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19 Lemon Desserts Perfect for Spring Entertaining

Updated on March 19, 2024

Serve your guests a sweet treat that tastes just like a ray of sunshine.

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Photo: RYAN DAUSCH

Our Best Lemon Dessert Recipes

Who doesn’t love that feeling of stepping outside on the first warm day of the season and realizing that you need to remove a layer, as the springtime sunshine warms you all the way down to your soul? If we could encapsulate that feeling in a dessert, it would have to be kissed by lemon, the very color and flavor of a ray of light. We’ve got lots of spring-y dessert ideas, whether you’re looking for something casual, like crisp, tart cookies for a brunch buffet, or something more over-the-top, like a bright and fresh cake lightened further with clouds of whipped cream. Ready to start baking? Try this deliciuos olive oil cake. Candying the lemons removes all the bitterness from the fruit. Afterwards, you’re left with a sweet, tart topping for this tasty spring dessert. The recipe calls for Meyer lemons, which are sweeter than your usual garden variety lemon, which results in a gentler citrus flavor.

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Photo: Renee Comet ©

Fresh Lemon Mousse

Ina decorates this perfectly calibrated rich, yet fluffy, lemon mousse with fresh cream and lemon slices for a festive springtime touch. The result is so light and bright, you might just float away while eating it.

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Photo: Matt Armendariz

Lemon Angel Food Cake

One taste of Ina’s sky-high lemony angel food cake, and you’ll have lots of ideas—yes, you can of course just enjoy the cake, but this also makes a wonderful layer in a trifle or cubed and baked into bread pudding (or heck, we’ve been known to just toast a slice in the toaster oven and spread it with butter and jam).

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Photo: Kate Mathis ©

The Most-Lemony Lemon Bar of All Time

This bar is lemon city! We put lemon zest in the crust, upped the pucker in the filling and put lemon candy on top. It's the bar for the ultimate lemon lover.
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