Happy birthday to youuuuu, happy birthday tooooo you! Happy birthdayyyy, Dear Dannnnnnnn….Happy birthday to youuuuuuuuu! And many morrreeeeee….on Channel Fourrrrrr….and Scooby Dooooooo….on Channel Twooooo — What? That’s not how the song goes? Are you sure? Well, alright then…
Anyway. As you may have guessed, it was Dan’s birthday this week. What did I get him? Well…what I really wanted was to order him some kind of singing/dancing birthday gram at work. BUT, I didn’t want him to murder me, so I restrained myself and bought him a Kindle Fire instead. Not as wickedly satisfying as imagining Dan reacting to a giant dancing teddy bear showing up in his office, but at least this way I get to play with a new toy too.
And, before you ask, I did make him a tasty birthday dinner. I wanted it to be a surprise, but Dan suspected something was going on long before he got home. Apparently I am not as sneaky as I think I am. Also, my dad called him to wish him a happy birthday and accidentally spilled the beans. (“So I hear Tina made you a delicious steak dinner for your birthday!”)
Oh well. I tried! And hey, I made him a birthday cake, too! A light and fluffy lemon-yogurt layer cake with frothy, lemony whipped cream cheese frosting. It was tangy, delicate-y sweet, packed with bright, lemony good flavor, and completely melt-in-your-mouth delicious. It’s not chocolate, but this is still one damned good cake, guys.
Happy birthday, Dan!
Lemon Lover’s Layer Cake
** The cake I made was 3 layers, but the recipe below actually only makes 2. I really wanted 3 layers though, so I made 2 batches and used the fourth layer for something else.
Ingredients:
(Lemon Cake)
- 1-1/2 cake flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
- 1 cups sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 2 tsp grated lemon zest (2 lemons)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
(Lemon syrup/glaze)
- 1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 2-1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 4 oz cream cheese, room temperature.
- 1 tsp lemon zest (~1 lemon) + more for garnish (optional)
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour two round cake pans.
- In a large bowl, whisk together yogurt, 1 cup sugar, eggs, lemon zest, and vanilla.
- Slowly add dry ingredients to wet mixture.
- Fold vegetable oil gently into batter.
- Divide batter evenly between the two cake pans.
- Bake for about 20 minutes, or until knife in center of cake comes out clean. Remove from oven and set aside for cooling.
- While your cake layers cool, make your lemon syrup/glaze. Bring 1/3 cup lemon juice + remaining 1/3 cup sugar to a simmer in a small pan until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is clear.
- When your cake layers have cooled for about 10 minutes, pour lemon-sugar mixture over each layer and allow it to soak in. Set aside while you make your frosting.
- In a large bowl, whip cream cheese with an electric mixer until smooth.
- In a separate bowl, whip your heavy cream until stiff peaks form.
- Add the whipped cream to your bowl of whipped cream cheese and fold gently to incorporate.
- Gently stir in lemon juice, vanilla, lemon zest and powdered sugar until smooth.
- Chill frosting for at least 30 minutes.
- Turn your cake layers out onto a cutting board and trim the sides/top as necessary to get rid of the brown bits.
- Place one layer on a serving plate/cake stand. Spread a generous layer of frosting on top. Lay the other cake layer on top of the frosting, and spread the rest of the frosting on top of that.
** You can frost the sides of the cake too, but it is impossible for me to do that and not make a huge mess. This is my favorite lazy-chef method of cake frosting. I personally think cakes look prettier this way, don’t you? - Sprinkle the top of your cake with lemon zest.
- Chill cake until ready to serve.
- Slice and enjoy!
looks so good! Thanks for sharing at Foodie Friends Friday!
Thanks for reading 🙂
You had me with lemon. I love anything tart. I know I’ve already mentioned it, but I would love for you to enter my giveaway.
🙂
What size cake pan did you use? It’s not specified in the recipe. Otherwise, this looks great.
Thanks! I just used two standard 9-inch round cake pans. Hope that helps!
Hey there! Thanks for posting this – it looked absolutely perfect for our Easter dinner today. One thing though, could you edit the recipe to separate out the ingredients for the sugar syrup that gets poured into the cakes after they are baked? In my automatic cake-baking zone I just added dry to wet and ended up with two rather flat, super-lemony cakes! Luckily we don’t have a big occasion today, but I would hate for someone else to make the same mistake! Thanks!
Ahhh, excellent point! I just edited the recipe to separate the cake ingredients from the syrup ingredients. Thanks for the suggestion!