Hey friends, Happy Labor Day! I hope none of you are working today and are planning to spend time relaxing and spending time with your loved ones! Today, I have an amazing cake recipe for you. Two recipes in a month? I know, I know! Don’t worry, this won’t turn into a baking/food blog but I HAD to share this recipe with you! It’s no secret I waste spend time on Pinterest pinning all these incredible recipes and then they sit there because I rarely make them! Well, being on vacation allowed me some down time and after going blueberry picking in our yard and at the orchard…this recipe was calling to me in a very major way. I think it has to do with the fact that once Labor Day hits, the weather in New England tends to get chillier as the Fall makes it’s way in and everything turns to apples and spice and warm drinks and I was struggling to hold on to what little Summer we had left.
Now first off, I will tell you that I am not typically a huge cake/pie person, unless it’s Key Lime, then all bets are off! For some reason though, this cake was right up my alley. I figured with the lemon it would be tangy like my beloved Key Lime pie and I was right. The original recipe can be found here. It’s a bit time consuming (I actually made it over the course of 2 days, I made the cake in the evening and let it cool overnight and then made the frosting and frosted it the next morning.)
I only made the cake two layers instead of the 3 the recipe called for, but I followed the rest of the recipe exactly. The layers would have been really thin if I used 3 cake pans and honestly, it was getting late and I didn’t want to have to wait to let the third cake bake (I am a bit impatient when it comes to cooking/baking.) So, here is the recipe:
Ingredients:
CAKE
- 1 cup (230g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 and 1/4 cups (250g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) light brown sugar
- 4 large eggs, at room temperature*
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups (375g) all-purpose flour, careful not to overmeasure*
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (240ml) buttermilk*
- zest + juice of 3 medium lemons*
- 1 and 1/2 cups blueberries, fresh (258g) or non-thawed frozen (275g)
- 1 Tablespoon all-purpose flour
CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
- 8 ounces (224g) full-fat cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 1/2 cup (115g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3 and 1/2 cups (420g) confectioners’ sugar
- 1 – 2 Tablespoons (15-30ml) heavy cream*
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- pinch salt
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350F. Spray two three 9×2 inch cake pans with nonstick spray and set them aside.
Make the cake. Using a handheld or stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on high until creamy – about 1 minute. Add granulated and brown sugars and beat on medium-high speed until creamed, about 2-3 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Add eggs and vanilla. Beat on medium speed until everything is combined, about 2 full minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed and set aside.
In a large sized bowl, toss together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Beat on low speed for 5 seconds, then add the milk, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Remove from the mixer and stir lightly until everything is just combined. Toss the blueberries in 1 Tablespoon of flour and fold into the batter. Batter is extremely thick. Do not overmix at any point. Overmixing will lend a tough, dense textured crumb.
Spoon batter evenly into 3 prepared cake pans. If only using 2 cake pans, your bake time will be longer. Bake the three layers for about 21-26 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. I set my timers to 20 minutes and had to check it twice, ending with a cook time of about 25 minutes. Remove the cakes from the oven and allow to cool completely before frosting.
Make the frosting. Using a handheld or stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat cream cheese and butter together on medium speed until no lumps remain, about 3 full minutes. Add confectioners’ sugar, 1 Tablespoon cream, vanilla extract, and salt with the mixer running on low. Increase to high speed and beat for 3 minutes. Add 1 more Tablespoon of cream to thin out, if desired.
Assemble and frost. First, using a large serrated knife, trim the tops off the cake layers to create a flat surface. Place 1 layer on your cake stand. Evenly cover the top with cream cheese frosting. Top with 2nd layer, more frosting, then the third layer. Top with frosting and spread around the sides. The recipe is not supposed to make a lot of frosting if you are making 3 cakes but since I only used two, I had a good amount left over, something I did not mind at all, as I put it on graham crackers for the next week! 
You can make the cake 1 day in advance if you’d like.
Helpful notes:
*VERY careful not to overmeasure your flour. This will result in a heavy, dense crumb. You want a precise 375g.
*Please use buttermilk in this recipe.
*1 medium-size lemon = approximately 1 tablespoon of lemon zest = 2 to 3 tablespoons of lemon juice
*Room temperature eggs preferred for even distribution among batter. Simply set into a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes before using or set out when you set out your cream cheese/butter for the recipe.
*Heavy cream with 30% or more milk fat preferred in frosting for creamiest texture. For a less creamy texture, milk would be fine.
Here is what my beautiful cake looked like when it was done!
The cake is fairly dense and the frosting is light and tangy with a hint of sweetness, but not heavy at all. I found myself licking the paddles of our Kitchen aid mixer because the frosting was so delicious.
I kept saying to Robyn that this was the best cake I’ve ever eaten. He enjoyed it too, but it was much more “my kind” of cake as he tends to like really rich dark chocolate cakes and I like tart and tangy, but he said it was really good. Given that the cake was gone in less than a week and since he is a total food snob, I took that as a big compliment.
I will most definitely be making this cake again, it was worth the time and effort and made my taste buds (and stomach) really happy! Enjoy!
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Question of the day
What’s your favorite dessert?
