We’re out of town from this weekend so I quickly made a birthday cake for @m8duck on Thursday night before we started packing for our trip.
I’m anticipating my lemons getting ripe on our tree and got impatient so I bought some lemons and went ahead with a gorgeous Lemon Cake with Lemon curd filling and Lemon Cream Cheese Icing.
The cake recipe is compliments of Gemma’s Bigger Bolder Baking and the Cream Cheese Icing recipe is all my own.
Here’s how to make it:
LEMON CAKE INGREDIENTS
- ¾ cup (6oz/170g) butter (at room temperature)
- 1½ cups (12oz/340g) granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs (at room temperature)
- 1 cup (8floz/225ml) milk
- ¼ cup (2floz/57ml) lemon juice
- ¼ cup (2floz/57ml) neutral flavored oil
- 2 teaspoons lemon extract (optional)
- Zest of 2 lemons
- 2 ⅔ cups (13⅓oz/378g) all-purpose flour
- ⅓ cup (1½oz/40g) cornstarch
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
LEMON CREAM CHEESE ICING INGREDIENTS
- 250g Icing Sugar
- 125g creamed butter (white baking Margerine)
- 1 tsp Lemon Essence
- 1-2 tablespoons Smooth Plain Cottage cheese
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- Dash Lemon Juice
EXTRA
Lemon Curd for between cake layers.
METHOD
To make the Lemon Cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Butter, flour, and line with parchment three 8-inch (20cm) round cake pans. Set aside.
- With an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, and then add the eggs one at a time until fully combined.
- In a measuring cup with a pour spout, combine the milk, lemon juice, oil, lemon extract, and lemon zest.
Gradually add the liquid to the butter mixture until thoroughly mixed.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Gradually beat into the batter just until evenly combined.
- Divide the batter between your prepared pans and bake for 30-35 minutes if using two pans and 20-25 minutes if using 3 pans, until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Let cool for 10 minutes in the pans before inverting onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
To make the Lemon Cream Cheese Icing:
While the cake is cooling, prepare the icing: with an electric mixer, beat the butter / baking Margarine until light and fluffy, then gradually add the powdered sugar. Beat until there are no lumps.
Into the butter mixture, add the cream cheese, lemon zest, dash of lemon juice if needed and beat until combined. I also added a teaspoon of Lemon Essence for extra zing.
- When the cake is thoroughly cooled, level your layers and ice. I spread the lemon curd on the bottom of the top layer and spread icing on top of the bottom layer to make it all super moist.
- Store the cake at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 2 days.
I decorated my cake with fresh lemon zest and slices of dehydrated lemon that slowly dried in the oven.
It’s now Sunday and we’re still loving the cake. It’s kept very well as we brought about a third of the cake on our trip in a sealed plastic tub. It’s better at room temperature as the fridge will dry out the cake sponge.
It’s a wonderful zingy alternative to the sickly sweet chocolate cake and we are absolutely loving this Lemon Cake, but it’s the creamy cheese lemon icing that is the bomb!!! I usually add some lemon zest, but the lemon essence just takes it to a while ‘bother level.
Let me know if you try it!!!
