Tangy homemade lemon curd and toasty almonds are a match made in heaven in this beautiful lemon curd almond butter cake!—Incredibly moist, buttery, and filled with rich lemon curd pockets.
Guys, this might be the best cake I’ve ever had in my life. No exaggeration or lie, even given the massive amount of cake we partake in around here.
You gotta pardon the humble appearance as well because it is DECEIVING.
And deceiving cakes tend to be ignored until they’re tried once and then all of a sudden you’ve eaten half the pan.
This humble little cake is honestly anything but subtle. Hard to be when you’re boasting tangy lemon curd swirled into a light, buttery almond cake with toasty almonds crowning the top.
Can I call this lemon curd almond butter cake breakfast? Probably not, but I’m sure as heck gonna eat it for breakfast anyways.
One of the things that makes this lemon curd almond butter cake SO incredibly good is unshockingly the homemade lemon curd.
Honestly, if you’re running short on time you can totally use premade lemon curd but if you have a few minutes? I would STRONGLY recommend you make it from scratch. It’s totally easier than it sounds and worth the extra minutes.
From there, it’s a fairly simple butter cake base. I used toasted + finely minced almonds in the batter along with almond extract and then more sliced almonds on top to really enhance the almondy flavors.
And hoooly heck, guys. Combine all of the above together into one simple little cake? It’s literal cake wizardry.
Obviously a little shake of powdered sugar all over errthing’ never hurt anyone, so I would encourage you to powder that stuff to your heart’s content.
And then gorge yourself with cake. Again, to your heart’s content.
Lemon Curd Almond Butter Cake
Ingredients
Lemon Curd
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
- 2 tablespoons butter, softened
Cake
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup toasted sliced almonds, finely minced
- Additional sliced almonds for topping
- Powdered sugar for serving
Instructions
Lemon Curd
- In the bottom pot of a double-boiler, bring a few inches of water to a boil, then reduce heat to low to keep water at a simmer. Whisk egg yolks, sugar, lemon juice, and zest into the top bowl of double boiler and place on top of bottom pot of simmering water.
- Whisk lemon curd continuously so the egg yolks don't curdle, Continue over simmering water until curd becomes smooth and thickened, about 8-10 minutes. Remove curd from heat and immediately add butter, 1 tablespoon at a time whisking well after each addition.
- Place plastic wrap directly on surface of lemon curd and set aside for a moment.
Almond Butter Cake
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 8×8 square baking pan with parchment paper OR lightly grease and flour and set aside.
- In a large bowl, beat softened butter and sugar together until creamy. Beat in almond extract and eggs until smooth. Fold in flour, baking powder, salt, and ground almonds until batter is smooth.
- Scrape batter into prepared pan. Drop lemon curd by the tablespoon on top of batter within 1-in of edges. Sprinkle sliced almonds on top.
- Bake cake at 350F 35-40 minutes until cake is a deep golden brown and toothpick inserted in cake part (not lemon curd) comes out clean. Cool cake completely on a wire cooling rack. Dust cake with powdered sugar and cut into squares. Enjoy!
Favour U. says
Hi Sarah! It has been a long time I have not visited your site. I was sick all the while, But thank God I’m here today. I am a lover of cake and this cake look yummy. I so much like your blog because you share extraordinarily cooking and baking tips. Last time, it was stew with Cashew nuts and I was like how will the taste be?But trust me it was great when I tried it. Thank you sharing!
Kelly says
This tastes soooo good! I had one issue – the cake under the curd collapsed. Is it because I used AP flour instead of white whole wheat flour? I still love it, though! The flavor is amazing!
Sarah says
Hi Kelly! My cake had similar results when I baked it. I think because the lemon curd is a bit heavy that’s normal for the cake underneath it to sink a little bit. 🙂 Glad you enjoyed though!
Suzie says
The same thing happens to me every time I bake this cake, which is quite often. But now I’m wondering if an angel food cake pan with removable bottom would solve that problem. Has anyone tried it?
Sarah says
I have not tried that before, Suzie, but I will go ahead and test this cake again a few times to try and figure out why it keeps sinking – sorry for the inconvenience!
Alysa says
Can you sub with all purpose flour?
Sarah says
Yes, you can!
AC says
The ingredients list has toasted sliced almonds, finely minced. Is this the ground almonds listed in step 2 of the Cake method?
Sarah says
Hi AC – Yes it is! Sorry for the confusion.
Susan says
What could I use in place of white whole wheat flour and how much, please?
Sarah says
All-purpose flour can be used in place of the white whole wheat. 🙂
Anna says
Can I use all purpose Gluten Free flour & if so will it be the same quantity? Or can I do a mixture of almond meal/GF flour & is so measurements please?
Sarah says
Hi Anna – I have not tested this recipe with gluten free flours, so I’m unsure as to how it would turn out. Feel free to experiment using the all-purpose GF flour and let me know how it goes!
Sonya says
How much lemon curd does that recipe use? I already have some I made and I’m not sure how much of it this recipe calls for.
Sarah says
Hi Sonya – You will need about 1/2 cup of lemon curd. 🙂
Laura says
Doesn’t the curd become too hard 40 min in the oven or could it become scrambled ? Could it be put on top of the cake after it’s baked? If this was a tart, there would be no need to cook it again in the oven or maybe just 10 min. I say this because French lemon tart is one of my favorite desserts.
Thank you.
Sarah says
Hi Laura – the curd stays soft after baking. We’ve never had an issue with it scrambling because it’s already cooked prior to baking it in the cake. 🙂 You could definitely drizzle it over the cake after it’s baked if you’re worried about it!
Shania says
The recipe looks delicious and I can’t wait to try this out but please can this be made available in grams.
Many thanks in advance
Sarah says
Hi Shania – unfortunately we don’t have the capability to make the recipes on our website available in grams quite yet, but I’m providing you a link so that you can do the conversion of cups-to grams for this recipe! Good luck! https://www.inchcalculator.com/convert/cup-to-gram/
Margaret Nicklas says
Can this cake be made ahead and frozen? If so, with or without the lemon curd?
Sarah says
Yes, this cake can be frozen up to 2 months. No need to leave out the lemon curd!
Susan says
Hello!
I just finished making lemon curd from another recipe, and I’d like to try it in this cake. What volume would you recommend? I have just over 2 cups of lemon curd. Thanks!
Sarah says
Hi Susan – you will need about 1/2 cup lemon curd for this recipe. 🙂
Lisa says
Unfortunately the recipe is only for cups and not for gramms. We Europe ans would appreciate metric weights and measurements!
Sarah says
Hi Lisa – we will work on getting gram measurements added to all the recipes on our website. Thanks for your patience. 🙂 In the meantime, you can always use a cups-to-grams converter online to convert this recipe to grams.
Autumn L Starr says
I understand I use recipe w metrics.luckily there’s lots of conversion tables on line
Shirley says
This sound lovely and I will try it but like others I prefer metric. I can convert ,but find sometimes it doese just not work. I very often pass by on recipes with cups. 🤷♀️
Susan says
This cake was delicious! I used 1/2 cup of lemon curd that was left over from another recipe. The only thing that I might change next time I make it (and there will definitely be a next time!) Would be to swirl the lemon curd on the top, instead of leaving it in puddles. Thanks so much for a great recipe!
Sarah says
That’s awesome to hear, Susan! Thanks for sharing your modifications. 🙂
Jen says
Would you just double the recipe to make a 9×13 pan?
Sarah says
That should work! The bake time may be slightly different though, just keep an eye on it while it bakes. 🙂
Mish says
Delicious! I made this tonight and the flavours are just perfect.
Sarah says
I’m so happy to hear that, Mish! Enjoy. 🙂
marilyn hogan says
i made this yesterday for my family for dessert….i altered the recipe because i wanted a larger size..
.i doubled the lemon curd recipe and doubled the lemon zest…
for the cake i did one and a half times the recipe…
i used a square cake tin 11″ x 11″ by 3″ deep or 9 1/2 by 9 1/2 x 8cm deep. i also changed the recipe into metric because i live in australia.
i served it warm with whipped cream and it was absolutely beautiful….i too, recommend making your own lemon curd because this is what makes it a hit and gives a great depth of flavour.
Thank you for sharing
Sarah says
Thanks so much for sharing your modifications, Marilyn! So happy to hear the cake was a hit. 🙂
Krystle says
I was really excited about how my lemon curd turned out, just perfect! Then in the oven it quickly turned brown, should I have covered the cake in the oven?
Sarah says
Hey Krystle! That’s super strange to hear about your lemon curd turning brown! Were you baking the cake on the middle rack of the oven? You could definitely cover the cake with a layer of tin foil to prevent this from happening in the future!