Lemon Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

 

You like lemon?  Today is your day to shine.  Ah, lemon pun.  What I've got here for you is Lemon Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting and it's delish.  You'll be living your best lemon life.

I'm a fan of lemon baked goods.  Mike?  He's not.  So, it's not often I bake up lemon goods unless I've made something solely for him, hence my lack of lemony stuff here.

As you may already know, I've been baking up a storm for my neighbor's food business making New York Style Cheesecakes along with Blueberry Sauce and Strawberry Sauce.  I'm beyond thrilled he's selling them and that they're a hit.  He's a great guy.

Well.  He threw me a curveball and asked for lemon layer cakes.

Now.  I'll be completely honest.  I'd never baked a lemon layer cake before.  See above.  So I kinda panicked.

Time was too short to test it ahead so despite my nerves, I dove head first into the world of lemon layer cakes and lemon frostings.

What I do know about lemon cakes is that they can be tricky in that, the lemon flavor often burns off in the oven.  So, dilemma one.

What I also know about vanilla based type cakes is they can be issue-laden:  they dry out by the next day; if they're all butter and refrigerated, they often turn into dense rocks; many all-butter cakes are dry off the bat; and more that I can't think of at the moment.  Handful dilemmas more.

Then add in the frosting component?  Far too many are far too overpoweringly sweet.  Yick.

I needed my cakes to taste like lemon.  Not kapow but lemon.  And not be a dud the next day.  And have a tasty, creamy, subtly lemon frosting that won't rot the teeth out your face.

I won this challenge.  So yeah, it's blog worthy, this Lemon Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting. 
 

Fluufffyyy!

Whew.

After dredging the internet, I narrowed my scope to about five cake recipes and examined those.

Then, from there, I took a monster chance and tweaked one a smidge to get the results I needed which is insane for me as I'm not a recipe developer, I'm a baker. 

So, what I'm trying to say is I substituted some oil for some butter which you can do in many cake recipes.  Why oil?  Because it lends tenderness and keeps the cake from veering off into rock realm.  You can do all butter here if you'd like but I didn't test it that way.

I also added some lemon extract* as well, just to ensure that desired lemon tastiness.

Could you use Meyer lemons?  Go for it.  You could swap in any citrus like orange or lime.  Why not, right?

Ok.  Let's make the Lemon Cake.  Super easy.

Spray* or grease and flour your two baking pans* (all aluminum is best) line the bottoms with parchment paper.*

Sift* yes sift (or give a nice good whisk but sifting is better) the dry ingredients into a bowl then toss in your lemon zest.  Get a zester grater,* it's totally worth it and you'll use it time and time again.

Cream up* the butter and oil.  It is going to look a little funky but that's a-okay, then throw in the sugar, cream it up more.  It'll turn that light and pretty pale yellow color I love so.  Here I tossed in the zest with the butter, oil, sugar so don’t fret about zest timing. 

Mmk, add the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla and lemon extract. 

Next, stir the buttermilk and lemon juice together in a larger cup.  Tap about a third of the dry into the mixer, then pour in half the liquid, and repeat with dry being last.

Now key here is to not over-mix.  Shut off that mixer about fifteen seconds into mixing everything and you're going to finish by hand with a spatula*.  Just barely mix here. 
 

The batter is going to possibly look funky here, kinda foamy, but don't fret.  That's correct.

Divide the batter up, spread it level and smooth with an offset spatula,* and bake 'em up.  Be sure to rotate the pans, switching positions, halfway through to ensure evenness.

They're ready when lightly golden brown, the edges pull away slightly, and that ever important tester comes out clean. 

Ok!  Lemon Cake done, let them cool completely.

Now onto the Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting.  It's even simpler.  Of major importance to note here, keep the cream cheese cold.  You're insured a not mushy sloppy frosting this way.  Do not skip this.  I mean, that's easy, just leave it in the fridge.  Keep it cold!

Toss the butter and the powdered sugar into the mixer bowl and cream that up nicely.  Slice the cold cream cheese into cubes and toss a few in at a time.

Lastly, drizzle in the lemon juice.  You can use the bottled stuff, totally fine, don't stress.

Whip it up and it's time to frost!

Scoop out a cup of frosting for the middle, spread it out even, top with the other cake round, and wrap this bad boy up.

I left it unadorned so yeah, looks kinda like just a lot of white.

Because there is cream cheese in the frosting, the cake gets stored in the fridge.  Another key to this cake's success is bringing the cake or just individual slices to room temperature before serving, otherwise the texture will be off.  Plan ahead!

Ooh and there we have it friends, Lemon Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting.  It is so good.  Like really so good.

Feel free to decorate as you see fit and be extra sure to enjoy the heck out of this cake!

*The lemon extract, baking spray, 8" baking pans, parchment paper, sifters, zesters, stand mixers, spatulas, and offset spatulas are Amazon affiliate links.  Happy baking, thanks!  Please see the "info" tab for more, well, info.