Grandma’s Lemon Gold Cake
This nearly 100-year-old recipe is a true vintage classic—a lemon chiffon cake made from the same formula Harry Baker created in 1927. With its light, airy crumb and bright lemon flavor, it’s perfect for a celebration or simply because. It was my grandmother’s signature cake, and one I remember appearing at weddings and anniversaries throughout my childhood.
What is a chiffon cake, you ask? A chiffon cake is essentially a hybrid, combining elements of a traditional cake with the airy structure of an angel food cake. Oil and egg yolks provide moisture and richness, while whipped egg whites provide mechanical leavening. Together with a little baking powder, they give chiffon cake its characteristic lofty rise and delicate crumb. The cake pictured above was baked in a single pan and rose high enough to easily create a two-layer cake.
Sharing this cake today has a little extra meaning for me. Today would have been my parents’ 51st wedding anniversary. Those of you who have been reading my blog for a while know that my mother passed a little over a year ago, so today is less a day of celebration than one of remembrance. Finding this recipe, in my grandmother’s handwriting, tucked into my mother’s recipe binder awakened so many memories that I felt compelled to make it and share it.
In all fairness, this is not the cake my mother would have chosen for her anniversary. When it came to cake, she was firmly in the “Death by Chocolate” camp. But if my grandmother and mother were both still here, I can say with absolute confidence that this is the cake Grandma would have insisted on making.
Grandma was quite outspoken and unwavering in her opinions, and in her mind, this was the celebration cake. Mom could be equally outspoken and equally firm in hers, but I suspect she would have graciously accepted Grandma’s lemon cake while quietly obtaining—or making—her preferred chocolate cake elsewhere.
I hope you’ll take this small piece of my family’s history and tradition and add it to your own. This nearly 100-year-old cake holds a lifetime of celebration memories for me, and I hope it finds a place in some of yours as well.
Grandma’s Lemon Gold Cake
Equipment
Ingredients
Method
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt into a large mixing bowl.2 ½ cups (300 g) all-purpose flour, 1 ½ cups (300 g) granulated sugar, 1 tablespoon (12 g) baking powder, 1 teaspoon (6 g) salt
- Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the oil, egg yolks, water, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Beat until smooth.½ cup (120 ml) neutral oil, 6 large eggs, ¾ cup (180 ml) cold water, 2 teaspoons (10 ml) lemon juice, 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- In a second bowl, beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar until stiff peaks form.6 large eggs, ½ teaspoon cream of tartar
- Fold the egg yolk mixture into the whipped egg whites gently, just until no white streaks remain.
- Pour the batter into an ungreased, unlined tube pan (or divide between two 8" round pans, also ungreased and unlined).
- Bake for 60–70 minutes, or until the cake reaches an internal temperature of 192–194°F. If using two 8" pans, begin checking at 25 minutes.
- Cool upside down to preserve height and the classic chiffon texture.
Notes
- Whole milk variation: You can replace ½ of the water with whole milk. The added fat and milk solids create a more tender crumb, a richer flavor, and a moister mouthfeel. The trade‑off is a slightly shorter rise and a less airy chiffon texture.
- Vanilla addition: If you enjoy the creamy warmth of vanilla with citrus, add 1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract along with the lemon juice and zest. It rounds out the lemon beautifully without overpowering it.
Private Notes
Nutrition
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