Lemon Cake Recipe

Ingredients:

• 3 Tablespoons fresh lemon zest¹
• ⅓ cup fresh lemon juice (I usually need 3-4 lemons, zest your lemons before juicing)
• ⅔ cup whole milk
• ½ cup Avocado, vegetable or canola oil
• 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter (softened)
• 1 ¾ cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 cups cake flour² (see note to substitute all-purpose/plain flour )
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 6 large egg whites room temperature preferred
• ¾ cup lemon curd ³
• 4 oz cream cheese
• 1 cups powdered sugar (divided (often called “icing sugar” outside the US))
• ¾ teaspoons vanilla extract
• ⅛ teaspoon salt
• ¾ cups heavy cream (cold)
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Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F (175C) and prepare two 8” round cake pans by spraying with baking spray and lining the bottoms with parchment paper. Set aside.
2. Zest your lemons and set zest aside. Juice lemons until you have ⅓ cup of juice, whisk this with your milk and set aside.
3. In a large bowl using an electric mixer or in a stand mixer, beat together oil, butter, sugar, reserved lemon zest, and vanilla extract until completely combined.
4. In a medium-sized bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt and whisk well.
5. Stirring by hand, gradually alternate adding the flour mixture and lemon/milk mixture to the butter mixture, stirring until just combined after each addition (I start and end with the flour and add the flour mixture in 4 parts and the milk mixture in 3 parts).
6. Place egg whites in a separate clean, dry bowl, and beat on high speed with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form (see video or photo in post for a visual if needed).
7. Using a spatula, gently fold egg whites into cake batter until completely combined (don’t use your electric mixer at this point or you will over-beat the batter). Divide cake batter evenly into prepared pans and bake on 350F for 28-31 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.
8. Allow cakes to cool in pans for 10 minutes then run a knife around the edges to loosen cakes from pan and carefully invert onto cooling rack to cool completely.
9. Once cakes have cooled completely, prepare frosting.
10. Combine cream cheese, ½ cup (62g) powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and salt in a large bowl and use an electric mixer to beat together until creamy and smooth.
11. In a separate bowl, combine remaining ½ cup (62g) powdered sugar, and heavy cream. Beat with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form (mixture should be thick, billowy, and the same consistency as Cool Whip).
12. With mixer on low speed, stir together the cream cheese and whipped cream until completely combined.
13. Pipe a dam/border along the inside rim of one cooled layer of cake (see photo in post). Fill with lemon curd and spread evenly inside the dam.
14. Top with second layer of cake. Frost the entire cake with remaining frosting.
15. Keep cake refrigerated in an airtight container when not eating. Enjoy!