Recipe adapted from Todd Wilbur, TopSecretRecipes.com

Light, fluffy and delicious this Lemon Crumb Cake is a white cake filled and frosted with a creamy lemon frosting and covered in powdered sugar crumbs.

For the past few years I’ve been making this Lemon Crumb Cake for my mom and dad for their birthdays. I has always been one of their favorite desserts of mine.

I first made this cake on my website back in 2016 and I felt like it was time that it got a little update. This cake is super soft and fluffy and not too overwhelming in flavor, just the way we like it.

Another thing, it is super easy to whip up as well! It all starts with a box cake mix.

Now I’m not against using box cake mixes, I mean quick and easy is the way we like things around here and when you think of a cake, you don’t always think quick and easy.

INGREDIENTS YOU NEED:

• White cake mix (and ingredients on box)
• Cream cheese
• Powdered sugar
• Lemon juice
• Heavy whipping cream
• Flour
• Vanilla
• Butter

Those are some ingredients that we usually always have on hand. I mean I like to bake, if you haven’t noticed that yet. But cakes are one thing that I love the most. 

We adore this cake from Olive Garden, but when we do go out to eat we adore a lot of different desserts. I mean, I’m a dessertaholic and one of my favorite things to get at a restaurant is dessert.

SOME OF MY FAVE COPYCAT DESSERTS INCLUDE:

• Cheesecake Factory Carrot Cake Cheesecake
• Brennans Huston Bananas Foster
• Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls

Like I said this Lemon Crumb Cake is just the perfect balance of flavors. Now the original doesn’t have it frosted and the crumbs all over it, but I mean…come one.

If I’m doing a cake, I say go big or go home, amiright?

HOW TO MAKE LEMON CRUMB CAKE:

• Bake cake according to package directions.
• Meanwhile to make filling/frosting in bowl beat your cream cheese until smooth.
• Add in your powdered sugar one cup at a time until blended then add in your lemon juice and beat until combined.
• In another bowl beat your heavy cream until stiff peaks form, gently fold into cream cheese mixture, place in refrigerator to chill.
• Remove cakes from oven and let cool completely.
• Once cakes are cooled, remove from pans and place one cake layer on cake stand or turntable.
• Top the cake with about 1/3-1/2 of your filling/frosting mixture, then place other layer on top.
• Using the remaining frosting frost tops and outside of cake, place in refrigerator to chill for 1 1/2-2 hours.
• Meanwhile in bowl whisk together your flour, powdered sugar and vanilla and then using a pastry blender or your hands (we like hands) blend your mixture until crumbs form.
• Remove cake from refrigerator and press crumbs on top and up sides of cake, then place back in refrigerator to chill another 1 1/2 hours, top with lemon slices if desired.

This Lemon Crumb Cake is easy, but it is a little time consuming, but thats ok, some of our favorite cake recipes are that way, I mean they are cake!

Olive Garden Lemon Crumb Cake…I swear was one of my favorite desserts of all time. It’s been awhile since I’ve been to an Olive Garden so I don’t even know if they still serve this!

But we like to whip this up whenever the cravings allow, which is at least 1-2 times a year. We have tweaked it over the years to make it better and as perfect as we can get it.

TIPS AND TRICKS:

• Let filling chill for awhile, it is a softer filling.
• You can use a homemade white cake mix if you’d like to make this homemade.
• Make sure you keep this cake refrigerated when not serving, the filling and frosting is soft and will likely “ooze” if left out to long.
• Want a little more lemon flavor add a little lemon extract to the cake batter or add some lemon zest to the filling/frosting mix.
• We have 1 1/2 filling recipe before for extra filling in the center.

When it comes to cakes and you want that spring flavor this Lemon Crumb Cake is a such a hit! Light, fluffy and airy it has always been a winner.

If you like this recipe you might also like:

• Lemon Blueberry Cake
• Lemon Poppy Seed Cake
• Lemon Cookie Salad

Copycat Olive Garden Lemon Crumb Cake

Light, fluffy and delicious this Lemon Crumb Cake is a white cake filled and frosted with a creamy lemon frosting and covered in powdered sugar crumbs.

Print Pin Rate

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 3 hours hours 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 23 minutes minutes

Total Time: 3 hours hours 53 minutes minutes

Servings: 16 slices

Calories: 285kcal

Author: Tornadough Alli

Ingredients

CAKE

• ▢ 1 box white cake mix and ingredients called for on package

FILLING/FROSTING

• ▢ 1 8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened
• ▢ 2 cups powdered sugar
• ▢ 3 Tbs lemon juice
• ▢ 1 cup heavy whipping cream

CRUMB TOPPING:

• ▢ 1/2 cup all-purpose flour (heated in a 350 degree F oven for 5 minutes, then let cool)
• ▢ 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• ▢ 1/4 cup butter cold and sliced into 8 pieces
• ▢ 1 tsp vanilla

Instructions

• Pre-heat oven to 350.
• In bowl prepare cake mix according to package directions.
• Grease 2 9" round cake pans and add your cake batter.
• Cook for time stated on back fo 9" pans.
• Meanwhile to make the filling/frosting, in bowl beat your cream cheese until creamy, add in your powdered sugar 1 cup at a time then add your lemon juice and beat until blended.
• In separate bowl beat your heavy whipping cream until stiff peaks form and gently fold into the cream cheese mixture, refrigerate until ready to use.
• Remove cakes from oven and set aside to cool completely.
• Once completely place one of your cake layers on a cake stand or turntable and spread with 1/3-1/2 of your filling/frosting mixture.
• Top with other cake round and then frost top and sides with remaining frosting.
• Place in your refrigerator for about 1 1/2-2 hours.
• To make crumb topping, in bowl add your flour, powdered sugar and vanilla and stir until blended.
• Add in your butter and with pastry cutter or hands, crumble mixture until crumbs form.
• Take cake out of refrigerator and sprinkle top with crumbs and press up the sides, place back in refrigerator and allow to chill another 1 1/2 hours before serving.

Notes

Recipe adapted from Todd Wilbur, TopSecretRecipes.com

Nutrition

Calories: 285kcal | Carbohydrates: 48g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 28mg | Sodium: 255mg | Potassium: 38mg | Fiber: 0g | Sugar: 32g | Vitamin A: 305IU | Vitamin C: 1.2mg | Calcium: 81mg | Iron: 0.8mg

Tornadough Alli is not a nutritionist or dietitian, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and nutritional value is important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and values can vary depending on which brands were used.

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