This has become my favorite cake. It began as a quest to
find a wonderful Lemon Layer Cake recipe. I never found one. But I did find many
recipes and out of that muddle I ended up with this. I love it.
Please be sure use real ingredients. Real butter. Crisco
shortening. Cake flour. And freshly squeezed lemon juice. All those things do
make a difference in how the final product tastes.
1 cup butter, softened
½ cup solid shortening
3 cups sugar
5 eggs, room temperature
2 ¾ cups + 1 tablespoon cake flour
¾ cup milk
¼ cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon extract
¾ teaspoon baking powder
Cream together butter and shortening. Add sugar and
continue to beat until completely smooth. Add eggs one at a time, beating after
each one until well blended. Slowly add flour and milk, alternating between the
two. the lemon juice, vanilla extract and lemon extract. Add baking powder last.
Line four cake pans with wax paper, using butter
generously to coat the bottoms and sides. Divide batter evenly between the four
pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 18-20 minutes or until a wood toothpick comes out
clean. Remove from pans and let the layers cool.
Frosting
Two 8-ounce packages of cream cheese, softened
1 cup butter, softened
4 cups powdered sugar
¼ cup lemon juice
Yellow food coloring
Beat cream cheese and butter until well blended. Slowly
add powdered sugar and lemon juice. Add yellow food coloring to the shade of
yellow you prefer. It doesn’t take much.
Spread frosting between cake layers and on the top and
sides of the cake. Serve immediately or refrigerate. This cake also freezes
well.
