Spring has come early with this LEMON-LIME LAYER CAKE – a beautiful layer lemon cake with lime buttercream!
I really can eat cake at any time of the day, month, or year. Making an excuse to bake and then eat cake is a talent of mine. Really, ask my kids. I could live off chocolate cake and I make a killer good one. But there are those moments where I cave to my husband’s dessert desires and make something with limes. His favorite cookies are my Key Lime Sugar Cookie and it is all because of the frosting. So I decided that I would make a cake just for him.
And let me tell you, friends, he would have had the entire cake if I wouldn’t have stopped him. We all needed some, you know. I already am looking forward to making this again once it becomes warm. And this will be an Easter must-have.
Limes just aren’t for limeade or margaritas they make amazing cakes, and well lemon is a bakers dream.
So whip up this easy, delicious, mouthwatering cake. It is simple to make and even easier to devour.
Ingredients
Lemon Cake:
- 1 cup 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pans
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour spooned and leveled, plus more for pans
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 2 large eggs plus 3 large egg yolks
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
- 1 cup low-fat buttermilk
Lime Buttercream:
- 7-8 cups confectioners' sugar
- 2 limes juiced
- 6 tablespoons lime zest
- 1 cup butter softened to room temperature
- 8-10 tablespoons milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Lightly spray with baking oil and flour two 8-by-2-inch cake pans. Make sure to tap out the excess flour. In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and lemon zest.
- In a large bowl mixing bowl and using an electric mixer, or use your KitchenAid mixer like me, cream together butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar until light and fluffy. Reduce mixer speed to low and add in eggs and yolks, one at a time. Mix in lemon juice. Alternate adding in flour mixture and buttermilk beginning and ending with flour. Mix until well combined.
- Pour ½ of the batter into one pan and add the remaining to the second pan. Place in oven and bake for 30-35 minutes or until cake starts to pull away from the sides of the pan.
- Once cakes are completely cooked remove from the oven and cool. Allow the pans to cool for 10 minutes on a cake rack, then remove cakes from the pans and place back on cake rack, allowing them to completely cool.
- While the cakes are cooling, make lime buttercream. In a large bowl, cream together the confectioners' sugar and butter until smooth. Gradually mix in the milk, lime zest and juice with an electric mixer until smooth and stiff, about 5 minutes. Color with food coloring if desired.
- *2 Layer Cake -* Evenly spread the filling on top of the bottom layer, then add the second cake on top.
