Lemon Cake Layer (make this recipe 3 times, once for each layer)
1 & 1/2 sticks butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
zest of 1 lemon
3 eggs
1 & 1/4 cups flour
1 & 3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
Lemon Buttercream (this will make enough frosting to frost the cake using the rose technique)
3 sticks butter, room temperature,
1 & 1/2 cups vegetable shortening
8-10 tbsp lemon juice, from lemons
zest of 2 lemons
9-12 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
To bake the cake
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease the bottom and sides of an 8 inch round cake pan or springform pan and line the bottom with a round piece of parchment paper. To ensure even baking, place a bake even strip around the pan. You can make your own homemade bake even strip by cutting a towel or shirt to fit the size of your pan. Get the fabric really wet, then squeeze out the dripping water but do not squeeze it too dry. Secure the fabric around the pan with a safety pin.
In a mixing bowl, combine the butter, sugar, and lemon zest, beat using an electric mixer until fluffy. Add in the eggs one at a time, lightly beating after each one.
In a smaller bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt, gently mix with a spoon. Gradually add half of the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, do not dump it in, rather take spoonfuls of the flour mixture and gently shake it over the wet ingredients, as if you were sifting in the flour. Fold in the mixture until no flour remains. Repeat with the other half of the flour, folding it in and scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl to incorporate everything. Scrape the batter into the prepared cake pan, using a spatula to evenly spread it out.
Bake for 22-27 minutes. Using a bake even strip will slow down the baking time, so if your cake is still wobbly in the center, allow it to bake longer.
Once the cake is done, allow it to cool in the pan on a cooling rack for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, carefully remove the cake from the pan. If using a springform pan, remove the sides and bottom. Allow the cake to cool completely on a cooling rack. Once cool, remove the parchment paper round from the bottom of the cake. If you need to level the top of your cake, do so now using either a cake lever or knife. Wrap the cake really good in plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator, which is good for up to one week.
minutes to 1 hour before you plan to assemble the cake, place the cake layers in the freezer. This will make them easier to frost.
To make the buttercream
In a mixing bowl, combine the butter and vegetable shortening, beat using an electric mixer until fluffy. Add in the fresh lemon juice and zest, and gently mix by hand with a spatula. Begin to add the powdered sugar, about 2-3 cups at a time, mixing by hand. Continue adding powdered sugar until the frosting no longer looks wet and tastes good to you. Then I use my electric mixer once last time to make sure the powdered sugar is really incorporated and ready to go.
To frost the cake
I like to assemble my cakes on a turntable. Spread a small amount of buttercream on a 8 inch round cardboard circle. Place your first layer on top of the cardboard. Put buttercream on top of the layer and spread it as even as possible with an offset spatula. Repeat for each layer of cake. Once all of the layers are stacked, it’s time to do a crumb coat. The crumb coat will help seal the crumbs in. Using your offset spatula, spread a thin layer of buttercream around the sides of the cake.
Place the entire cake on the turntable in the freezer for 20 minutes.
To pipe roses onto the cake, take a large piping bag set with a wilton 1M tip and fill it with buttercream. Push the buttercream down into the bag and twist the top of the bag tight. Start by piping roses onto the side of the cake. When creating the rose, start in the middle of the rose and pipe around the middle going in a swirl, going around 1 or 2 times, depending on what you like.
Once the side of the cake is covered in roses, move onto the top, starting at the outside edge and working your way into the center. After the cake is covered in roses, you may notice small spots where the roses didn’t overlap. If you wish, simply pipe a little frosting into those spots.
The cake can be left at room temperature if you’ll be serving it that day. If not, loosely cover the cake in plastic wrap and place it in the fridge.
Source Recipes : -Here-
