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sheet cake with slice of lemon square edit
Gracious Cooking

Lemon Cardamom Sheet Cake

A soft, bright lemon cake infused with an earthy spice from ground cardamom, with a shattering lemon glaze.
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Servings: 36 servings
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

For the cake:
  • ½ cup unsalted butter
  • 1 cup water
  • ¼ cup lemon juice juice of one lemon
  • zest of 1 lemon
  • 2 ¼ cups granulated sugar
  • 2 ½ cups flour
  • 1 ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
  • 2 large eggs
  • ½ cup sour cream
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
For the glaze:
  • zest of 1 lemon
  • 3 cups powdered sugar
  • ¼ cup lemon juice juice of one lemon
  • 2 tablespoons water

Method
 

For the cake:
  1. Prepare a 13"x18" half sheet pan with baking spray, or flour and butter.
  2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees with a rack in the center position.
  3. Zest and juice 2 lemons. Set the zest of one lemon and ¼ cup of lemon juice aside for the glaze.
  4. In a small sauce pot, add the butter, ¼ cup lemon juice, and water and bring just to a simmer, then remove from the heat.
  5. While the butter, lemon, and water are heating, add the sugar and lemon zest to a large mixing bowl.
  6. With your fingers, rub the lemon zest into the sugar until very fragrant. Have fun with it. This releases the aroma and flavor of the lemon peel.
  7. Add the flour, baking soda, salt, and ground cardamom to the mixing bowl with the sugar and lemon zest.
  8. Carefully pour the butter, water, and lemon juice into the mixing bowl. The baking soda will react with the acid in the lemon juice, causing the mixture to fizz and puff up a little bit. Wait a few seconds and the fizzing will die down.
  9. After the fizzing dies down, whisk until combined. The mixture may be very thick at this point. It will thin out as other ingredients are added.
  10. Add the sour cream and whisk to combine. This should cool down the mixture enough so that your eggs won't scramble. When in doubt, wait a minute before adding the eggs.
  11. Add the eggs and vanilla extract. Whisk until smooth.
  12. Pour batter into the prepared half sheet pan, and use a rubber spatula to smooth it out and get the batter into the corners.
  13. Bake at 350 degrees for 18-20 minutes. The cake is done when you press on it and it springs back. Set the cake aside and make the glaze.
For the glaze:
  1. Sift the powdered sugar into a small mixing bowl.
  2. Add ¼ cup lemon juice, 2 Tablespoons water, and zest of one lemon to the bowl with the powdered sugar, and whisk until smooth.
  3. After the cake comes out of the oven, while it is still hot, pour the glaze over the cake and spread with an offset spatula.
  4. Let cake cool completely, slice, and dig in!
  5. This cake, like most, is even more delicious the next day. See notes for storage.

Notes

Storage: the very best way to store this cake is at room temperature with a lid that fits over your half sheet pan. This way the glaze does not get disrupted. If you do not have a lid for your half sheet baking pan, lightly tent the pan with aluminum foil. Cake keeps at room temperature for about 3 days, or in the fridge for 5.