Take advantage of the citrus season and make this delicate Meyer Lemon Chiffon Cake cake that guarantee to brighten up your day!
Meyer lemons are one of my favorite citrus along with my favorite Japanese citrus Yuzu. Although it is now almost end of the season for Meyer lemons (from December through May), I wanted to share this delicious Meyer Lemon Chiffon Cake that I’ve been making for the past few months.
Watch How To Make Meyer Lemon Chiffon Cake マイヤーレモンシフォンケーキの作り方
Airy, fluffy, and delicate Meyer Lemon Chiffon Cake with sweet glaze and lightly dusted with powder sugar. It’s hard to eat only 1 slice!
Airy, Fluffy, Not-So-Sweet Meyer Lemon Chiffon Cake
Chiffon cake has been one of my favorite desserts to make at home. It’s easy and straight forward, as long as you know how to make a delicate, frothy meringue with egg whites and sugar.
The sponge is so light, airy, fluffy… Even after eating a slice, it feels like you didn’t eat any! It’s a perfect light snack or dessert to go with your coffee or tea.
What is Meyer Lemon?
Some of you may not have heard of Meyer lemons. I didn’t know this type of citrus fruit until I came to the United States. When I Googled Meyer lemon, I found out it is actually native to China (that was unexpected) and introduced to the U.S. in 1908.
But it didn’t become popular until the end of 1990s when chefs like Alice Waters at Chez Panisse started to use in “California Cuisine” and Martha Stewart featured in her recipes (source).
Meyer lemons are moderately acidic and do not have the tangy flavor as regular lemons. They even taste slightly sweet. My favorite part of Meyer lemons is their rinds. Smells fantastic and if there’s a pile of Meyer lemon zest I feel like I could dive right in!
Can we substitute regular lemons for Meyer Lemon?
Yes you can, in most recipes, as long as you keep in mind that the Meyer lemon is less tart and slightly sweeter. You probably want to increase in the amount of sugar a tiny bit and/or use less juice. I haven’t tested the recipe with regular lemons yet. If I test it out one day, I’ll write down the measurement in the recipe (please remind me if I forget…).
I hope you will enjoy making this Meyer Lemon Chiffon Cake recipe! If you try it, don’t forget to share your picture on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter with #JustOneCookbook. Thank you so much for reading, and till next time!
Don’t want to miss a recipe? Sign up for the FREE Just One Cookbook newsletter delivered to your inbox! And stay in touch onFacebook,Google+, Pinterest, and Instagram for all the latest updates. Thank you so much for reading, and till next time!
Similar Recipes to Meyer Lemon Chiffon Cake
- 3 large eggs (separated)
- 85 g granulated sugar (85 g = 3 oz or measure ½ cup and remove 1 Tbsp) (separated)
- 3 Tbsp neutral flavor oil (vegetable, canola, etc) (3 Tbsp = 40 ml)
- 2 Meyer lemons
- 75 g cake flour (75 g = 2.6 oz or 2/3 cup) (see Note for homemade cake flour recipe)
- 1 tsp baking powder (1 tsp = 3 g)
- 2 Tbsp confectioners’ sugar/powder sugar (for sprinkling on the cake)
- 60 g confectioners’ sugar/powder sugar (60 g = ½ cup)
- ½ Meyer lemon (½ lemon = 1 Tbsp juice)
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Gather all the ingredients.
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Preheat the oven to 340F (170C). Separate 3 eggs to yolks and whites. Egg yolks in a large bowl, and whites in a smaller bowl.
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In the bowl with egg yolks, add roughly 1/3 of granulated sugar and whisk until creamy pale yellow color.
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Add 3 Tbsp. (40 ml) vegetable oil and zest of 1-2 Meyer lemons (I love more zest in the cake so I use 2, but you can use one).
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Cut Meyer lemons in half. Juice all of it (4 halves).
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If you don’t have 4 Tbsp. (1/4 cup or 60 ml) of juice, add water.
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Add 4 Tbsp. (1/4 cup or 60 ml) juice to the egg mixture and whisk well.
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Sift 75 g (2.6 oz) cake flour and 1 tsp. baking powder into the egg mixture. Whisk until totally incorporated and make sure there are no lumps.
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Using a stand mixer (make sure there is no trace of water or oil), whip the egg whites on medium low sped (speed 4) till opaque, foamy and bubbly. Add ⅓ of the remaining granulated sugar and continue whipping.
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After 30 seconds or so, increase the stand mixer speed to high (speed 10) and add the remaining sugar slowly in small increments.
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It takes about 2-3 minutes until stiff peaks form (from the moment you switched to speed 10, but this is just a rough estimate). To check on stiff peaks, pull up your whisk and see if you can make strong “peak” that stays still without bending down.
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Using a whisk, fold in ⅓ of the egg whites in the batter until the mixture is homogeneous.
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Fold in the rest of egg whites in 2-3 increments and mix gently until the mixture is homogeneous.
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Pour the batter into the ungreased 17 cm (7”) chiffon cake pan in same location to prevent from forming more bubbles.
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To remove or prevent air pockets before baking, run a skewer (chopstick, knife or spatula) through the batter and then drop the pan gently on a counter a few times.
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Bake at 340F (170C) for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean and the top of the cake springs back when gently pressed. If the top gets burn too quickly, cover the top loosely with aluminum foil.
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As soon as you take out the cake pan from the oven, drop it on the counter to shock to the cake (so it stops shrinking). The cake must be cooled upside down in its pan so that it stretches downward instead of collapsing. Stick the cake pan on a tall heavy bottle or invert the cake pan onto a cooling rack (if you use angel food cake pan). Let it cool completely.
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To extract the cake, run a thin sharp knife or thin offset spatula around both the outer and inner edge of the cake.
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Remove the cake from the pan and run the knife on the bottom. Move onto a serving plate.
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Dust powder sugar on top, if you like, and enjoy!
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[Optional] To Make Meyer Lemon Icing Glaze, place powder sugar in a small bowl and stir in 1 Tbsp. Meyer lemon juice using the half Meyer lemon you kept from step 4. The glaze should be thick, but pourable. Add more sugar or Meyer lemon juice as necessary to achieve desired consistency. Drizzle over the cake using a spoon and enjoy!
All-Purpose Flour vs. Cake Flour:
All-purpose flour and cake flour do not perform the same. Cake flour is more delicate, and if you use all-purpose flour instead of cake flour, the texture will be dense and tough. If you can't find cake flour, use this substitution:
Take one level cup of all-purpose flour, remove 2 Tbsp, and then add 2 Tbsp of corn starch back in. (1 cup AP flour - 2 Tbsp AP flour + 2 Tbsp corn starch = 1 cup cake flour). Be sure to sift the flour 3-4 times to distribute the corn starch well.
Tips for beating egg whites:
-- Make sure your beaters and mixing bowl are clean and dry. A speck of oil or egg yolk on either one can minimize the volume of the beaten egg whites.
-- Avoid plastic bowls -- even clean ones may hold oily residue that can affect the beating quality of the egg whites.
-- Use a bowl that's wide enough to keep the beaters from being buried in the egg whites.
-- Do not overbeat or underbeat egg whites -- your cake may fall. Egg whites should be stiff but not dry.
Equipment you will need:
Make sure you use the correct chiffon cake pan. The best types are the aluminum ones with a removable base (Do not use non-stick bakeware for chiffon cake – it will not work). Do not grease the mold because the cake needs to cling on the sides and center of the pan for support as it rises or it will collapse.
For a 17 cm aluminum chiffon cake pan, you can buy from Nihon Ichiban or Amazon.
For a 7 inch round angel cake pan with removable base, you can buy from Amazon.
Recipe by Namiko Chen of Just One Cookbook. All images and content on this site are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without my permission. If you’d like to share this recipe on your site, please re-write the recipe and link to this post as the original source. Thank you.
If you make this recipe, snap a pic and hashtag it #justonecookbook — We love to see your creations on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter!
Rosa
A heavenly cake! So light and delicious looking.
Cheers,
Rosa
Kristie
Hi there! Would I be able to make this beautiful cake in another cake pan? I’d love to make it for my sons first birthday, and I’m using a #1 cake pan for that.
Nami
Hi Kristie! What’s #1 cake pan? The cake size for this recipe should be 17-cm (7″). I put the link for the pan in the Note section. 🙂 It’s important that you do not use non-stick pan so that cake will climb up higher. 🙂
P.S. Happy 1st Birthday to your son, and to you! You made it to the 1st birthday… it means a lot to mom! 🙂
Vicki Bensinger
Nami I love Meyer Lemons and Chiffon cake. This looks wonderful and you shared some great tips. I need to make this and purchase a chiffon cake pan. Thanks for sharing this lovely spring cake.
elaine|ChinaSichuanFood
Love chiffon so much. This must be a perfect afternoon tea. And thanks for the tips. They are so helpful.
Monica
This looks gorgeous. I’m such a huge fan of chiffon cakes but a meyer lemon version is not one I’ve been lucky enough to try! I haven’t tasted a single kind of chiffon I didn’t like and I know this must be amazing. Great step by step pics and tips.
A_Boleyn
Your lemon pound cake looks delicious. I am unclear though how many eggs in total are used based on how you listed the ingredients in your recipe. Do you used only 3 whole eggs separated into whites and yolks or 3 whole eggs separated plus an additional 3 whites?
Nami
Thank you for noticing! In my original note, it was written as 3 egg yolks and 3 egg whites, but I decided not to write separately… so I wrote 3 eggs, then I forgot to delete 3 egg whites toward the bottom of the ingredients list! Hope everyone could figure out from the ingredient picture and instructions before I was able to fix it…. ugh… >_< Thank you so much for noticing quickly!
Charlie
Morning!
Right now I can’t get meyer lemons, but I do have some meyer lemon syrup put down.
Would I be able to use this and how?
Have a Joyful Day :~D
Charlie
Nami
Hi Charlie! Syrup? Hmmm I’ve never used that to make this dish so I think you can use it, but not sure how much you would need it without testing… It’s worth a try, I think!
soumya
Mouthwatering and looks yummy. Amazing photos. Thanks fr sharing
John/Kitchen Riffs
When we lived in Florida we used to have a Meyer lemon tree. Loved how many we got every year! And you bet I miss that tree. Good news is that Meyer lemons are much more available in supermarkets than they used to be. So I can still get them. And use some to make this cake. 🙂 Really good — definitely my kind of dessert. Thanks!
Raymund
Nice to see you baking a lot recently. Love how you make it look simple.
Pavel
The count of egg is wrong. The recipe is using only 3 eggs separated into egg whits and yolks.
Nami
Hi Pavel! It’s been fixed. I should have just kept my original note, 3 egg yolks and 3 egg whites in the recipe… I forgot to delete 3 egg whites toward the end of list! Thank you!
Alessandra
Looks so good!
Weny
Hi Nami,
I want to ask if you used 3 eggs in total or did you use 6 in total? ( you wrote down 3 large eggs and then 3 egg whites. )
Thanks.
Nami
Hi Weny! Sorry about my error. The ingredient lis has been fixed, but directions are still the same. 🙂
Mi Vida en un Dulce
Here we only have what you call key lime, that is, the green little lemon. Time to time I see and the markets “american lemon”, in other words, your lemon, the yellow one. But I never, never saw Meyer lemon. Of course, I always use my lemon (key lime) for all recepes that call for lemon 🙂
KY
Nami, help! I made this today and while the flavour was delicious (I love Meyer lemons too!) the cake did not rise. It’s just slightly higher than an inch although it’s still light and soft. What do you think I went wrong? I may have overbeat the eggs as they were on the dry side. Maybe it was the Wilton dark angel food pan I used. It seemed nonstick 🙁
Nami
Hi KY! Chiffon cake pan as to be aluminum, and can’t use non-stick. The cake “has to” climb up the side of the pan. And having greased pan or non-stick pan, the cake can’t climb up when it is supposed to. I think that is one of the reason for sure.
Another reason can be the meringue. If you overbeat, the egg white has no air/bubble inside to rise. Once you got the meringue, it’s very easy process. I’ve made some mistakes before too. Observe the meringue when it’s beaten. You’ll see the meringue turning white and glossy, and stop. If you’re not sure, stop earlier and keep checking every 30 seconds to see how’s the peak. 🙂
Hope this helps. You’ll be get it next time, but I highly recommend getting an aluminum cake pan for chiffon cake. You’ll get a tall cake! 🙂
KY
Thanks for your reply, Nami. I’ll try again! ????
Grace
Hi Nami
Thank you for another delicious chiffon!
Can I know the size of the eggs u used here, as in the weight of each egg?
The reason I asked is because I tried making your matcha chiffon cake but the cake did not rise much compared to yours. And the texture is also quite dense, unlike yours.
Hope u can clarify as soon as possible as I would really love to give your recipe another try. Thank u!
Note: I used a 17cm aluminum tube pan to bake that matcha chiffon.
Nami
Hi Grace! American large egg is 2 ounce (56.7 g). When I measure after I crack an egg, it’s usually around 50 grams. Hope that helps!
Muna Kenny
How elegant and light cake Nami! 🙂
Charlie
Thank you Nami!
Rumi
Hi Nami,
Another recipe I can hardly wait to try as soon as I get the appropriate pan! I love lemons and anything lemon. People squirm when I eat a lemon segment like an orange…just like when I pop a whole umeboshi in my mouth and chew. :p
Just wanted to mention a fairly common thing for the lemon juicer you use in the video: you yield a lot more juice if you put the lemon in cut side down. Seems weird but it really does work better. I rotate the same lemon half a few times to get every possible drop – cut side down, press, move on its side, press, back to cut side down, press and done!
Nami
Hi Rumi! I enjoy sour and tangy food too. 🙂 Yes! Thank you so much for letting me know. I’ve actually heard about it before… but I always don’t do it right! I put it in like putting in a mold. 😀 Please remind me if I do that AGAIN. I might… >_<
Claudine
This looks delicious!! Thanks for sharing this with us:-) I will try to make this for my sister’s birthday and hope that it turns out like yours!
Nami
Hi Claudine! Happy Birthday to your sister! Hope it will come out well. Good luck! 🙂
Laura (Tutti Dolci)
This is such a pretty cake, Nami! The color is just gorgeous and I can practically taste the Meyer lemons through my computer screen! 😉
Candice
HI Nami,
I just have a 24cm chiffon cake pan. would this recipe still work ,if I double the ingredients in order to fit the bigger size of my cake pan ??
Nami
Hi Candice! I would definitely double it. You don’t want to end up with a short chiffon cake. Leftover can be poured into smaller ramekins (even though you may not be able to make it upside down…). It’s definitely better to have extra batter. 🙂 Hope you enjoy!
Winnie
Hi Nami,
I love your blog and your videos. Do you have a recipe for Japanese Cheesecake? I would much appreciated if your post one with a video! (^_^)
Winnie
Nami
Hi Winnie! Thank you so much for your kind words! I have Japanese cheesecake recipe but haven’t added a video yet. Here’s the recipe:
https://www.justonecookbook.com/japanese-cheesecake/
Cindy
Hi Nami,, thank you so much for sharing the Meyer Lemon Chiffon Cake recipe. It is oishii!!! 🙂 I had so much fun baking it. I could not find Meyer lemons so I used regular lemons. I followed your advice and used less lemon juice. It came out perfect – tangy, fluffy and not too sweet. I could eat a few slices at once. :p I have a question – if I want to change the flavor to orange, does it mean I can just use the same amount of zest and juice for orange instead? Please advise. Thank you.
I enjoy your videos very much. Ganbatte!
Sincerely,
Cindy
Nami
Hi Cindy! I’m so happy to hear your chiffon cake came out well! Orange juice is naturally sweeter, so you may not need as much sugar as lemon. You might want to test and see how much sugar you would like to reduce, but pretty much same method, including zest etc. 🙂 Thank you for your support, Cindy! xo
Ilse
Hi. I only have a 24cm chiffon cake pan.
Should and could I double the recipe?
Thank you.
Nami
Hi Ilse! Yes, definitely double the recipe. 🙂 Hope you enjoy!
Chako
Hi Nami!
I just made this today and it was heavenly! I actually didn’t have enough lemons, so I added orange and lime zest to the batter in addition to the one lemon I had. Really amazing flavor!!!! ????
I know you are busy and have many other great recipes to work on, but I want to request two other chiffon cake flavors:
Sakura Chiffon cake
Matcha and Sakura swirl chiffon cake
I’ve actually found other recipes for these myself, but your versions are way better. ????
If you ever get a chance, I’ll be looking forward to trying your method for those flavors!!
Nami
Hi Chako! I’m so happy to hear you liked the chiffon cake! The orange chiffon is so delicious, you made a good one!
I will put the sakura chiffon (with matcha) on my list. Thank you for your request! 🙂 xo
Amy
This is the best cake that I ever made! I followed your recipe and it came out great! I ate 1/3 of it by myself :-P. I forced myself to put it away so that I’d not eat the whole thing in one sitting.
I am making the Earl Grey one next!
Nami
Hi Amy! I’m so happy to hear your chiffon cake came out well! See, I really think I can eat half of the cake in ONE SITTING! I pretend to behave and eat a good portion slice… but in reality I can totally eat the entire cake!!! You’ll love earl grey one. So delicious!!! Thank you for your kind feedback! xo
Ariel
Hi Nami,
Tried your recipe twice and both times came out great. Thank you!!!
Only thing is the cake flour measurement seemed to be incorrect. 75g should be about 1/3 cup instead of 2/3 cup.
I used a 9 inch nonstick angel cake bakeware. I put parchment paper on the bottom and side of the pan so the cake can climb up. 1st time I used the same ingredient amount, which came out great but thin. 2nd time I doubled the amount and it was perfect height. Both times I did the same temperature and baking time.
I used regular lemons. The cake came out light, fluffy and not too sweet. My husband absolutely loved it. Thank you!
Nami
Hi Ariel! I’m so happy to hear you and your husband enjoyed this cake! Thank you for your kind feedback and your tip on non-stick angel food cake pan! 🙂
As for the cake flour amount, 75 g = 2/3 cup, and it’s not a mistake. If you check online, 2/3 cup cake flour is usually 65 g. I do “fluff, scoop with spoon into a measuring cup, level off” method and it’s always 75 g, so I do with my measurement instead of typical 65 g here. Hope this helps!
Ariel
Thank you for clarifying the measurement! I forgot g doesn’t equal to ml and went for less flour. Good news is they still came out good! ???? I’m gonna try other flavors! Thank you so much for sharing the recipe!
Iva
Hi Nami, your cake looks pretty! My cake is fluffy & soft and taste nice but it doesn’t look as tall as your cake. The top of the cake is also not as flat as yours but a dome shape instead, only the centre rise as high as your cake but not the side. Could it be the oven temperature causing this?
Nami
Thank you Iva! Do you use the same size chiffon cake pan? It might be caused by the oven temp, or how you mix the batter. Test a few times to see how you can improve/fix. I’ll be happy to help. 🙂
Nha
Hi Nami
I baked my first chiffon cake using your recipe. It was yummmmmmy! Thank you for sharing 🙂
Quite a few other recipes I’ve read use an extra egg white. Does that make much of a difference?
Nha
Nami
Hi Nha! Thank you for trying this recipe! Probably to add more volume to the cake. I really like the base of this recipe, so personally I wouldn’t change. 🙂
Huda
Hi …..I have already tried the recipe and it was delicious, I was wondering if I can double the recipe….thanks
Nami
Hi Huda! I’m so happy to hear you liked this recipe! Thank you for your kind feedback. 🙂 You can double the recipe, but you’ll need another chiffon cake pan. 🙂
yumeniai
Hi!
I love so many of your recipes! Really want to try this one, but just wondering – my angel food cake tin is way larger (23cm) which is almost twice the volume, do you think this recipe would still work if i doubled it? Or should i just have a much shorter cake?
Thank you!
Nami
Hi Yumeniai! Thank you so much! I recommend doubling it, and whatever you have left should be poured into another small ramekin or baking pan. It looks nicer when it’s tall. 🙂
Janice
Hello!
Will this recipe work using self rising flour? I’m very excited to try this recipe!
~Janice
Nami
Hi Janice! I’m a little bit scared to use it. Self-rising flour can be made of combining 1 cup (120 g) all purpose flour with 1 tsp baking powder and 1/4 tsp salt. Now, this recipe requires 75 grams cake flour and 1 tsp. baking powder, but no salt is necessary. It’ll be very difficult to prepare the correct ingredients if you use self-rising flour in this recipe… You can make cake flour by yourself, using corn starch. I hope this makes sense… baking is chemistry, so you really want to make sure ingredients are correct. 🙂
Janice
Thank you so much for replying back so quickly! I made this chiffon cake last week using cake flour and it turned out very well! The cake tasted very good, but it wasnt as fluffy as yours looked. Is there something I should improve on to make the cake more fluffy and airy?
Nami
Hi Janice! The fluffiness depends on how well you beat egg whites as well as using the right equipment (cake pan). Egg whites should be beaten correctly to get the air bubbles into the batter, which will give the fluffiness in the cake. Also, if you don’t use the good cake pan, it won’t climb up as high (and it’s important to make it upside down). Hope this helps?
Jenn
Hi Nami! We just got a bunch of Meyer Lemons and am dying to try your recipe. Just wondering if I have to use vegetable oil? We only have olive oil and coconut oil. I really dont want to have to buy vegetable oil as we wouldnt be using it anything other than this recipe. Look forward to your comment! Thanks.
Nami
Hi Jenn! I truly believe you will need vegetable or canola oil – neutral flavor oil, and saturated oil like coconut oil won’t work. Olive oil has taste to it and not only that I think it’s too heavy. You can see the texture of the oil is very different too. Buy a small vegetable oil. I am sure you’ll want to make this cake often. 🙂 Plus, if you cook Japanese food (I’m not sure if you read my blog but just in case), we use neutral flavor oil for cooking. 🙂
jazmin prasad
love your lemon chiffon cake, wish you can show me how to make mocha chiffon cake my favorite of all chiffon. Thank you Namiko.
Nami
Thank you Jazmin! I’ll add to my list. 🙂
ana
This is such an easy and tasty recipe. I really loved the texture!
Nami
I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you Ana!
Erumo
HI Naomi,
i have tried your receipt this afternoon and the cake is so great. it’s delicious, fluffy and pretty chiffon cake( i had failed 3 times before >_<). The receipt is so good so as the cake, thank you Naomi.
I have the other question is if i want to bake an original flavor chiffon cake, should i just replace the lemon juice into milk with the same ml (1/4 cup)? have you ever tried to make the original flavor chiffon cake? would you please share your opinion?
thank you so much 😀
Nami
Hi Erumo! Thank you so much for trying this recipe and I’m glad yours came out well!
I’d probably do that and add vanilla (1 tsp). 🙂
Gwen
Tried this with regular lemons because Meyer lemons are hard to find here. They were quite large so two lemons produced exactly 60ml of lemon juice; didn’t top up with any water. It is definitely too sour for a cake this size. Cake texture isn’t affected though, still as light and fluffy as ever! But would probably recommend to cut down lemon juice to 30-40ml and top up the remainder of the 60ml with water.
Thanks for the recipe, loved this and the matcha one. 🙂
Nami
Hi Gwen! Thank you for letting me know. Meyer lemon is definitely less sour than regular lemon. Thanks for the tip of adding water. 🙂
Sharon
My family really loved this dessert and has requested a version with hazelnuts and/or chocolate. I got the small Japanese pan from your link and wondered if you could share a nut version that fits this size pan. I also wonder if ground nuts are too heavy to use in the batter. Thank you in advance.
Nami
Hi Sharon! I’m happy to hear your family enjoyed this recipe and thank you for trying it. I haven’t tried using nuts in this recipe so I won’t be able to tell, but maybe you can make chocolate glaze and sprinkle the hazelnuts on top?