray, then line the pan with parchment paper. Lightly coat the parchment paper with nonstick spray.
- Step 2
In the bowl of an electric mixer, use your hands to rub together the sugar and lemon zest.
- Step 3
In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder and salt.
- Step 4
Add the butter and oil to the bowl with the lemon sugar, and transfer it to the mixer. Using the paddle attachment, cream the mixture on medium speed until light and fluffy, 4 to 5 minutes. With the mixer running, add the lemon juice in a slow, steady stream and mix until well combined, 1 minute more. Scrape the bowl well.
- Step 5
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing on medium speed until each is incorporated before adding the next, about 1 to 2 minutes each. Scrape the bowl well every two to three additions.
- Step 6
Add half of the flour mixture and mix on low speed until fully incorporated. With the mixer running on low speed, add the buttermilk in a slow, steady stream, and mix until fully incorporated. Add the remaining flour and mix until it’s evenly incorporated.
- Step 7
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread into an even layer. Transfer to the oven and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 27 to 32 minutes. Cool completely.
- Step 8
While the cake cools, make the frosting: In a medium bowl, mash the raspberries with a potato masher or large fork until broken down. Stir in ½ cup/100 grams granulated sugar, and let macerate for 10 to 15 minutes.
- Step 9
Strain the raspberry mixture. (You should have at least ¾ cup/180 milliliters juice. Reserve any excess for cocktails, stir it into sparkling water, or drizzle over ice cream.)
- Step 10
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the cream and the remaining ¼ cup/50 grams granulated sugar on medium speed until the mixture reaches soft peaks, about 1 to 2 minutes.
- Step 11
With the mixer still running on medium speed, pour the raspberry juice into the mixer in a slow, steady stream. (Reduce splattering by pouring away from the moving whisk.) Continue to whip until the mixture forms peaks, about 30 seconds to 1 minute more.
- Step 12
Spoon the frosting over the cooled cake and spread into an even layer. If desired, garnish with lemon zest and sprinkles.
Private Notes
Comments
The sugar can definitely be dropped down from 2 cups. This cake is extremely sweet. On my second try, I used 1 cup of sugar and a 1/2 cup of lemon juice. This was much better, more like a pink lemonade that the recipe is emulating.
Whipped cream frostings hold up better and can be kept overnight, if you add a small amount (about 1/2 teaspoon) of unflavored gelatin dissolved in 1 tablespoon water. Add this mixture to the cream as you're whipping it. This works very well since it keeps the cream from separating.
After I read the notes, I made a few adjustments. I included the juice of all 3 lemons, added 1/2 cup yogurt for moisture, reduced the sugar to 1 1/2 cups & increased the baking powder to 1 1/2 T. I ended up with a light, flavorful cake. Absolutely delicious.
Halved the recipe and baked in a 9” cake pan. Also used strawberries instead of raspberries. Really good!
Followed the recipe and found the cake to be dense and dry, as others had. Tasty, but it needed a BIG scoop of ice cream to go down. Icing was terrific. Tried another NYT recipe for lemon cake ... "Lemon Layer Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting" ... same ingredients but 3 cups of flour instead of 4 and some trade off in terms of the amounts of milk, oil and eggs ... but the ratio of liquid to flour is higher overall. Cake was lighter and moist, went perfect with the whipped cream/raspberry frosting
This cake was a BIG hit!! I brought this to a 4th of July party and literally everyone loved it. I made only two adjustments- used Bob’s Red Mill Paleo Flour 1:1 and added unflavored gelatin to the cream before whipping. Baked the cake for approx 37 minutes and let it cool in the pan uncovered overnight. I removed the cake from the pan in the morning and let it sit uncovered all day until ready to frost and serve. The amount of sugar was just right for a sponge cake and did not even need all of the delicious raspberry cream. Some commenters note that the cake was dense and dry- that seems impossible to me. The cake was moist and delightful! Cut the cake in modest portions to serve a large number and it was perfect.