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Lemon Crumb Yogurt Cake

This lemon crumb yogurt cake is ultra moist, surprisingly easy, and full of bright citrus flavor. You’ll love the layers of lemon curd and buttery crumbs on top!

Lemon yogurt crumb cake piece on plate with rest of cake and lemons in background

Easy Lemon Yogurt Cake

You might not be a fan of yogurt for breakfast and snacking, but I haven’t yet met someone who doesn’t like it in cake.

Yogurt brings a lot to the table when it comes to baking. It creates a tender crumb, keeping your cakes perfectly moist. It also adds just a touch of tanginess, similar to sour cream in sour cream pound cake and chocolate sour cream Bundt cake.

In this lemon crumb yogurt cake, the tangy yogurt serves to amp up the bright lemon flavor in the recipe. There’s lemon in each component of this cake—the cake itself, the curd, and the crumb. While that might seem like lemon overkill, it’s really not. And, that’s coming from someone who doesn’t like strong lemon flavor.

Overhead view of lemon yogurt crumb cake on 2 plates and in pan

Why You’ll Love this Lemon Crumb Yogurt Cake Recipe

These are some of the many reasons I love this lemony yogurt cake recipe:

  • Easy. With minimal prep and an ingredient list full of pantry staples, this lemon yogurt cake is wonderfully simple to put together.
  • Moist. The texture of this cake is just lovely—so light and moist!
  • Lemony. If you enjoy the zippy flavor of lemon in your desserts, this recipe will be a fast favorite. But even if you don’t, you’ll still love it.
  • Versatile. Serve it for dessert or for breakfast. It’s kind of like a lemony coffee cake!
Overhead view of ingredients for lemon crumb yogurt cake

What You’ll Need

Scroll down to the recipe card to find the ingredient quantities and recipe instructions.

For the Crumb Topping:

For the Cake:

  • All-purpose flour
  • Baking soda
  • Unsalted butter – Let this soften at room temperature; it will hold more air when beaten.
  • Granulated sugar
  • Egg yolks – Although I usually recommend room temperature eggs for baking, when you need to separate eggs from the yolks, it’s easier to work with cold eggs.
  • Plain Greek yogurt – Whole milk yogurt (i.e., full-fat yogurt) is best.
  • Lemon zest
  • Egg whites
  • Lemon curd – Use homemade lemon curd or store-bought.

Is There a Difference Between Greek Yogurt and Regular Yogurt?

Yes, there is; Greek yogurt is strained to remove the whey, making it thicker and giving it a higher protein content. It’s important to use Greek yogurt in this recipe.

How to Make Lemon Crumb Yogurt Cake

This lemon crumb yogurt cake is quite simple to make, although it does require one extra step: beating the egg whites and sugar separately. This helps the cake achieve that light, airy texture!

Make the crumb topping. Whisk the flour, sugar, lemon zest, and salt in a bowl. Use a pastry blender to work the butter into the dry ingredients until a crumbly mixture forms. Cover and chill.

Prepare. Preheat your oven to 350°F, then grease and flour a 9-inch square baking pan.

Mix the dry ingredients. Whisk together the flour and baking soda. Set aside.

Combine the butter, sugar, and yolks. Use an electric mixer on medium speed to beat the butter and 1 1/4 cups of sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks one at a time.

Add the dry ingredients, yogurt, and zest. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in three portions, alternating with two portions of yogurt. Stir in the lemon zest.

Beat the egg white and sugar. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites on high speed until they’re foamy. Slowly add 1/4 cup of sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks form. Gently fold the egg white mixture into the batter.

Assemble. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, then drop dollops of the lemon curd over the batter. Use a knife to swirl the curd gently into the cake. Sprinkle the chilled crumb topping on top.

Overhead view of lemon yogurt crumb cake in pan

Bake. Place the pan in the oven and bake 45 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Tips for Success

Read over my baking tips for beginners, then follow these additional tips and pointers for a perfect lemon crumb yogurt cake.

  • Don’t over-mix. Not only will this toughen the gluten strands in the flour, it also has the potential to deflate your egg whites.
  • Know when you have stiff peaks. You’ll know your egg whites have stiff peaks when you can lift the beaters from the mixing bowl and the peaks stand up and don’t flop over at the tips. If the tips curl, you have medium peaks; keep beating.
  • Swirl gently. You don’t want to mix the lemon curd into the cake batter to the point where it disappears; instead, you want to create ribbons of lemon curd in the cake.
Spatula holding piece of lemon yogurt crumb cake over pan

Variations

You could easily put a different spin on this recipe by choosing another citrus fruit as the primary flavor. Use orange curd and orange zest; lime curd and lime zest; or even grapefruit curd and grapefruit zest.

Serving Suggestions

Serve lemon crumb yogurt cake warm or at room temperature. It’s delicious without any garnishes, but if you feel so inclined, a dollop of whipped cream is always good.

Piece of lemon yogurt crumb cake on plate with lemons in background

How to Store

Store lemon crumb yogurt cake covered in the pan or in an airtight container at room temperature for 3 to 4 days. You can also refrigerate it for 5 to 6 days; this is advisable if your kitchen is warm.

Can This Recipe Be Frozen?

Yes, you can freeze this lemon crumb yogurt cake for up to 2 months. Wrap it tightly in the pan or transfer leftovers to an airtight storage container. Let it thaw at room temperature before serving.

Piece of lemon yogurt crumb cake on plate with fork

More Baking Recipes With Yogurt

Lemon Yogurt Crumb Cake

Yield 16 servings
Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 50 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes

Lemon Yogurt Crumb Cake is a light, moist cake full of lemon flavor.

Piece of lemon yogurt crumb cake on plate, with another plate of cake in background

Ingredients

For the crumb topping:

  • 1 & 1/2 cups (180g) all-purpose flour
  • 2/3 cup (133g) granulated sugar
  • 1 tablespoon lemon zest
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup (113g) unsalted butter, cold and cut into 1/2-inch pieces

For the cake:

  • 1 & 1/2 cups (180g) all-purpose flour
  • 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 cup (113g) unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 & 1/4 cups (250g) plus 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
  • 3 large egg yolks
  • 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
  • 1 tablespoon lemon zest
  • 3 large egg whites
  • 3/4 cup lemon curd (homemade or store-bought)

Instructions

To make the crumb topping:

  1. Combine the flour, sugar, lemon zest, and salt. Add the butter and combine using a pastry blender or a fork. Mix until crumbly.
  2. Cover and chill.

To make the cake:

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 9-inch square baking pan.
  2. Whisk together the flour and baking soda. Set aside.
  3. Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter and 1 & 1/4 cups sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks, one at a time, beating just until combined after each addition.
  4. Reduce mixer speed to low. Add the flour mixture in three portions, alternating with two portions of  yogurt. Stir in the lemon zest.
  5. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites with a mixer at high speed until foamy. Gradually add 1/4 cup sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks form. Gently fold into the batter.
  6. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan. Drop the lemon curd over the batter. Use a knife to swirl the curd gently into the cake. Sprinkle with the chilled crumb topping.
  7. Bake 45 to 50 minutes, our until a pick inserted into the center comes out clean.
  8. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Notes

Recipe slightly adapted from Southern Living.

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    21 Comments on “Lemon Crumb Yogurt Cake”

  1. Sounds delightful! Any cake with a crumb topping always tastes good to me. Love the addition of this cake to your recipe index.

  2. I love this cake!! I absolutely adore lemon curd and this crumb cake filled with it, looks heavenly. I need to make this soon!

  3. I’d love to try this recipe! I don’t have a 9″ square pan though – only an 8″ – do you think it would still work? Any adjustments you’d recommend?

    • Hi, Sarah. This cake pretty well filled a 9-inch square pan. I think you can use an 8-inch, but you may have a bit too much cake batter. It doesn’t rise much, so just consider the volume when you’re putting it in the pan. You can always leave out a bit of cake batter if necessary. For a thicker cake, it will likely take a few minutes longer to bake. You can still use the pick-inserted-in-the-center test to check for doneness.

      • Great, thanks so much for your help. I love in Doha, Qatar and all of my good baking supplies are in storage in the US, so I make do with what I have here:)

  4. Oh, my! I love lemon curd and I really, really love crumb cake!!

  5. What are you doing to me? First the curd, now the cake? We’re having the first sunny day in ages here – that, paired with this cake – is making me feel very cheery indeed! Love the lemon zest in the crumb – I bet it would be awesome with a lemon-infused sugar too!

  6. Boo I wish I had known about this before I tossed the last of my meyer lemon curd when I moved out of my apartment Sunday. I had so much food left in my fridge I had to dispose of a lot of it. This cake look great!

  7. I have lemon on the brain too! I just made a batch of lemon yogurt baked donuts. SO good! The texture of this cake looks fabulous.

  8. Everything about this cake is calling my name. Those crumbs!!!! Dying.

  9. Lemon and lime curds are favorites of mine, and I like to make them homemade too. This cake sounds so fresh light, and I know it’s gotta be moist with Greek yogurt. This looks delicious!

  10. Lemon cakes are the best! Love the lemon curd and crumb topping.

  11. I love lemon curd and I love cake! 😀

  12. There is no such thing as lemon overload to my tastebuds. Bring. It. On. So excited to try this!

  13. We made this tonight–it is FANTASTIC. Also made the lemon curd, which was very easy. Can’t wait to have it for breakfast.

  14. This cake sounds AH-MAZING to me. Pinning and trying ASAP!

  15. What a refreshing recipe to bust us out of the winter doldrums.

  16. Want to try this what temperature to bake at please?

  17. Jennifer I wish I had loads of time to try all these great recipes you share with us !! I’m saving them so maybe some day I will have more time on my hands lolol 
    I enjoy looking at these most every day 😊

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