Lemon Layer Cake

It's pretty frustrating when you know you want to make a cake, but the recipes out there are all for a different kind of cake. When you search for lemon cake recipes, you'll inevitably come up with a ton of pound cakes, loaf cakes, sheet cakes, icebox cakes, gooey bars, and even a cocktail or two. The layer cakes I found were generally referred to in the comments as "dense" and that wasn't something I wanted either. However, as usual, I waited until the day before and didn't have time to experiment. That being said, I found a recipe that looked like it would take the minimum amount of tweaking and ran with it.

My source's source called the (now twice altered) recipe a "Robert E. Lee Cake." I'm not sure why. As an historian it interests me, though you might think it's silly. Did he have a particular predilection for lemons? Perhaps it was a Yankee slur in regards to the cake's color. Either way, it's pretty delicious! I'll probably post another version at some point and call it a "Southern Lady Cake" because I want to make it a chiffon and perhaps add another fruit (coconut, maybe?) as well as Swiss meringue for the frosting.

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter
2 cups sugar
1 large lemon
4 large eggs
2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 can lemon pie filling
frosting of choice

Directions:

Bring butter, eggs, lemon, and buttermilk to room temperature.

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour three 9-inch round cake pans.

In a large bowl, sift and whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Zest the lemon and add into a mixer with butter and sugar. Cream the butter mixture. Add one egg at a time, beating until each is incorporated. Squeeze the lemon. In a small cup, mix together two (2) tablespoons of lemon juice, the vanilla, and the buttermilk.

Add 1/3 of the flour mixture.
Add 1/2 the buttermilk.
Add 1/2 the remaining flour mixture.
Add all of the remaining buttermilk.
Add all of the remaining flour mixture.

Remember to scrape down the bowl between each addition. Mix just until incorporated so that the cake doesn't get tough. Pour into the prepared pans. Spread the mixture evenly, then rap each pan on the counter several times to release any air bubbles.

Bake for about 25 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown and a cake tester comes out clean. You may need to rotate your pans a time or two throughout for even cooking. My new oven gets quite hot at the back and would have overcooked one of the layers if I hadn't been paying attention.

Place the layers in the freezer for 15-20 minutes, or until cool. Dollop half of the lemon filling onto the first layer and smooth it out the best you can, all the way to the edges. Place the second layer and repeat. Place the third layer on top and use part of the icing to create a crumb coat. Put the cake in the refrigerator for 15 minutes or so, just until the frosting begins to set up but is still tacky. Finish icing and decorating the cake. Put in a cake box or the like and store in the refrigerator until and hour or so before time to eat (to take the chill off).

I was running behind, so I used "whipped" buttercream frosting from a can for the outside. It was still delicious and very easy, but I'll be posting how to make both real lemon curd and, as previously mentioned, Swiss meringue icing, which would have been best (in my opinion) for the exterior.

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