Prep: 45 mins | Cook: 30mins | Additional: 10 mins | Total: 1 hr 25 mins | Serving: 12 | Yield: 1 8-inch layer cake
A soft layer cake recipe brightened with lemon extract, lemon curd, and fresh strawberries, frosting with a tangy fresh buttercream strawberry frosting. The fresh strawberries’ tartness tones down a classic crusting buttercream’s sweetness, creating the perfect balance that is neither too sugar nor too sour.
Ingredients:
2 ½ cups cake flour
1 ½ cups white sugar
2 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp kosher salt
¾ cup frozen pink lemonade from concentrate, thawed
½ cup milk
(4) large eggs, at room temperature
2 tsp strawberry extract
1 tsp lemon extract
(2) drops of red food coloring, add more as needed
12 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature, cubed
(8) large fresh strawberries, stemmed, or more as needed
10 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
(1) pinch kosher salt
⅛ tsp strawberry extract, or to taste
1 (16 oz) package confectioners’ sugar
1 (10 oz) jar lemon curd
Directions:
Start by preheating the oven at about 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour the two 8-inch cake pans.
Add and put cake flour, sugar, baking powder, and ½ tsp of kosher salt into the bowl of an electric mixer. Stir to combine.
Add and stir lemonade concentrate, milk, eggs, 2 tsp of strawberry extract, lemon extract, and food coloring together in a separate bowl.
Add 12 tbsp of cubed butter to the flour mixture, 2 to 3 pieces at a time, and mix on low speed until you add all butter and the mixture resembles a coarse meal, and then stop the mixer and scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.
Resume mixing at medium speed; add ½ of the egg mixture slowly and mix, about 20 seconds, and then scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl. Resume mixing at medium speed. Add the egg mixture in 2 batches for 20 seconds after each addition. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl after each addition.
Bake it for 28 to 33 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean in the preheated oven.
Take the cakes out from the oven and allow cooling for 10 minutes on cooling racks. Turn the cake layers out onto the racks to cool completely for 15 to 30 minutes.
While cakes cool, place (8) strawberries into a small food processor or an electric blender. Blend to make ¼ cup puree.
Put 10 tbsp of softened butter and a pinch of kosher salt into the bowl of an electric mixer, and then beat until light and fluffy for about 2 minutes on medium speed. Mix in ⅛ tsp strawberry extract. Mix in ⅛ teaspoon strawberry extract. Add ⅓ of the confectioners’ sugar gradually to the butter while continuing to mix. Add ½ of the strawberry puree, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl, and continue mixing.
Add ⅓ of confectioners’ sugar, and then scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl. Sprinkle in the remaining confectioners’ sugar and mix until you reach your desired consistency, adding more confectioners’ sugar or strawberry puree as needed.
Put the cooled bottom cake layer on a serving plate and spread lemon curd on top. Add and put the second layer on top of the first and frost with strawberry buttercream from the sides and then the top of the cake.
Nutrition Facts:
Per Serving: 655.1 calories; 136.3 mg cholesterol; 264.6 mg sodium; 5.2 g protein; 106.5 g carbohydrates.
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