Lemon Layer Cake
Serves: 1 cake
Ingredients
- ½ cups1 unsalted butter, softened
- 3 cups granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons lemon zest
- 4 large eggs, room temperature
- 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 4½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1¼ teaspoons kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1¾ cups buttermilk, room temperature
- White Chocolate Buttercream (recipe follows)
- ½ cup lemon curd
- ½ cup seedless raspberry jam
- Garnish: fresh raspberries, lemon peel twists
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°. Spray 3 (8-inch) round cake pans with baking spray with flour. Line bottom of pans with parchment.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter, sugar, and lemon zest at medium speed until fluffy, stopping to scrape down sides of bowl. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla extract.
- In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. With mixer at low speed, gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture, alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture, beating just until combined after each addition. Divide among prepared pans.
- Bake until a wooden pick inserted in centers comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Let cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove from pans and let cool completely on wire racks. Level cakes, if desired.
- Place one layer onto cake plate; spread a thin layer of White Chocolate Buttercream over top. Spoon 1 cup of buttercream into a piping bag. Cut a ¼-inch hole at the end and pipe a small border around the edge of the layer to create a dam. Spread ¼ cup lemon curd and then ¼ cup raspberry jam within the buttercream dam. Repeat with next layer of cake. Top with remaining layer and spread buttercream over top and sides of cake. Garnish with raspberries and lemon peel twists, if desired.
White Chocolate Buttercream
Ingredients
- 3 cups unsalted butter, softened
- 8 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 8 ounces white chocolate, melted and cooled
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter at medium-low speed until soft, about 1 minute.
- Add in confectioners’ sugar, 1 cup at a time, and beat until well combined.
- Beat in salt, vanilla extract, and white chocolate until well combined.
- Increase speed to high and beat mixture until smooth and well combined, 1 to 2 minutes.
