Lady Bird Johnson’s Lemon Cake recipe is from the book A White House Diary by Lady Bird Johnson which was published in 1970.

The cake was served at The White House for the wedding reception in honor of their daughter Lucy and Patrick Nugent on August 6, 1966.

Lady Bird Johnson’s Lemon Cake

Ingredients for the Cake

3/4 cup salted butter (at room temperature)

1 1/4 cups sugar

8 large egg yolks (yolks only!) ***

2 1/2 cups cake flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup 2% milk ***

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 teaspoon lemon zest

***I used the entire egg

***I used whole milk

Ingredients for the Lemon Glaze Icing

2 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup salted butter (at room temperature)

zest of 1 lemon

juice of 1 lemon

heavy cream (only if needed)

Directions for the Cake

Preheat oven to 325° Fahrenheit. Grease a
10″ bundt cake pan with shortening, then dust with flour. Or you can use our magic cake release recipe.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

In a separate bowl, whisk the & egg yolks together to break up the yolks until they light and lemon-colored. Mix the yolks into the butter/sugar mixture.

Sift together cake flour, baking powder and salt.

Add the sifted ingredients in thirds, alternating with the milk. (½ of the flour, half the milk, ⅓ of the flour, half the milk, ⅓ of the flour) Beat the batter thoroughly after each addition, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed.

Add the vanilla extract, lemon juice and lemon zest. Beat for 2 minutes.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan** and bake for 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn it out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

*** grease the pan with softened butter and dust with flour or spray with cooking spray.

Directions for the Lemon Glaze Icing

Combine the powdered sugar, butter, lemon zest and lemon juice. Use a hand mixer to mix until well combined.

If the glaze isn’t thin enough, add a touch of heavy cream to thin it out to drizzling consistency.

Once the cake is cooled, drizzle the glaze over the cake.

Garnish the cake with more lemon zest if desired.