This layered lemon cake is the perfect combo of sweet and tart! It’s exactly what you crave on a hot summer day! Try this amazing recipe today!
Baking cakes might just be my favorite thing to bake while in the kitchen. Cookies are great because they’re easy. Muffins are an amazing baked breakfast good. And brownies are just delicious. But cakes. Cakes are so fun to make! I love how nice they are to look at and how creative I’m able to be while experimenting with them!
The other day, my parents were going to a gathering with some friends. Their friends were BBQing (is that a word?😂) and my parents were asked to bring a dessert. I was so excited to hear this because this meant it was time for my dessert-making skills to shine!😉
After about half an hour of scrolling through Pinterest and looking for inspo, I decided on a vanilla cake with a caramel pecan crunch as the filling and a salted caramel drizzle on top. That cake didn’t really work out, as you can probably tell by the title of this blog post.😂 I tried my hand at homemade caramel and ended up with a big clump of sugar!🤭 While that recipe will be on the blog someday, today I’m bringing to you something bigger and better! This beautiful and super delicious lemon layered cake!
It’s moist, perfectly sweet/tart, and so yummy! Let’s get baking for the best lemon cake of your life!
How to not bake the dreaded dry cake!
I don’t know if there’s anything worse in the baking world than a dry cake. That’s one of my worst frees when I try new cake recipes from random parts of the internet/Pinterest. But, this cake won’t be dry!
First, no worries! Thankfully, you clicked on the right blog post so, as long as you follow these simple instructions, your cake is gonna be wonderful!☺️
Use room temp ingredients!
Please don’t try to rush the process of baking this cake! Using room temperature buttermilk, eggs, and butter is going to completely change how your ingredients come together. The mixture will be much more smooth, fluffy, and evenly combined.
Don’t over mix
This is a really key step in cake making! Once you’ve added the flour, mix the batter until it’s just combined then stop mixing! If you continue mixing it, the gluten will begin to develop too much and the texture of the cake will end up more tough than light and soft.
Whip the wet ingredients really well
Before you’ve added the flour, whip that mixture! First whip the oil, butter, sugar, and vanilla really well. The goal is to make it completely combined. Then add in the eggs and egg yolks one at a time. Whip those bad boys until they are fluffy and light yellow.
Then just alternate adding in the dry ingredients and wet until just combined.
Baking
The way you bake your cakes is more important than you may think. Low temp for a longer amount of time is always the way to go. This way, you won’t burn your cakes on the top. Also, make sure to line, grease, and flour the tins really well! This is crucial if you want nice clean layers.
That’s it! That’s a quick guide to how I make this layered cake really great!
Layered Lemon Cake Recipe
AuthorbasilanddillDifficultyIntermediatePreheat your oven to 325 degrees and line, grease, and flour, two 9 inch cake tins.
In a large mixing bowl, whip together sugar, oil, and room temp butter, and vanilla until completely combined. Next mix in eggs one at a time and whip the mixture until it’s fluffy and light yellow in color. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Alternate mixing in the room temp buttermilk and dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined.
Separate the batter into the two prepared cake pans and bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. When the cake is ready, let it cool for at least an hour in the freezer before frosting.
In a small saucepan, whisk together, lemon juice, sugar, egg yolks, and eggs until the sugar has dissolved. Then add small cubes of butter and stir until its melted and combined. Turn the heat up a bit and continue stirring/whisking until the curd easily covers the back of a spoon. (Keep in mind that as the curd cools it will thicken up a little bit.)
Cream together room temp butter, cream cheese, and vanilla until combined and almost fluffy. Slowly add in powdered sugar and whip until the frosting is light and fluffy.
Put a small circle of frosting on the bottom of the cake plate and put down the first layer. Put a ring of frosting around the edge and fill in the inside with a lot of lemon curd ;). Put on the second layer of cake on top and frost the outside of the cake whatever way you would like. Enjoy with hot tea! <3
Ingredients
Directions
Preheat your oven to 325 degrees and line, grease, and flour, two 9 inch cake tins.
In a large mixing bowl, whip together sugar, oil, and room temp butter, and vanilla until completely combined. Next mix in eggs one at a time and whip the mixture until it’s fluffy and light yellow in color. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Alternate mixing in the room temp buttermilk and dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined.
Separate the batter into the two prepared cake pans and bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. When the cake is ready, let it cool for at least an hour in the freezer before frosting.
In a small saucepan, whisk together, lemon juice, sugar, egg yolks, and eggs until the sugar has dissolved. Then add small cubes of butter and stir until its melted and combined. Turn the heat up a bit and continue stirring/whisking until the curd easily covers the back of a spoon. (Keep in mind that as the curd cools it will thicken up a little bit.)
Cream together room temp butter, cream cheese, and vanilla until combined and almost fluffy. Slowly add in powdered sugar and whip until the frosting is light and fluffy.
Put a small circle of frosting on the bottom of the cake plate and put down the first layer. Put a ring of frosting around the edge and fill in the inside with a lot of lemon curd ;). Put on the second layer of cake on top and frost the outside of the cake whatever way you would like. Enjoy with hot tea! <3