Copycat Olive Garden Lemon Cream Cake

This Copycat Olive Garden Lemon Cream Cake is easy, delicious, and so refreshing. It’s one of our favorite desserts, and making the entire cake costs less than a single slice at Olive Garden!

This Lemon Cream Cake costs $5.79  to make which’s just 73¢ per serving. It is a delicious copycat recipe that gives you a restaurant-quality dessert at home.

This is why we love copycat recipes. Some of our favorite copycat recipes are our Chick-Fil-A Copycat Frosted Lemonade, Copycat Chick-Fil-A Sauce, and our Copycat Panda Express Chow Mein. 

Olive Garden Lemon Cream Cake

A cake that is light and fluffy? Sign us up! 

Our Lemon Cream Cake is rich and creamy and will make you think you are sitting in Olive Garden with every bite. The sweet crumb topping is enough to send it over the top. 

Olive Garden makes this Lemon Cream Cake look complicated, but we have the secrets of the recipe to share with you. The subtle hint of lemon combined with the white cake mix is super easy to make.

It is a decadent dessert that will wow your guests for a fraction of the cost. We show you how to make it step by step! 

What makes the cake moist?

No one likes a dry cake! A few tips to help ensure you have a moist cake every time are not overbake or overmix and do not forget to add the sugar or oil as this really helps with the texture and moisture of the cake.

Can you buy a whole cake from Olive Garden?

While there are a few cakes on the menu that you can order whole from Olive Garden, such as the Black Tie Mousse Cake, it will cost you $50.99. A slice of Lemon Cream Cake at Olive Garden costs $7.99. 

Psst, you can make this entire cake for less than the cost of 1 slice from Olive Garden! 

Ingredients and Cost

RECIPE COST: $5.79

PRICE PER SERVING: $0.73

• 16.25 oz box Betty Crocker white or yellow cake mix – $1.07
• 1 1/4 cup water – $0.00
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil – $0.16
• 3 large egg whites – $0.15
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour – $0.05
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar – $0.07
• 2 Tablespoons butter – $0.20
• 1/4 teaspoon EBR vanilla extract – $0.04
• 8 oz cream cheese or mascarpone cheese – $1.96
• 1 lemon – $0.52
• 1 cup heavy cream – $0.97
• 2 cups powdered sugar – $0.58
• 1 Tablespoon powdered sugar – $0.02

To find out more about how we price our recipes, check out Budget Recipes Explained. 

Instructions:

1. First, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Next, prepare the springform pan. Secondly, make the cake by mixing the cake ingredients until smooth. Mix for about one minute.
2. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 45-60 minutes. It is done baking when an inserted toothpick comes out clean. 
3. After the cake cools on a wire rack for 20 minutes, remove the cake from the pan and let cool on a wire rack. Allow the cake to cool for two hours. 
4. Meanwhile, make the crumb topping and then place it in the fridge to chill. In another bowl, make the filling and frosting. 
5. Whip the frosting ingredients together with a handheld mixer or stand mixer. 
6. Slice the cake in half. Cover the top of one of the cakes with the frosting. 
7. Add the second cake layer on top. 
8. Frost the sides of the cake. Break the crumb topping into chunks and press it into the sides of the cake. Let it chill for one hour.
9. Dust the top of the cake with powdered sugar. 
10. Slice and serve! 

Cook’s Tools:

• 9-inch springform cake
• liquid measuring cup
• measuring cups
• measuring spoons
• mixing bowl
• whisk
• wire rack
• small mixing bowl
• handheld mixer
• icing spatula

Flavor and Recipe Variations:

Any citrus works with this cake. Instead of lemon juice and zest, use orange or lime juice and zest. 

How long is it good for:

Serve: As with most recipes with dairy products in them, you shouldn’t leave this Olive Garden Lemon Cream Cake out for longer than 2 hours. 

Store: Cover and store the cake in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. 

Freeze: Because of the whipped cream in the frosting, we do not recommend freezing the cake. The frosting will turn to soup when it’s defrosted. 

Get kids involved:

Ages 2-3: Let your kiddo help mix the cake ingredients together. Our kids love licking the bowl clean!

Ages 4-5: Have your little one help measure and pour in the ingredients. This is a great math skill to practice counting and measuring. 

Ages 6-8: Let them help assemble the cake. This is great practice for them to start learning how to use an icing spatula. 

Ages 9-11: Supervise them while they prepare the entire recipe. Remember to have them read it twice before beginning the recipe. 

Ages 12+: Let them prepare the entire recipe, unsupervised, while you do the happy dance in the corner!

More Desserts:

• 4th of July Poke Cake
• Brownie Cookies
• Chocolate Dipped Gingerbread Cookies
• Cake Mix Banana Bread
• Chocolate Peanut Butter Bon Bons
• Cake Mix Peach Cobbler
• Chocolate Wacky Cake
• Cheesecake Fruit Salad
• Chick-Fil-A Copycat Frosted Lemonade
• Chocolate Dipped Sugar Cookies
• Dark Chocolate Pecan Pie
• Death by Chocolate Poke Cake
• Mom’s Lemon Lush
• Chocolate Glazed Biscuit Donuts
• Quick Monkey Bread from Scratch

Copycat Olive Garden Lemon Cream Cake

Recipe Cost 5.79

Serving Cost 0.73

Author Recipe adapted from Todd Wilbur’s Top Secret Recipes

Course Dessert

Cuisine American, Italian

This Copycat Olive Garden Lemon Cream Cake is easy, delicious, and so refreshing. It’s one of our favorite desserts, and making the entire cake costs less than a single slice at Olive Garden!

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Prep Time 20 mins

Cook Time 45 mins

Total Time 4 hrs 5 mins

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Equipment

• Liquid measuring cup
• measuring cups
• Measuring spoons
• mixing bowl
• whisk
• wire rack
• small mixing bowl
• handheld mixer
• icing spatula

Ingredients

FOR THE CAKE:

• 16.25 oz box white or yellow cake mix
• 1 ¼ cup water
• ⅓ cup vegetable oil
• 3 large egg whites

CRUMB TOPPING:

• ¼ cup all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup powdered sugar
• 2 Tablespoons butter cut into 8 pieces and softened
• ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

FOR THE FILLING AND FROSTING:

• 8 ozs cream cheese OR mascarpone cheese softened
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 3 Tablespoons lemon juice
• zest of 1 lemon
• 1 cup heavy cream

FOR FINISHING:

• 1 Tablespoon powdered sugar

US Customary – Metric

Instructions

PREP OVEN AND PAN:

• Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease bottom of a 9-inch springform pan. Line with a parchment round, and lightly spray entire pan; set aside.

MAKE CAKE:

• In a large bowl, add all of the cake ingredients and whisk until smooth and combined, about 1 minute.
• Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
• Cool cake cool on a wire rack in the pan for 20 minutes. Remove cake from pan, discarding parchment, and let cool completely on a wire rack, about 2 hours.

MAKE CRUMB TOPPING:

• Mix flour and powdered sugar in a small bowl. Cut in butter and vanilla until the mixture is crumbly. Cover and place in the refrigerator to chill.

MAKE FILLING AND FROSTING:

• Whip heavy cream until stiff peaks form; set aside.
• In another bowl, beat cream cheese or mascarpone cheese, powdered sugar, and lemon juice and zest on medium speed until smooth.
• Fold in whipped cream until combined.

FINISH CAKE:

• Split cake horizontally, and place one layer on a cardboard round. Reserve ½ cup of filling, and use the rest to fill the cake.
• Place the second layer on top of the filling. Use reserved ½ cup filling to frost just the sides of the cake. Break crumb topping into chunks and press crumb topping into sides of the cake. Chill at least 1 hour. Dust top of the cake with powdered sugar. Slice and serve.

Notes

• On a recent trip to Olive Garden, we noticed that they don’t put the crumb topping on the cake any longer. Feel free to leave the crumb topping off, especially if you are adverse to raw flour. 
• If you don’t have a 9-inch springform pan you can use (2) 9-inch cake pans and bake the cakes for about 25-28 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. 

Nutrition

Serving: 1slice | Calories: 513kcal | Carbohydrates: 52g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 33g | Saturated Fat: 22g | Cholesterol: 79mg | Sodium: 224mg | Potassium: 96mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 41g | Vitamin A: 906IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 78mg | Iron: 1mg

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