Description
A stunning layer cake featuring a tender sponge made with fresh lemon zest and a unique cooked-flour frosting that is creamy without being overly sweet.
Ingredients
Scale
- 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 300g unsalted butter (for frosting)
- 3 tsp lemon zest (for frosting)
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 1/3 cups caster sugar (for frosting)
- 4 tbsp fresh lemon juice (for frosting)
- 1/3 cup lemon juice (for cake)
- 1 1/2 cups caster sugar (for cake)
- 3 tsp vegetable oil
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 4 large eggs (room temp)
- 6 1/2 tbsp flour (for frosting)
- 1 cup full-fat milk (for cake)
- 3 tbsp lemon zest (for cake)
- 1 1/3 cups full-fat milk (for frosting)
- 115g unsalted butter (for cake)
- 3 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp natural lemon extract (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) and line three 8-inch cake pans with parchment paper.
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl.
- Beat the eggs and sugar on high speed for 7 minutes until tripled in volume and white in color.
- Heat the milk and butter until melted and hot, then stir in oil, vanilla, lemon juice, zest, and lemon extract.
- Gently fold the flour into the egg mixture in three batches, mixing just until combined.
- Fold the hot milk mixture into the batter until smooth, then divide among pans.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean, then cool completely.
- For the frosting, cook flour, sugar, and milk in a saucepan until it forms a thick pudding; cool completely.
- Beat the butter until pale, then slowly whip in the cooled pudding mixture.
- Add lemon juice and zest to the frosting and whip until fluffy, then assemble the cake.
Notes
Ensure the roux for the frosting is completely cool before adding to the butter.
- Prep Time: 25 min
- Cooling Time: 2 hr
- Cook Time: 28 min
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Western
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice
- Calories: 345
- Sugar: 32g
- Sodium: 95mg
- Fat: 14g
- Saturated Fat: 8g
- Unsaturated Fat: 5g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 52g
- Fiber: 1g
- Protein: 6g
- Cholesterol: 92mg
Keywords: lemon cake recipe, homemade lemon cake, citrus dessert, birthday cake, layer cake