Lemon Gradient Cake
I used a mix of recipes to make this cake. The lemon pound cake base is from Smitten Kitchen, and it’s a delightfully moist lemon cake. I found that Deb’s recipe made exactly one 8″ cake round. The white cake is from Cupcakes from the Primrose Bakery, and though I followed their recipe exactly, I only ended up with enough batter for one 8″ cake round (which I then sliced into two layers) instead of the two cake rounds promised. I’m not sure what happened there, but just use your best judgement on whether you’ll need to fill one cake pan or two. The frosting, as noted, is from AllRecipes.com.

Yield: one 8″ four-layer cake
Prep Time: 1 hour
Cook Time: 1 hour (if you bake both cakes at the same time)
Total Time: 2 hours (not including cooling and decorating time)

Base-layer lemon cake:

• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 cups + 1/2 cup sugar
• 4 extra large eggs, room temperature
• 1/3 cup lemon zest (about 6 lemons)
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1/4 cup + ½ cup lemon juice
• 3/4 cup buttermilk, room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

White cake:

• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup + 2 tbs sugar
• 4 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
• 3 tbs cornstarch
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 tbs heavy cream, room temperature

Frosting:

• 16 oz cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 4 cups heavy cream

Line two 8″ cake pans with parchment paper and butter the paper and sides. Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Make the lemon cake:
Cream the butter and two cups of sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment until it is light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Mixing at medium speed, add in the eggs one at a time, then the lemon zest until the mixture is smooth.

Stir the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl. In another bowl, stir together the buttermilk, ¼ cup lemon juice, and vanilla. Alternating between the flour mixture and the buttermilk mixture, add these a bit at a time to the egg mixture until everything is combined. However, don’t overbeat the batter!

Pour this into one of the prepared cake pans.

Prepare the lemon syrup (you will drizzle this on to the cooling cake after it’s done baking) by heating ½ cup of sugar with ½ cup of lemon juice until the sugar dissolves. Let this syrup cool down a bit before drizzling it on to the cake.

Make the white cake:
Cream the butter and two cups of sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment until it is light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Mixing at medium speed, add in the eggs one at a time until the mixture is smooth.

Stir the flour, cornstarch, and baking powder together in a medium bowl. With mixer at low speed, add this to the egg mixture a little at a time until everything is combined. Add in the heavy cream and vanilla until combined. However, don’t overbeat the batter!

Pour this into one of the prepared cake pans.

For both cakes:
Bake the lemon cake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Once it is ready, let the cake cool in its pan for 10 minutes before turning it out on to a wire rack to cool the rest of the way. Remove the parchment paper from the bottom. As it cools, liberally drizzle the lemon syrup on to the cake. You may not use all of it.

Bake the white cake for 25 to 45 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Once it is ready, let the cake cool in its pan for 10 minutes before turning it out on to a wire rack to cool the rest of the way. Remove the parchment paper from the bottom.

Make the frosting:
While the cakes are cooling, assemble the frosting. In the bowl of a mixer, combine the cream cheese, sugar, and extracts until the mixture is smooth. With the mixer running at medium speed, slowly pour in the heavy cream. When you’re done pouring in the heavy cream, slowly crank the speed up to whip the heavy cream into something resembling whipped cream. Depending on whether you’re using a paddle attachment or a whisk attachment, this can take anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes.

Once the frosting can hold a stiff peak, it is ready! You can cover this in plastic and store it in the refrigerator until you’re ready to frost the cakes.

Assemble the cake:
Once both cakes are completely cooled, pop them in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes to chill them to make it easier to slice and level the cakes.

Level the cake rounds and then slice them in half. Use one of the lemon cake halves as the bottom layer. Spread the frosting on it and then stack it with another lemon cake half. Spread frosting on that, and top it with a white cake half. Spread frosting on that, and top it with the final white cake half. Frost the entire cake with the remaining frosting. Let it chill (covered loosely with plastic or with a cloche) in the refrigerator overnight so that it can further set up.

Right before serving, decorate it as you see fit! This cake doesn’t have to remain refrigerated unless you’re saving the leftovers.