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by Ali on March 20, 2020//This post may contain affiliate links.
Olive Garden lemon cream cake copycat recipe made with cream cheese, powdered sugar, whipping cream, and lemon juice!
This past Easter my family tried out a recipe for anOlive Garden Lemon Cream Cake Copycat.
The verdict was it was very delicious, although not an exact match to the Olive Garden, close enough to satisfy our needs. This cake gets a better flavor the longer it chills in the fridge. You may want to make this ahead of time and let it chill for a few hours before serving.
Overall the cake was a bit sweeter than the original. I noticed a few reviews remarking that the filling was too runny. Please take care to whip the heavy whipped cream until it reaches stiff peaks. If you do not beat it long enough it will cause your filling to be runny. I would recommend chilling your mixing bowl and beaters in the fridge before you beat the whipping cream. You want all of the elements to be nice and cold.
Some reviews have said that there wasn’t enough crumb topping to coat the cake. For simplicity, we only garnished the top of the cake with crumb topping. Less hassle for us and I didn’t mind that the sides of the cake weren’t garnished. I dig the rustic look. If you are planning on using crumbs on the sides of the cake you might consider doubling the recipe for the crumb topping.
Notes: Acake leveler
is perfect for a recipe like this. I recommend getting one! I love mine. Recipe from SparkRecipes.
Contents show
Yield: 1 cake
Olive Garden lemon cream cake copycat recipe made with cream cheese, powdered sugar, whipping cream, and lemon juice!
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4.75 from 4 votes
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Ingredients
Cake:
- 1 white cake mix prepared
Filling:
- 8 oz. cream cheese softened
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream whipped to stiff peaks
- 3 tbsp. lemon juice
Crumb Topping:
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 4 tbsp. butter
Instructions
Prepare cake as directed in a 10" round cake pan or a 10" round springform pan.
Blend cream cheese, powdered sugar, and lemon juice together. In a medium bowl, whip heavy whipping cream to stiff peaks. Gently fold into cream cheese mixture and blend by hand. Chill until ready to add to the cake.
Mix flour and powdered sugar in a small bowl. Crumble butter in and dribble in vanilla extract. The crumbles should be no larger than pea-size. If you have trouble crumbling mixture, chill for a few minutes. Chill until needed.
After the cake is cooled, cut in half. Spread cream cheese mixture, saving 1/2 cup, on the bottom half and carefully place top layer back. Spread the rest of the cream cheese mixture on the sides of the cake. Press crumb topping into sides gently. (We only added it to the top)
Chill for 3 hours. Cut into 12 slices.
And speaking of lemon recipes, must sure you also check out this Lemon Cake Mix Cookies recipe by Tammilee Tips!
posted in: Cake + Cupcakes, Copycat, Easter, Easter, Food
42 comments
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Margaret Westfall — Reply
Well I gave this recipe a try Nichol & I have to tell you I was having a problem with my heavy cream.I had everything made & ready to start putting the cake together, so I took your suggestion to put my cream cheese mixture in the fridge along with that I put the crumb topping also to chill.
For some reason I was struggling to get a stiff peak with my heavy cream, so it was getting late & decided to see if I had something else to use for the heavy cream.
I decided to use whip topping from my freezer.
I soften it a bit so it was manageable & let me tell it was a quick & awesome idea because let me tell you it was amazing when I added it to the cream cheese mixture. I sliced my cake in half put the cream cheese mixture placing the other cake on top with the remaining cream mixture then I put some lemon zest on top of the cake.
Here’s the key part of this recipe its IMPORTANT it needs to chill over night the more it chills your cake slices are intacted & the flavors are amazing.
Everybody was raving & fighting over who was going to get the last slice.
By the way I saw some of your concerns about the flour not being cooked, I have to say it was a little unusual to me to but I was willing to try it & let me tell you the flour with the powdered sugar & butter made that cake.
This CAKE was a hit!
Thank you Nichol.-
Mom Spark — Reply
Fabulous!
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Mom Spark — Reply
I hope you try it!
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BrandyeCook's — Reply
This was sooo good. I did modify a bit though. I modified the cake. Instead of water I used limoncello in the mix and added the zest from 1 lemon finely diced. I also added lemon zest to the filling as well. It add soo much lemon flavor and it tasted closer to the real thing to me.
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Mom Spark — Reply
Oh wow, good call!
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Linda Robertson — Reply
I made this cake for Easter, it was delicious and beautiful! Everyone loved it, can’t wait to make it again! Thank You
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Nancy — Reply
The following recipe for the filling is just like what is used in the Lemon Cream cake. It isn’t enough, though. I would at least double the recipe. Just use it as a filling in between the layers. Olive Garden just sprinkles powdered sugar on top of their cake. The crumbs are only on the side of the cake.
1 cup whipping cream
1 pkg. Mascarpone Cheese (Italian sweet cheese) NOT cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
Juice from 1 lemonCool the cake completely. For the lemon cream filling: Whip whipping cream until it holds peaks (don’t make it into butter!). Mix the Mascarpone cheese, powdered sugar, and whipped cream; mix until creamy and smooth. Add juice of 1 lemon.
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Nancy — Reply
I think it might work better to make this filling the way the copycat recipe says to do it. But use this recipe for the ingredients. It is the Mascarpone cheese that makes the difference!
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Stephanie Manley — Reply
The last time I had the dessert the crumbs were on the top of the cake and the side of the cake as well.
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Cathy — Reply
I didn’t even notice this until I re-read the recipe, after I had made everything else! I’m a bit leery of uncooked flour, so I just topped it with sweetened coconut and it turned out really yummy.
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Taina — Reply
How can I get the heavy whipping cream to thicken?
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Ali — Reply
I would recommend mixing with a hand held mixer in a chilled bowl and beat it until it thickens.
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JanieG12 — Reply
Chilling your beaters and a metal bowl will help your whipping cream turn into whipped cream. It can take a while but don’t give up, it’ll get there!
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Trista — Reply
Hi there! This is kind of off topic but I need some help from an established blog.
Is itt difficult to set up your own blog? I’m not very techincal
but I can figure things out pretty quick. I’m thnking about making my own
but I’m not sure where to start. Do you have any points or suggestions?
Cheers -
Heather — Reply
I added sliced strawberries to the sides and yum yum!
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Sheezey — Reply
Is powered sugar different from powdered sugar?!?!
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Lucille Tarantelli — Reply
I make this cake when I have to bring a dessert, soo good and light, I double the filling recipe, I like the filling high. Delish! Everyone loves it!
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Pingback: 15 Copycat Olive Garden Recipes - My Life and Kids
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Meg — Reply
Hi there, If you don’t have a spring form pan can you just use two 8 inch pans? Put the filling between those two? Thank you
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Mom Spark — Reply
I think that should work!
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Gail — Reply
I always make this with two 9″ pans. Everyone loves it! I also use a lemon cake and replace some of the water with fresh lemon juice and add lemon zest.
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Pat — Reply
I’ve made this and it is delicious.
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Mom Spark — Reply
Yay!
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Kass — Reply
Made this recipe last night and it was liked by all – very delicious, and easy to make! 🙂
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Mom Spark — Reply
I’m so happy to hear that!
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Elise — Reply
Beware that eating raw uncooked flour is risky for salmonella food poisoning. I wouldn’t do it, but you could come up with an alternative topping with all sorts of yummy variety, maybe powdered sugar, or crushed crunchy lemon cookies or sugar cookies ? I haven’t made it yet, but I would not use the uncooked flour crumb topping for that reason,
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Teri Harmon — Reply
You can always cook the flour in the oven first. Spread it out on a cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes at 350. That’s what I do when I have a recipe that calls for uncooked flour. (Edible cookie dough, cookie dough frosting etc.)
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Sheila — Reply
Why would you not cook the crumb topping before putting it on the cake. No one wants to eat raw flour.
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Mom Spark — Reply
You certainly can!
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Sharon Halas — Reply
If you add Whip It (its a whip cream stabilizer) to your whip cream when whipping it will prevent your whip cream from separating or making your cake soggy. I use it when frosting a angel food cake. I add the whip it and chocolate frosting. It will stay in the fridge for a week without separating. Whip it is make by Dr. Oetker and is in the baking isle. Your get 2 pkgs for under $1.00.
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Margaret W. — Reply
I thanked Nichol for this recipe
I just saw the name up top so who ever this recipe belongs to
Thank you. -
Gail — Reply
Loved this recipe! I used a lemon cake mix instead of white, and I substituted fresh lemon juice for some of the water and added some zest. I also baked it in two 9″ pans instead of having to split a larger one. Worked great! Yummy!
Making it again today! -
Sammy — Reply
Fave cake from olive garden but now celiac so I can use this modify it to gf for myself & my son…In my gluten days I never recall a bite of cookie dough killing me or my son…lol but thx 4 recipe. Excited to try a remake -
DRM — Reply
Fabulous Recipe! I have made this several times layered in a trifle dish. I added some lattice of raspberry preserves. Make the day before so everything can soak in. My sister came up with this idea and I just loved it. Thank You -
Kim — Reply
I made this cake for my dad because he loves lemon. It was awesome!
