When it comes to birthday cakes (well, cakes in general), I tend to go back and forth between hiring a professional to handle it or tackling it myself. I have not yet had the urge to attempt playing with fondant, so that’s typically where I draw the line. Otherwise, I like to have some fun trying out new recipes. Cooking Classy is becoming a new favorite blog of mine, and when I saw this Lemon Blueberry cake she had made, I waited for a reason to try it. She made a three layer cake but since I didn’t feel the need for that large of a cake (nor did I have a third round cake pan), I used the extra batter to make a batch of cupcakes which my children could enjoy. Right… the children. The lemon, blueberry cake topped with a cream cheese frosting had amazing flavor. I like that it was slightly out of the ordinary for a birthday cake but perfect for the summer months.
Here’s the recipe which was found on Cooking Classy:
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups cake flour
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 Tbsp lemon zest
- 4 large eggs
- 2 tsp lemon extract
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup + 2 Tbsp milk
- 1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp sour cream
- 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 2 1/2 cups fresh blueberries, at room temperature, rinsed and drained well
- 12 oz cream cheese, softened (1 1/2 pkgs)
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp lemon extract
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- Blueberries and lemon slices, for garnish (optional)
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter 3 9-inch round baking pans and line the bottom of each with a round of parchment paper. Butter parchment paper and lightly dust pan with flour, shaking out excess.
- Sift cake flour into a mixing bowl. Add all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and whisk for 30 seconds, set aside. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment (if you don’t have the paddle attachment that constantly scrapes sides of the bowl while mixing, then stop mixer occasionally throughout entire mixing process and scrape down sides and bottom of bowl), whip together butter, granulated sugar and lemon zest until mixture is pale and fluffy. In a 2 cup liquid measuring cup, measure out milk then stir in sour cream and lemon juice, let rest 3 minutes.
- Meanwhile, mix eggs into butter mixture one a time, then stir in lemon extract and vanilla extract. Toss blueberries with 3 Tbsp of the flour mixture. Working in three separate batches, beginning and ending with remaining flour mixture, add 1/3 of the flour mixture alternating with 1/2 of the milk mixture and mixing just until combined after each addition. Gently fold in blueberries. Divide mixture evenly among prepared baking pans. Bake in preheated oven until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, about 24 – 27 minutes. Cool in baking pans about 20 – 30 minute then invert onto wire racks to cool completely. Once cool, frost with cream cheese frosting and decorate with blueberries and lemon slices if desired. Store in an airtight container.
- Cream Cheese Frosting:
- In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitter with the paddle attachment, whip butter until pale and fluffy. Add cream cheese and mix until smooth and fluffy. Add vanilla and lemon extract and powdered sugar and blend several minutes longer until smooth and fluffy (if frosting seems slightly runny, you can chill it for a bit before frosting cake).
- Recipe Source: Cooking Classy
