27 Easy Lemon Dessert Recipes

Lemon desserts are my favorite way to welcome in those warm spring months when the flowers start blooming, and the sun shines more brightly. When I think of spring and summer, I think of a big glass of lemonade, and these desserts are like turning lemonade into a delectable dessert.

I love to bring a lemon treat to family gatherings, potlucks, or birthday parties, the bright yellow color is beautiful, and the flavors are always delightful.

You can work lemon flavors into just about any type of dessert! Cakes, muffins, bars, you name it, lemon can make it delicious. Lemon adds a summery freshness with its citrusy tang.

I sought out all my favorite easy lemon desserts I pull out for springtime, and here they all are!

There are a plethora of different lemony sweet ideas here. You’re sure to find something to serve at your next get-together.

1. Lemon Cream Cheese Bars

These cream cheese bars are heavenly! It uses crescent roll dough to sandwich the lemony cream cheese filling.

The crescent dough is flakey and buttery, and the top layer has a crispy coat of sugar on top, which compliments the creamy insides.

This recipe captures the wonderful flavors of cheesecake without the time and effort it takes to make a cake!

This dish comes together quickly and uses minimal dishes. Next time you’re craving a cheesecake but want more crunch, give this recipe a try.

2. Lemond Drop Cakes

If you’re looking for desserts with lemon to make for a gathering or potluck, these little lemon drop cakes are here for you!

They are mini, individual cakes glazed with lemon icing, perfect for picking up and eating at a party.

Sour cream is what makes the texture here! They’re fluffy and soft on the inside, with a caramelized crust around the outside.

These are great for kids. They’re a perfect size. Add these to your list for party food!

3. Moist Lemon Cake

This lemon cake is not only delicious, but it’s super easy! You can make this in fifteen minutes and have it in the oven baking.

The lemon syrup you pour on top to soak makes it extremely moist, and the lemon icing keeps the cake moist while adding flavor and sweetness.

If you don’t have the buttermilk, the recipe calls for combine milk with lemon juice as a substitute.

If you want a different spin on this moist cake, try using orange instead of lemon!

4. Lemon Sugar Cookies

Many lemon dessert ideas are cakes, but this recipe takes the refreshing taste of lemon and uses it to flavor these soft, chewy cookies.

Imagine a traditional sugar cookie and add a delightful citrusy lemon, and you’ve got these cookies.

If you want to avoid refined sugars, you can substitute coconut sugar.

Rolling them in sugar before baking gives them that perfect sugar cookie finish.

These cookies are a crowd-pleaser, and you can make them celebrate any season!

5. No-Bake Lemon Cheesecake

No-bake lemon desserts? Sign me up! I love anything that doesn’t require turning my oven on, and this cheesecake is perfect for summertime!

Pro tip: throw these in the freezer, and they turn into an ice cream-like frozen cheesecake treat!

Lemon and cheesecake are a delightful pair; the acidity from the lemon cuts the richness of the cheesecake.

The addition of vanilla adds a little bit of warmth that makes this recipe perfect.

Make this cheesecake, frozen or not, for a delicious dessert to have around during the warm months.

6. Cream Cheese Lemon Bars

This easy lemon bar reminds me of cheesecake, but with a different texture. It’s creamy, buttery, and filled with those citrus notes.

You can make this gluten-free easily by replacing the flour with coconut and almond flour.

These do take some time to chill, so make sure you prepare them ahead of time. But trust me, that time is worth it!

These lemon bars are tasty, and your whole family will love them!

7. Lemon Lasagna

Lemon lasagna? I know, I know. Trust me on this one. This recipe is worth giving a try!

It isn’t cheesy and pasta-filled. It’s just a layered lemon dessert with a cookie crust, whipped cream, lemon pudding, and a tangy cream cheese layer.

If you want to add a wonderful crunch, try adding some extra crushed cookies, walnuts, or coconut flakes on top.

This tastes nothing like lasagna, but everything is like a wonderful lemon dessert!

8. Lemon Bar Cookie Cups

I love light lemon desserts; they are both sweet but refreshing simultaneously, like lemonade!

These cookie cups accomplish just that. The cookie cup reminds me of a shortbread cookie. It’s soft but still holds up to the lemon filling.

The cookie cups are filled with a luscious lemon curd that’s smooth and tangy.

Top these with some powdered sugar, and they’re ready to serve! Use the cookie cup recipe as a great base for other jams, curds, or creams. It’s delicious and versatile.

9. No-Bake Lemon Pie

Another no-bake recipe here! This time we have a creamy lemon pie. It has a toasty graham cracker crust and a light, fluffy whipped cream topping.

This recipe is absolutely perfect for a hot summer day because there’s no oven or stovetop needed.

To make this recipe even easier, use a premade pie crust and premade whipped cream.

I love to top this with some fresh raspberries, blueberries, or strawberries.

Make this for your next pool party or yard party cookout. It’s the perfect ending to a barbequed meal!

10. Lemon Crème Brulee

Crème Brulee is one of those desserts that feels out of reach for most home cooks. It’s what you order at your favorite fancy restaurant.

If only we all knew this elegant dessert was easy to make at home! Using lemon zest really brings the lemon flavor to the forefront in the custard base, making it one of the best lemon desserts.

The real magic in this dish is the glass-like sugar topping. Torching sugar turns this layer into a hard shell that compliments the creamy custard underneath. Make this next time you want to impress someone!

11. Lemon Cream Cheese Danish

Cream cheese danish of any kind is always my go-to pastry at a coffee shop.

This lemon danish is up there with the best of them! The best part? You get to use premade puff pastry to make this recipe even easier.

The cream cheese filling is as simple as mixing 4 ingredients.

Some pictures show you how to create the beautiful braiding that makes this pastry stand out.

The lemon zest glaze poured over the top adds the perfect sweet topping!

12. Lemon Cobbler

Out of this list of lemon desserts, this cobbler is one of the easiest. It calls for seven ingredients, and it’s simply layering the components.

The creamy, tart filling is perfect for cakey, crumbly topping. The recipe calls for buttermilk, which does add a nice flavor.

If you don’t have buttermilk, you can get some vinegar to whole milk.

I love to serve this with vanilla ice cream or some delicious whipped cream. This recipe would be a great addition to your holiday spread in the spring!

13. Lemon Squares

My mom made lemon squares like these with us when we were young because we loved to push the crust down into the pan at the beginning and whisk the filling together.

These lemon squares take me back to being a kid, and it’s nostalgic to make them now.

You’re going to love the sweet and tangy filling with the shortbread crust on the bottom.

These are wonderful with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side!

14. White Chocolate Lemon Truffles

Healthy lemon desserts can be difficult to find, and while these truffles aren’t healthy off the bat, you can make some substitutions that give them a healthier twist.

Opting for dairy-free white chocolate chips, coconut cream in place of the heavy cream, and sweetening with honey are great swaps.

These are delicious little bites that bring together the rich flavor of white chocolate and lightens it up with a lemon.

Truffles are simple to make and are a great project for kids!

15. Lemon Tart

A traditional tart is one of the most elegant and tasty desserts you can serve.

This tart uses lemon as a tangy filling for the crisp tart crust. One of the best parts of a tart is you get to be creative with decorations on top.

I love to use mint, berries, candied lemon peel, whipped cream, and stencils with powdered sugar to make the tart look superb.

You can also serve this more rustic looking. Either way, whenever you serve this to a group, they will be awed with the delicate look and delicious flavors!

16. Lemon Rolls

There are many great ideas on this list but adding lemon to cinnamon rolls is my favorite!

I loved cinnamon rolls for breakfast in the morning, especially in the fall and winter months.

However, this recipe is perfect for summer mornings! It’s a lighter take on the traditional cinnamon roll. It has a cream cheese frosting and lemony, creamy filling.

The actual pastry is made using lemon cake and yeast that helps the dough rise and gives it that perfect cinnamon roll taste!

17. Vegan Lemon Bread

A lot of these recipes use milk, eggs, or other dairy ingredients. If you’re a vegan or vegetarian, this lemon bread is perfect for you!

It captures all the same flavors and textures as the other recipes in this list without any animal products.

It uses your plant-based milk of choice; I prefer coconut milk here for the added coconut flavor.

You can make this gluten-free as well by substituting oat flour in place of all-purpose flour.

18. Easy Lemon Tarts

If you’re in a pinch for a spring holiday dessert, this recipe is your answer!

This is truly one of the best, easy lemon desserts for Easter. It has a total of two ingredients, and nobody will ever know they’re so quick to make.

You press prepared sugar cookie dough into cupcake tins to make the tart shell and fill them with prepared lemon curd.

You can make these in thirty minutes with very little hands-on time. Top with fresh fruit for a beautiful garnish.

19. Lemon Lovers Trifle

A trifle is one of my favorite desserts to make for a dinner party! Each layer is special in its own way, but all the layers together are divine.

There are lemon pound cake crumbles, whipped topping, lemon pudding, and grated white chocolate.

All of these flavors together come to make a wonderful dessert with different textures.

I love to serve this in a tall glass bowl so you can see all of the beautiful layers.

20. Mini Lemon Cheesecakes

Another take on lemon cheesecakes, but this one presents them as minis! Cold lemon desserts are ideal for hot days when you don’t want a warm dessert.

This cheesecake is cool, and the citrus makes it refreshing. It has a buttery, graham cracker crust and a lemon glaze topping.

This recipe uses both lemon zest and lemon juice to ramp up the flavor.

If you want to use another citrus in this recipe, go for it! It’s great with either lime or grapefruit as well.

21. Italian Lemon Pound Cake

Pound cake always reminds me of my grandma, she used to make pound cake every year for Easter, and this pound cake is just as amazing as hers was.

I love adding fresh strawberries into this batter to give it a new flavor, similar to strawberry lemonade. Baking this in a Bundt cake pan gives it a beautiful appearance.

This cake uses both a lemon glaze and a cream cheese frosting to really push this cake into dessert heaven.

22. Lemon Pudding Cake

I had never heard of a pudding cake before this recipe, and I was missing out! This has become one of my favorite refreshing lemon desserts for the springtime.

It combines the creaminess of pudding with the fluffy texture of a soft cake, a perfect pair! Interestingly, this cake is baked in a water bath which keeps it from overcooking and helps it rise properly.

Make this recipe for any large get-together, and people will keep going back for seconds!

23. Lemon Curd

Lemon curd is a great base to have in your dessert recipe collection.

This list has several recipes that use a premade lemon curd, and if you prefer to make things from scratch, you can use this curd in those recipes. Lemon curd is easy to make, and it’s creamy, silky, and luscious.

You can use it in so many ways: tarts, pies, cakes, pancakes, you can use it to top any sweet treat you like! Make this and hold it in your fridge for a quick dessert solution.

24. Lemon Macarons

Macarons are probably my favorite cookie, but add lemon to them? Yes, please! I love this baked lemon dessert because after I make it, I feel so accomplished!

If you’re in the baking world, you know that macarons are one of the more difficult cookies to make.

Don’t let that stop you! You can make this recipe with attention to the details and patience.

Once you’re done, you feel pride and joy in these lemon curd-filled cookies. Tell people that you made these from scratch, and they will be extremely impressed!

25. Lemon Crumb Muffins

This list wouldn’t be complete without a muffin recipe. Muffins are one of the best pastries to make for a breakfast potluck or party.

They are fluffy, moist, and topped with a buttery, sweet crumble. If you really want to impress, make the optional glaze to pour over top of each muffin. It turns these from breakfast to a dessert.

The most important ingredient in these muffins is sour cream. They add a tang that makes these a muffin instead of a cupcake.

26. One Bowl Lemon Brownies

One-bowl recipes are some of the best for those lazy nights you really want something sweet after dinner.

They require little clean-up and still have a delicious result. Brownies are normally chocolate-filled and fudgy, but these are light and fresh with lemon flavors instead.

If you want to change these up, I like to add white chocolate chips to make them a bit more like traditional brownies.

The lemon glaze on top of these gives them that perfect finishing touch.

27. Lemon Cake

This cake is truly magical! It’s the softest, moistest lemon cake I’ve ever made, and the flavors are so balanced it doesn’t even need icing.

The best part is the syrup that the cake is soaked in. It adds an even more lemon-filled flavor and provides a moist texture.

The important ingredient is the lemon pudding mix in the cake batter. It really lends to the soft, cakey texture and makes this cake one of a kind!