There’s LOTS of flavor in this PHLOX of Flavor 3-Layer Lemon Cake! Make your lemon cake pop with a smattering of bright pink or lavender garden raised Phlox on top. What an easy and colorful way to decorate!
You’ll enjoy the lemon flavor in the frosting on top, lemon in all three layers of the cake, lemon in the frosting between the layers and all around the sides. What a delicious combination of textures of cake and frosting.
I love this lemon cake since the flavor adds such a brightness to every single bite. And you can make the lemon color as bright or as soft as you like. Piped frosting decorations add an even deeper flavor.
I’ve topped the cake with my favorite late summer perennial garden Phlox which comes in 5 different pinks/blues as well as white. What a delicious combination of colors. You choose whatever colors of edible flowers from your own flower garden. (I trim and place my Phlox on top for looks, not for eating even though mine are raised with no pesticide and are edible. Use clean artificial flowers if you like. If you purchase flowers, make sure they are pesticide free and are edible.)
It’s an easy cake to make. All the ingredients are always in my pantry. Yes, I keep lemon extract and lemons in my kitchen since I use them in so many recipes, even non-lemon recipes. I also use the lemon juice and lemon zest to help bring out the flavors of other fruit, including blueberry, blackberry, peach, and more.
I use a lemon cake mix as the base for this 3-layer cake and add sour cream, sugar, eggs, milk, heavy cream, instant lemon pudding, lemon and vanilla extract to create a delicious and moist cake which cannot be surpassed. It is downright lemony delishi-ocious!
Whisk together the cake mix, flour, sugar and dry pudding mix. Add the eggs, milk, heavy cream, sour cream, the extracts and lemon zest. Beat in until you have a batter that’s a little on the thick side.
Butter up the round cake pans and add a round circle of parchment paper. That helps pop out each layer after they’ve baked and cooled, without breaking off any portions of the cake.
I have even frozen the layers for a couple of weeks before frosting them. That way I can spread out the various steps between the rest of my busy schedule for this fantastic cake.
This recipe makes a beautiful 3-layer cake with 8” round pans. That’s enough for 12-15 servings, depending on how large you cut the slices. With a 3 layer cake you don’t need a really wide slice.
The frosting makes 6-7 cups for frosting a 3 layer, 8” diameter cake. I make a little extra to create piped decorations.
Prep your 8” round pans:
Lightly butter the pans and place circles of parchment paper in the bottom of the pans. Then lightly butter the tops of the parchment paper circles.
Preheat our oven to 350F degrees a few minutes before you’re ready to bake.
Gather up your Ingredients:
1 Lemon dry cake mix, 15.25 oz size.
1 C Flour
1 C Sugar
½ Box of Instant Lemon Pudding (98 gram sized box)
3 Eggs, room temp
¾ C Milk
¾ C Heavy cream
1 C Sour cream
2 t Lemon extract
2 t Vanilla extract
Zest of one lemon
If you want a lighter cake, use all milk with no heavy cream.
Gather up the Lemon Buttercream Frosting Ingredients:
(This frosting will cover your 3-layer cake. I make another half recipe if I am using some of the frosting for piping decorations on top or the sides.)
1 C Butter, soft (2 sticks)
½ C Shortening
1 t Lemon extract
2 # Powdered sugar (7-8 C)
¼ C Heavy cream
Make and Bake your Cake:
-In a large mixing bowl (for the electric stand mixer), whisk the dry cake mix, flour, sugar, dry lemon pudding together.
-Add the eggs, sour cream, lemon and vanilla extracts and lemon zest and beat to combine, making sure all lumps are gone…about 2 minutes on medium speed. Do not overmix. Scrape down the sides.
-The cake batter will have a pale yellow tint. If you want the cake to be a very bright yellow, now is the time to add a drop or two of yellow gel food coloring. Scrape down the sides and do a final beat to smooth out the batter.
-Pour the batter in equal amounts into the 3 prepared pans.
-Bake at 350F degrees for 25-30 minutes. I check the cakes at the 25-minute mark by the clean toothpick test to see if it’s done or if it needs more time in the oven. Simply stick a clean toothpick into the middle of one of the cakes and pull it out. If the toothpick is covered with batter/crumbs, the cake will need a few more minutes in the oven. Remove the cakes from the oven when they are done.
-Allow the cakes to cool in the pans on a rack on top of the stove for about 10 minutes.
-Tip the cakes out of the pans and set them on the rack to cool completely.
-Refrigerate them in sealed plastic so they are easier to frost.
-If you are making the cakes for decorating later, they can be frozen. I wrap them individually, in plastic wrap, then seal in a plastic bag before setting them in the freezer. To thaw, set them in the refrigerator overnight or for 2-3 hours before unwrapping them.
Stir up the Lemon Buttercream:
-In a large bowl (for the electric mixer), beat the butter and shortening until creamy and smooth, 3-4 minutes.
-Add the lemon and vanilla extracts and beat in.
-Adding two cups at a time, slowly beat in the powdered sugar until all but a cup has been beaten in. Stop the beaters and scrape down the sides.
-While the beaters are moving on low, slowly drizzle in about half of the heavy cream. Stop the beaters and scrape down the sides.
-Beat the buttercream until fluffy and smooth, adding a little more of the heavy cream and/or powdered sugar to get the consistency you like. It should be light and fluffy for spreading on the cake and not too thick for piping, if you plan to pipe decorations. Make sure you’ve been scraping down the sides periodically so you don’t have some errant dry little pieces lurking around in the frosting.
Frost your Phlox of Flavor! 3-Layer Lemon Cake:
-Select your supportive base for the cake. I like to use a wooden disc to give the best support, covering it with foil before I begin to frost it.
-And, use a rotating cake tier so you can spin the cake easily as you frost.
-Plant a smudge of frosting in the middle of the support disc.
-Place the first layer on the support disc.
-Lightly frost the top of the first layer.
-Add the second layer and frost the top.
-Add the third layer and frost the top.
-I like to cover the entire cake with a crumb coating, top and sides. Then refrigerate for an hour before adding the final frosting coating.
-Have fun and decorate your masterpiece with piped swirls topped with sugared lemon candy slices around the top edge of the cake. Then decorate with pretty Phlox or other edible flowers that accent the yellow lemon frosting. Or, create your own ideas with the piped frosting, using your own creativity.
-Serve the cake accented with a few little flower blossoms and a candied lemon slice on each plate.
Storage:
-I always make sure to cover the entire cake with plastic wrap or store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. If you don’t have a container that large, use a large bowl to cover it.
-I freeze the cake for up to a month in an airtight container.
-An easy way to have a slice to go without taking the entire cake out of the freezer…wrap individual slices in plastic wrap before freezing. Then store them in an airtight container in the freezer. When you’re in the mood for a lemony slice, grab one out of the freezer and let it thaw on the counter for 30 minutes. YUM!!
Enjoy this delicious and beautiful Phlox of Flavor! 3-Layer Lemon Cake with family and friends. However you decorate it, “Bake your own Memories!”.
Comments