Strawberry Lemon Cake

I love strawberry and lemon together! This strawberry lemon cake screams summer! I love how the sweet and tart meet together in this cake and lights up the taste buds. The cake is lemon with strawberry filling, lemon curd, lemon buttercream and strawberry lemon buttercream on top. It then gets topped with strawberries and lemons.

I love strawberry and lemon combined, it’s the perfect sweet and tart balance to me.

I am not the best cake decorator but I can guarantee that the flavors will be great! So if you aren’t experienced at cakes, don’t fret, you learn as you go and in the end it’s all about taste and how you make others feel when you serve them a piece. If you are a pro, you should be able to make this cake look amazing!

What you need to make strawberry lemon cake:

makes a 3 layered 8-9 inch cake or 4 layers of 6 inch cake – I usually just keep on tier for tasting and use 3 layers.

For the lemon Cake

• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/2 cup shortening or butter
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
• 3 eggs
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest
• 2 cups flour
• 4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt

Instructions for lemon cake

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Mix the milk and lemon juice together, stir and set aside.
3. Blend the shortening or butter with the sugar until both are well incorporated with each other.
4. Add lemon extract, eggs and lemon zest and blend again.
5. In another bowl, add flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together.
6. Add the flour mixture to the butter and egg mixture, followed by the milk and lemon juice mixture.
7. Blend everything together until a smooth batter forms.
8. Grease pans, dust with flour (bang out any excess flour) and divide cake batter between pans. Don’t fill more than 1/2 way full.
9. Bake until a toothpick can be inserted and come out clean.

Approximate cooking times are:
6 inch rounds – ~23-25 minutes
8 inch rounds – ~20-23 minutes
9 inch rounds – ~18-21 minutes

For lemon filling

• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons corn syrup
• 3 tablespoon corn starch
• 3 tablespoons water
• 2 tablespoon butter

Instructions for lemon filling

1. In a sauce pan, add lemon juice, sugar and corn syrup and stir together.
2. Bring to a boil and let boil for 1 minute.
3. In a small bowl, mix together the corn starch and water.
4. Whisk into the lemon juice and sugar mixture and boil until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
5. Remove from heat and whisk in butter.
6. Place in refrigerator or freezer until it’s cooled down.
7. This is a mix between a curd and a glaze texture.

For strawberry filling

• Any strawberry jam will work, thin it with a little water so it’s easy to spread – I like to use strawberry freezer jam.

To replicate the strawberry freezer jam you can follow the below strawberry gelatin mixture recipe.

• 1 cup blended strawberries
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin

Instructions for strawberry gelatin mixture

1. In a blender or with an immersion blender, add 1 cup of strawberries and sugar into a puree.
2. Let set for a few minutes until sugar is dissolved.
3. sprinkle unflavored gelatin over the top in the blender and blend together until smooth.
4. let set in refrigerator for 20 minutes or so until the mixture sets slightly.
5. It should set into a thick glaze almost gel like mixture.

For lemon butter cream

• 2 lbs powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup butter – softened
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon lemon extract
• pinch of salt
• 1/2- 3/4 cup half and half – slowly add it until you reach your desired thickness.

Instructions for lemon butter cream

1. Add powdered sugar, butter, lemon juice, lemon extract, salt together and begin blending with a electric whisk. Slowly begin pouring half and half into the mixture until the mixture reaches your desired thickness.
2. Save some of this frosting to make the strawberry lemon frosting for the tops and the sides.

Strawberry lemon butter cream

• 1 cup lemon butter cream (recipe above)
• 1/4 cup strawberry jam
• More powdered sugar to thicken to desired thickness

Garnish with fresh strawberries and sliced lemons.

Assembly

1. Lay down your first layer and pipe a small layer of buttercream around the outside edges of the center of the cake. This will help keep in the lemon and strawberry filings from leaking out. (I did not do this on my cake above and it made the cake slide slightly)
2. Fill the center will a thin layer of lemon glaze, followed by strawberry (again I did a different order but it made my cakes a little slippery, if your cake gets slippery then use a dowel or two down the centers of the cake to stabilize)
3. Pipe butter cream on top of strawberry filling and smooth just until it’s even.
4. Add next layer and repeat the same step on next layer.
5. Frost the sides and top with a crumb coat of lemon butter cream and place in the freezer for 10 minutes.
6. Frost the top coat of lemon buttercream and pip the edges with strawberry buttercream.
7. Fill top center with strawberry filling then top with fresh strawberries and lemon slices.
8. Enjoy!