Lemon Layer Cake with Lemon Curd Filling Recipes

One word: birthdays. Anybody who is a baker knows what that word means. It means an excuse to make a delicious baked good rather than just “I really wanted fresh homemade cookie dough to eat” (which happened on Thursday and I ate more cookie dough than actual cookies).

So who’s birthday is it? Well, my best friend and roommate of course. I wouldn’t go to such lengths to make a layered cake if it wasn’t for her and if it wasn’t because I love her so much. And, I have posted two lemon cakes/cupcakes in the past month, but I promise you, there is a long-winded explanation.

See, Kristina is easy to figure out. She doesn’t like too sweet. She doesn’t like those kind of desserts where you layer Oreos and Reese’s in a brownie because that’s too much (I totally agree with her. Simplicity, fellow bakers, is a more is less type thing). And, oh yeah, she goes absolutely gaga over citrus anything. I’ve never seen anyone eye a lemon cupcake the way she did; it was the way a predator eyes prey or the way I eye a burger. And so I had to make her a lemon layer cake because a birthday isn’t complete without lots of layers.

Ingredients
For the cake:

• 2 ½ cups cake flour
• 2 cups sugar
• ¾ cups vegetable oil
• 2 ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• 2/3 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 Tbsp. lemon juice (preferably fresh)
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 4 extra large eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup buttermilk
• (lemon curd and cream cheese frosting recipes below)

For the lemon curd:

• 3 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 large eggs
• 1 large egg yolks
• 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp. grated lemon zest
• For the frosting:
• 4 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
• 4 oz. butter, room temperature
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• a dash of vanilla
• a dash of lemon zest (freshly grated)
• a dash of lemon juice (to your taste)

Instructions
For the cake:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
2. Put the flour, sugar, vegetable oil, baking powder, baking soda, vanilla and salt in a large bowl. Mix on slow for a few seconds or just until the ingredients are blended together. Raise the speed to low-medium and continue to mix until smooth, approximately 1 additional minute.
3. …………………………..

for full recipes please see : bakingisascience.com