lemon cake with cream cheese icing

April 15, 2018
luscious lemon cake with cream cheese icing

Lemon cake! What could be more perfect when you want to make a simple cake that requires minimal effort but will come out tasting delicious. Topped with cream cheese icing, this cake is just the right amount of lemony.

I haven’t been making cakes very often in the recent past but when I was in the supermarket recently I suddenly had the urge to make a cake when I got home. I bought a couple of lemons and that was the beginning of a wonderful idea. I love me a lemon tart, but that takes a whole lot of effort, so a simple cake was the perfect option. I hadn’t really thought it through, so when it came to icing the cake I was left with a dilemma. I’m a big fan of cream cheese icing (think banana cake). Unfortunately, that would mean another trip to the supermarket, or a call to Claudia who was out on walk. It’s times like these that I feel blessed to have older children. They can go to the shop!!!!

Hot tips for making a lemon cake:

  1. Lemon zest is crucial to up the lemon factor, and what’s the use of making a lemon cake if it doesn’t taste lemony;
  2. I used buttermilk, which I never have in the fridge because I end up throwing it out because it doesn’t get used. Simple solution, use the same quantity of milk and add the juice of half a lemon. When you go to use the liquid just make sure the final quantity is accurate before adding it to the cake.
  3. Make sure you use room temperature butter when making the cream cheese icing – it’s so much easier to mix together and you won’t end up with buttery lumps in the finished product.

Chocolate cakes seem to be the go to, but with a chocolate overload from Easter, a lemon flavoured caked proved to be the perfect alternative. Enjoy!

luscious lemon cake with cream cheese icing

Luscious Lemon Cake with cream cheese icing
 
Serves: 8-10
  • 190 grams plain flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • zest of 1 lemon
  • 115 grams unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 160 grams caster sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • juice of ½ lemon
  • 125 mls buttermilk
cream cheese icing
  • 125 grams cream cheese
  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
  • 1 cup of icing sugar
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
  • juice of ½ a lemon
  1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees celsius. Line an 18cm diameter cake tin with baking paper.
  2. In a small bowl combine the flour, baking powder and lemon zest and set aside.
  3. In a large mixing bowl beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
  4. Add the eggs one at a time, then beat in the vanilla extract and lemon juice until combined.
  5. Add ⅓ of the flour mix and mix until just combined.
  6. Add half the buttermilk and mix until just combined, then add another ⅓ of the flour, followed by the rest of the buttermilk, mixing between each addition. Add the final ⅓ of the flour and beat until combined.
  7. Pour into the prepared cake tin and bake for 30-35 minutes or until the a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Baking times will vary depending on your tin and oven.
  8. Cool the cake in the tin for 10 minutes before cooling completely on a wire rack.
Lemon cream cheese icing
  1. Place the cream cheese and butter in a bowl and mix until well combined. Make sure there are no stray lumps of butter lingering.
  2. Slowly add the sifted icing sugar, then stir in the vanilla extract and lemon juice. You may need a little extra icing sugar depending on the juiciness of the lemon.
  3. Spread icing over the cooled cake and top with lemon zest to make it look pretty.

 

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