Lemon Cake
This four-layer lemon cake uses lemon juice, lemon zest, a sweet-tart lemon syrup and a lush cream cheese frosting to make sure there's a sunshiny taste of citrus in every bite.
Ingredients
- 1 cupbutter, softened
- 1 cupssugar
- 2 largeeggs, room temperature
- 3 largeegg yolks, room temperature
- 1 tablespoongrated lemon zest
- 2 tablespoonslemon juice
- ¾ cupsour cream
- ¼ cup2% milk
- 2 cupsall-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoonsalt
- 1 teaspoonbaking powder
- ½ teaspoonbaking soda
- syrup
- ½ cupsugar
- ½ cuplemon juice
- frosting
- 2 packagescream cheese, softened
- 1 cupbutter, softened
- 4 cupsconfectioners' sugar
- 1 teaspoonslemon juice
- ⅛ teaspoonsalt
- optional: lemon slices or edible flowers
Directions
- 1
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line the bottoms of two greased 9-inch round baking pans with parchment, then grease the parchment, to ensure the cake doesn't stick.
- 2
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, five to seven minutes. Add the eggs and egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the lemon zest and juice. In a small bowl, mix the sour cream and milk. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Start by adding 1/3 of the flour mixture to the creamed mixture, then 1/2 of the milk mixture, alternating and ending with flour. Editor's Tip: Prevent a tough crumb by taking care in this step. When adding flour and milk in an alternating fashion, only mix until just combined. Overmixing at this step will create too much gluten and decrease the cake's tenderness.
- 3
Add the batter evenly to the two prepared pans. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 24 to 28 minutes. Let the cakes cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then carefully turn them out onto wire racks to remove the parchment and continue cooling.
- 4
In a small saucepan, combine the sugar and lemon juice. Bring it to a boil, then cook until the liquid is reduced by half, and let it cool a bit.
- 5
Beat the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Gradually add in the confectioners' sugar, lemon juice and salt until blended.
- 6
Using a long serrated knife, cut each cake horizontally in half (here's our best tip for cutting cake layers). Brush the top of each layer with warm syrup, then let them cool completely.
- 7
Lay one cake layer on a serving plate, and top it with 1 cup of frosting. Repeat the layers twice, topping with the remaining cake layer. Frost the top and sides with the remaining frosting. If desired, decorate with additional frosting, lemon slices and/or edible flowers like violets or nasturtiums. Editor's Tip: For perfect finished frosting, make a crumb coat. Spread a thin layer of icing on the top and sides of the cake and refrigerate it for about 30 minutes. Then add the rest of the frosting for a crumb-free finish.