Lemon Cake with Strawberry Buttercream Frosting

For my cousin's birthday, I made her favorite cake: lemon cake with strawberry frosting! I was pretty excited to make this cake since A. I've never made a lemon cake before, B. I've never made strawberry frosting before, and C. I've never had lemon and strawberry cake and it sounded yummy! I love strawberry lemonade, so I figured how can you go wrong when mixing those two flavors?

[Things got a little melty once the candles were all lit]

I've been making a lot of cakes lately! I'm making another this weekend for my Grandpa's birthday. It's nice to switch it up once in a while. There are just so many birthdays in January and February, and then there aren't really any until May. I have to say...I'm really glad that I don't have a winter birthday. I'd be so bummed about having to do things indoors all the time!

Anyway...back to the cake. I used two separate sources for the cake and the frosting because the cake recipe didn't use the strawberry frosting that I needed. The frosting was so good. It was very light, sweet, and pretty! You also can't even really tell there are seeds in it. The cake was great too...moist and just the right amount of lemony goodness. I love pretty much all things lemon. Even the smell of fresh lemons is orgasmic. I can eat a whole lemon by itself and not bat an eye. My parents used to think I was weird when I'd take their lemon wedges at restaurants and just eat them. They're just so GOOD.

Sorry...got a little out of hand, there.

Lemon Cake with Strawberry Buttercream Frosting

Sources: Annie's Eats and Me and My Pink Mixer

Ingredients:

For the Cake:

3 cups cake flour

1 tbsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

16 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature

Zest of ½ a lemon

2 cups sugar

5 large eggs, at room temperature

1¼ cups buttermilk, at room temperature

1 tbsp. lemon extract

1 tsp. vanilla extract

For the Strawberry Buttercream Frosting:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/3 cup strawberry preserves

4 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

For the Cake:

Preheat the oven to 350° F.  Spray your baking pans (I used two 9 in. pans) with Pam or the like to help the cakes come out easier. Set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine the cake flour, baking powder and salt.  Whisk together and set aside.  Add the butter to a separate bowl, such as the bowl of an electric mixer. Add the lemon zest to the bowl with the butter.  Beat on medium-high speed for 3 minutes, until light and creamy in color.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat for one more minute.

Add the sugar to the butter mixture, ¼ cup at a time, beating 1 minute after each addition.  Mix in the eggs one at a time until incorporated.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl after each addition.  Combine the buttermilk and the lemon and vanilla extract in a liquid measuring cup.  With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients alternately with the wet ingredients, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients and mixing just until incorporated.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix for 15 seconds longer.

Divide the batter between the prepared baking pans.  Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 20-22 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through baking.  Let cool in the pans about 10 minutes, then invert onto a wire rack and let cool completely.

For the Strawberry Buttercream Frosting:

Beat butter with an electric mixer for 3 minutes.  Add vanilla extract and beat for another minute.
Add strawberry preserves and beat for 2 minutes.  Add powdered sugar a half cup at a time and then beat for another 2-3 minutes. Frost cooled cakes, using some of the frosting as filling in between the cake layers. Garnish with strawberries if desired!