You will adore this dish if you enjoy lemon meringue pie.
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 40 mins |
| Additional Time: | 4 hrs 20 mins |
| Total Time: | 5 hrs 30 mins |
| Servings: | 10 |
| Yield: | 1 layer cake |
Ingredients
- 1 (18.25 ounce) package lemon cake mix
- 1 ¼ cups water, or as needed
- 3 eggs
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil
- 1 (21 ounce) can lemon pie filling
- 3 egg whites
- ½ cup white sugar
Instructions
- Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour 3 8-inch cake pans.
- Mix the cake mix, water, eggs, and vegetable oil as directed on the package, and pour batter into prepared cake pans.
- Bake the layers in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cake comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Let cool in pan at least 20 minutes or until completely cool.
- When the cake is completely cool, run a paring knife between the cake and the edge of the pan. Hold the cake pan on its side and gently tap the sides of the pan against the counter to loosen it. Cover the cake pan with a plate or cooling rack, and invert it to tip the cake out of the pan and onto the plate.
- To fill and decorate, lay a cake layer onto an oven-safe plate, and spread half the lemon filling over the bottom layer. Place a second layer gently on the lemon filling, and spread the rest of the filling on the top of the second layer. Top with third layer.
- Beat the egg whites in a bowl until they form stiff peaks, then gradually add the sugar and continue to beat until the mixture forms a fluffy, shiny meringue. Spread the meringue all over the cake like a frosting, spreading it into decorative peaks and swirls. Place the decorated cake back into the hot oven, and bake until the peaks and swirls of meringue are lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Refrigerate 4 hours to overnight, then serve cold.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 552 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 89 g |
| Cholesterol | 146 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 9 g |
| Saturated Fat | 5 g |
| Sodium | 456 mg |
| Sugars | 70 g |
| Fat | 19 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
My mom loves lemon meringue pie so I made this for her birthday cake! It was a hit, my son who doesnt like cake, had seconds!! I doubled everything when it came to making the meringue, thank goodness because my impatience caused me to set it on a fire a little so I scraped that off and replaced with what I had leftover. Next time I’ll add cream of tartar to help make stiffer peaks but as far as taste, it was fantastic!!
This is a great idea for a desert, but I think there could be some adjustments made. I don’t see myself making this recipe again, but it was definitely fun to try once. I used 2 9-inch pans because that’s what I had on hand, and I cut each layer in half to form 4 layers. Another reviewer said 3 egg whites was barely enough for the meringue. I agree. 3 egg whites were just enough to cover the cake completely and it looked great, but since meringue is mostly air there just wasn’t enough to stand out against the cake and filling (flavor- and texture-wise). I would go up to 4 egg whites (maybe even more) next time using 1/2 tsp cream of tartar, 1/2 cup sugar (added little by little), and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract. For the lemon filling I used the “perfect lemon curd” recipe by TAWNIE44 on this site. You can also replace 2 of the eggs with the 4 leftover egg yolks to get rid of them!
We love lemon meringue anything so this was a new twist. My dad, who lives in another state, even wanted an update when it was done! I thought the layers were a little too thin so I will use 2 boxes of lemon cake mix next time but it’s all gone and that speaks volumes !!!!
This recipe was a lot of fun and it worked great! My husband took it to work for his birthday and it was finished within an hour. I did make my own lemon pie filling though. It was delicious.
I doubled the recipe and made it a 6 layer cake for drama. I also torched my meringue with a brûlée torch.
This was a big hit in my house. I do have to say that I baked this in a 13 x 9 pan and built off that. After it cooled I added the lemon filling and then I topped it with the meringue and finished it in the oven. After letting it refrigerate several hours we had no problem getting it to come out of the pan in nice square pieces.
Everyone loved it. And it was easier than I thought it would be to make.
Very easy recipe (boxed cake, and box of lemon pie filling mix). I wish it was more lemony though, maybe double the pie filling and double the egg whites to make a fluffier topping.
This cake is absolutely wonderful!!
alot easier than it sounds! made it for Pastors Appreciation Day!
I am surprised that nobody has mentioned any problems with layering the cake yet. I followed the instructions exactly, and my pie filling kept coming out of the sides. Additionally, the layers were sliding around. So what I did was stake the layers with some chop sticks and stuck it in the fridge for a while, so the pie filling could harden up. After a while the pie filling stopped being pushed out and that is when I put the meringue on. Took the chop sticks out and stuck it in the oven immediately. I was hoping the meringue would seal the pie filling but it didn’t. As soon as it got heated up, it was leaking to the bottom of the cake, making the cake look like a mess. Will never make this recipe again. The only change I made to the recipe was the meringue. I used a recipe that I use for my pie recipe that uses cornstarch, egg whites, sugar, salt, and vanilla extract.
My family depends on me for dessert. And they depend on me to make it interesting and unusual. I made this cake for the family and and I was a rock star. They absolutely loved it.
I found this to be challenging and it definitely took a while for the tips of the meringue to brown. I would probably not make this recipe again.
I just used the meringue part of the recipe and it was spectacular. What a beautiful presentaion for a cake! I also used a blow tourch instead of the oven, easier to control browning.
This is so delicious! Didn’t change a thing, perfect as is. Separate your eggs when they are cold and let the egg whites sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. They will have more fluff to them when you whip them. Add sugar only at the end in small amounts at a time.
I made this for my best friends birthday. She is a lemon freak. It turned out amazing. Im not good at making meringue so that took me two times to get it right to spread on cake. This cake is so good and you will be the hit of any party.
So good!! Everyone loved this cake. I will absolutely make it again!!! My only recommendation is to use more egg whites for the meringue. It calls for 2 eggs and I used 3, and I was still short.
I love this cake, but I made mine a little different. I made regular cake mix and made the filling from scratch. But all in all, this is one of my family’s favorite. P.S. I hope you don’t mind me adding a picture of my cake.
Everyone loved this cake for me wife’s 33 birthday party. The cake was not too sweet. I had to cook it a little bit longer (20 mins) so that the tops would brown. Everyone liked.
LOVED this! Super easy, was a hit for Mother’s day…Not too lemony or sweet….perfect combination.