Lemon Cake with Buttercream Frosting

Summer is on it's way out (finally). We got home from our vacation in Massachusetts yesterday and now it's laundry, cleaning house and all that other fun stuff.  We had such a great time visiting my husbands side of the family.  It's just beginning to turn fall up there, the leaves are just beginning to change and there is a crispness to the air.  We made our way up to Maine for a day trip and we went to see my brother in-law on the Cape where we watched a Patriot's game (which we won't talk about).  It's such a relief that I get along so well with my husbands family especially when I hear such awful stories about some people's in-laws.  I'm a lucky girl!

I wanted to get this recipe posted before summer was completely gone.  I really enjoyed this cake, it wasn't too lemony, just the perfect amount of flavor. It's hard to tell from the horrible picture above but it was a beautiful yellow color.

I wasn't sure how lemony the cake was going to be so I didn't want to make a lemon frosting for fear that it would be too much. I think this combination was perfect for what I was looking for.  I can always count on Martha Stewart to come through for me!

Lemon Cake

From Martha Stewart

Ingredients

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, unsalted at room temperature plus more for pans
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp lemon zest
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 whole eggs
• 3 egg yolks
• 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

Cooking Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour two 9" round cake pans.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk the dry ingredients. This includes the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and lemon zest.
3. In the bowl of your stand mixer add the butter and the sugar. Beat until light and fluffy. Alternately add the flour mixture and the buttermilk but just mix until it comes together. Do not over mix.
4. Divide the batter evenly between the two pans and level the tops.
5. Bake for 32-35 minutes. The edges of the cakes should be pulling away from the sides. Let cool for 10 minutes and then run a knife around the edges and let the cakes cool on a wire rack. Let cool completely before frosting.

Buttercream Frosting

From Savory Sweet Life

Ingredients

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3 to 4 cups confectioners sugar, sifted
• 1/4 tsp table salt (I omitted this)
• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
• 4 Tbsp milk or heavy cream - you might not need all this

Cooking Directions

1. In the bowl of your stand mixer, beat the butter until smooth and then slowly add the confectioners sugar on low speed. Add the vanilla and milk and mix until smooth. I didn't use the salt and it tasted great.
2. **I also doubled the recipe because it wasn't enough to frost the entire cake. I had some leftover however.**