Home » Dessert Recipes » Lemon Drop Cake (+Video)

Lemon Drop Cake (+Video)

Lemon Drop Cake is easy to make but is for serious lemon lovers! Lemon cake mix poked with lemon sauce and topped with whipped lemon frosting.

A LEMON LOVERS CAKE RECIPE

WARNING: for serious lemon lovers only. This lemon cake is lemon to the third power. This is a lemon lover’s dream. You could just make the cake and glaze and be totally fine. It would still taste so good. But I decided that this cake needed a lemon frosting too. So I thought I would take inspiration from the Lemon Dream Cake and use that frosting with this cake. And wow – I was in heaven. Lemon heaven.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:

Does this cake need to be refrigerated.

This cake needs to be kept refrigerated (because of the whipped topping) and covered. Also, I think it tastes best after it has been in the fridge for a few hours (or even overnight.)

Do I have to make the glaze?

It is not necessary; however, I think it really adds a lot of zing to the cake itself.

Why do you add Cool Whip to the frosting?

It makes it more like a whipped frosting which feels a bit lighter rather than thick.

Can I use bottled lemon juice?

I’ll be honest, I don’t like the bottled lemon juice. I think it tastes pretty awful and not like real lemon juice at all. So personally, I say go for the real stuff.

INGREDIENTS NEEDED: (FULL RECIPE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POST)

  • lemon cake mix
  • lemon Jell-O
  • eggs
  • water
  • oil
  • powdered sugar
  • lemon juice
  • whipped topping (COOL WHIP)
  • lemon frosting
lemon cake mix, lemon jello, lemon frosting, whipped topping, lemon juice, powdered sugar.

HOW TO MAKE LEMON DROP CAKE

Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Spray 9×13-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Combine cake ingredients (cake mix, lemon Jell-O, eggs, water, oil) until combined.

lemon cake mix, eggs, oil, lemon jello mixed together in a bowl.

Pour batter into prepared baking dish and bake at 350F degrees for about 30 minutes. 

lemon cake mix batter poured into a 9x13 baking dish.

Oven times vary but cake should spring back to the touch when finished and if you stick a toothpick in the middle of the cake, it should come out clean. While cake is baking, prepare glaze. Combine powdered sugar and lemon juice and whisk until smooth.

powdered sugar and lemon juice whisked together

When cake is done, poke cake with a fork. Just poke all over the cake to make lots of holes.

small holes poked into baked lemon cake.

Then pour glaze onto the cake. Spread the glaze out so that it seeps down into the holes.

lemon glaze poured onto lemon cake with holes poke.

The cake needs to cool completely before adding the frosting. The cake is super delicious at this point but if you want to really take the lemon to the next level, then add the frosting. In a medium bowl combine whipped topping and lemon frosting. Stir well until completely combined.

lemon frosting and cool whipped combined together.

Frost the cooled cake.

cake with frosting on top.

Slice and enjoy!

CRAVING MORE LEMON RECIPES?

Originally published: April 2013
Updated & republished: June 2019

Lemon Drop Cake recipe.

Lemon Drop Cake (+Video)

Lemon Drop Cake is easy to make but is for serious lemon lovers! Lemon cake mix poked with lemon sauce and topped with whipped lemon frosting.
4.80 from 43 votes
Print Pin Rate
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Servings: 12

Ingredients

For the cake:

  • 15.25 ounce box lemon cake mix
  • 3.4 ounce box lemon Jell-O
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 cup water
  • ¾ cup oil

For the glaze:

For the frosting:

  • 8 ounce tub frozen whipped topping (COOL WHIP) thawed
  • 1 container lemon frosting

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Spray 9×13-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
  • Combine cake ingredients (cake mix, lemon Jell-O, eggs, water, oil) until combined.
  • Pour batter into prepared baking dish and bake for about 30 minutes.
  • Oven times vary but cake should spring back to the touch when finished and if you stick a toothpick in the middle of the cake, it should come out clean.
  • While cake is baking, prepare glaze. Combine powdered sugar and lemon juice and whisk until smooth.
  • When cake is done, poke cake with a fork. Just poke all over the cake to make lots of holes.
  • Then pour glaze onto the cake. Spread the glaze out so that it seeps down into the holes.
  • The cake needs to cool completely before adding the frosting.
  • In a medium bowl combine whipped topping and lemon frosting. Stir well until completely combined. Then frost cooled cake.

Video

YouTube video

Notes

  • The cake needs to be kept refrigerated (because of whipped topping) and covered.
    This cake tastes best after it has been in the fridge for a few hours (or even overnight)
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American

Nutrition

Calories: 572kcal | Carbohydrates: 83g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 25g | Sodium: 407mg | Sugar: 66g

Nutritional Disclaimer

“The Country Cook” is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and other nutritional values can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.

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Recipe Rating




57 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    Literally just finished making this! I’ve made this one a dozen times over the past few years; it’s one of our faves for 4th of July. Brandie, your recipes are all faves in this family! Whenever I stray, I always regret it. Never stop!! Happy 4th!

  2. 5 stars
    Dang it Brandie! I have probably put on 50 pounds from your recipes alone, lol. Seriously though, I have been craving something lemony-sweet for a while now and this is simple enough that I don’t have to work too hard to make. Not a fan of Boxed mixes, but adding the Jell-O will tame that flavor and maybe some additional lemon juice (I like my lips to pucker when I eat lemony desserts). I am positive that it will be delicious and I am looking forward to making it for St. Patty’s day with our Reubens.

  3. 5 stars
    Very moist & delicious! Easy to make. I subbed real whipping cream for Cool Whip & could not find a tub of lemon frosting so had to use tub of whipped buttercream and add a few tsps of lemon juice, but it was still tasty! It will be a keeper recipe!

    1. Just a suggestion if you make this again and can’t find lemon frosting, instead of lemon juice, try a teaspoon of lemon extract and add a little more to taste. It will taste more similar to the canned type.

  4. Can’t wait to try this. Think I’ll try it with a lemon cream cheese frosting. Thanks for the great recipes!

  5. 5 stars
    This was so so good. I took it to a church potluck and children and adults alike raved about it.

    I could only find a generic lemon frosting and it wasn’t super flavorful, so I added a couple of capfuls of lemon juice. Brand name frosting might not need that.

    I think the frosting is going to be my new go to for just about everything in every flavor. Who knew a tub of frosting and cool whip could be so delicious!

  6. I bought all the ingredients to make this and then when I pulled up the recipe, I see there is lemon jello as well? This is not in the original list so I didn’t buy. Should I run back out and grab or can someone recommend a substitute or if it’s absolutely needed? This is my first time making this recipe, so don’t want to mess it up! Thanks! 🙂

  7. I’m wondering how this would be if you mixed a can of sweetened condensed milk with lemon juice to pour over cake after punching holes in it…hmmm

  8. 5 stars
    Hello – your recipe showed up in my FB feed yesterday and I am going to make this cake this weekend. I just want to confirm that that the JELLO that goes INTO the cake is gelatin not pudding? I checked the picture and indeed it does appear to be gelatin and some of the comments seem to confirm this. Just want to be sure. much thanks.

  9. 5 stars
    I bet you could use Lemon Instant pudding with the whipped topping, instead of the specialized frosting. It might be less sweet? I would also add poppy seeds, but that’s me.

  10. 5 stars
    OMG I’m so making this cake for our Memorial Day get together! I love lemon and was looking for the perfect lemon cake and I think I just found it! I can’t wait to try this! It’s supposed to be hot here this weekend and this cake just screams summer! Looks so good and much better than the traditional lemon cake!
    Thanks for sharing this on your blog!