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Please Fave the original Here

This rather fattening recipe comes from !

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With warm weather taking hold many wonderful fruits are entering their prime. And among those is a favorite in the kitchens of Full Moon Cuisine, the lemon. While usually there to serve as a back-up note or something to enhance the flavor of other ingredients, this bright yellow fruit deserves the spotlight. So why not a cake celebrating this tart treat? And on top of the great taste and look to this cake, it's really easy to put together.

Here's what you'll need:

- 3 cups cake flour
- 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 cup of butter (2 sticks) at room temperature
- 1 3/4 cups sugar
- 3 large eggs at room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup buttermilk
- Zest of 2 lemons (1 tbsp)
- 1/3 cup lemon juice (fresh squeezed, do not use bottled juice)
- Pinch of salt

To begin preheat your oven to 350°F. In a bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and set aside. In another bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar, then add in the eggs one at a time. Next add in the vanilla, making sure to scrape down the sides of your bowl with a rubber spatula. Slowly incorporate your dry ingredients in thirds, mixing until they have just combined with the wet. Next, slowly add in the lemon zest and juice and buttermilk, again mixing until everything has just combined.

Spray two 9" cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper and then divide your batter evenly between them. The batter will be a bit thick and that's what you're looking for. Place the pans in your oven and bake for approximately 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. I would recommend checking at 25 minutes first and then checking every minute or two up to 30.

While these cakes cool, we can move onto the two remaining elements, the filling and the frosting! For the filling, we wanted a sharp, lemon taste to compliment the lighter lemon flavor of the cake. And the best way to do that was to add lemon curd. You can make it yourself (here's a link to a great recipe. Or you can also buy a good jar of it from your grocery store. Either way, make sure you have some. Now for the frosting, a vanilla buttercream will nicely compliment the bright flavors of the lemon with creaminess.

Here's what you'll need:

- 1 1/4 cups butter (2.5 sticks) at room temperature
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1/3 cup plus 2 tbsp heavy cream
- 2 tsp vanilla
- Pinch of salt

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and powdered sugar together on a low setting, slowly increasing in speed once they start to mix. Add in your cream, just the 1/3 cup at first, and the vanilla and salt. Once combined, mix on a high speed for 2 minutes. Here judge how thick the frosting is. You want it loose enough to spread on a cake but not too loose. If the frosting feels too thick, add in the extra 2 tbsp of cream.

Place one of your cakes on your plate/stand and apply a layer of lemon curd on top. Next, invert your other cake on top so you will have a flatter surface up top to decorate. If you'd like, reserve about 1/4 of the frosting in a bowl for additional decorating. Using an offset spatula, evenly spread the frosting along the top and sides of your cake. Now if you'd like, you can use the remaining frosting to add a decorative touch with some food coloring. I used about 5-6 drops of yellow frosting and used a Wilton 1M open star tip in a piping bag to add the spirals on top as well as the decorative border at the bottom. Here's a link to show you how to pipe swirls. Place in a fridge to firm up before serving.

Lemons are a wonderful fruit to keep in your kitchen as they can be worked into so many dishes. And this dessert combines a light cake with sharp curd and creamy frosting. Your diners will definitely want a second helping of this citrus treat. To make sure there's enough to go around the kitchen will be staying open late. Care to place an order?

Want to know what the 2021 Cake Challenge is all about? Check out my journal on the subject and maybe submit a suggestion for a future recipe the Cake Challenge is on!