So recently I turned twenty-seven. Officially in my late twenties now and my life is everything I could have asked for at this point. And I know you usually come to me for the best easy, healthy meals but what's coming next was not easy (for me at least) or healthy (like, at all).
It was my gift to myself this birthday. Those beautiful layer cakes you see on Instagram and Pinterest are always eye catching. And then there is the rabbit hole of videos of people icing and decorating these works of art and I can't even explain how many hours I've wasted watching these. I absolutely love to cook but baking doesn't come as natural to me. Too precise. I've always left things out and it never turns out quite right. But this year I was on a mission to do it!
I picked my favorite flavor (lemon) and mixed it with some funfetti sprinkles and I pulled it off! A few weeks ago I tested out a couple of cake recipes and wasn't truly pleased with them so switched a few things up and made them my own! I love a really dense cake with white icing, but not too heavy of icing. Not too sweet either. I was being picky.
I also knew I wanted to decorate this thing with some fun sprinkles and used this package from Micheals! I will also link the spatula, turn table, and icing scraper I used!
So after gathering all my supplies and ingredients I got straight to work during nap times and bed time.
How I Did It
- Baked 3 cakes using the recipe below in 9 inch round cake pans
- Then trimmed the rounded tops off ensuring a flat surface for stacking.
- I made some lemon buttercream frosting (recipe below) and spread some on the turntable so my cake wouldn't move around, and then layered each 9 inch round on top of each other using buttercream between each layer.
- Froze this for about 4 hours (I'm sure that was unnecessary but just make sure it is firm!)
- Then applied what they in the professional cake world call a "crumb coat" this first layer of icing catches all the little crumbs from your cake so it doesn't interfere with the final pretty coat of frosting.
- I froze this for another hour or so
- After the crumb coat was set up I did the final beautiful layer of buttercream Which is harder than it looks to get it smooth and even. I used the spatula to apply the butter cream in a mostly even layer then used the icing scraper over the sides and the top to smooth it out (as best I could)
- Slapped some fun sprinkles on and I was done!
Lemon Funfetti Birthday Cake
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/3 cups sugar
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- zest of 3 lemons
- 1 tsp lemon extract
- 10 tablespoons salted butter softened
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup multicolored jimmies or sprinkles
- 1 cup milk
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
Instructions
- Pre heat your oven to 350 degrees
- sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and then stir in lemon zest.
- In a large microwave safe bowl, soften butter for 20-30 seconds. Cream butter, lemon extract, and sugar together for 1 minute until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time to this mixture and combine well.
- In another small bowl combine whole milk with 1/4 cup lemon juice (it will look curdled but it's fine, you are essentially making buttermilk)
- Add half of the flour mixture to the butter/sugar bowl and mix to combine. Add half of the milk and mix. Then add the remaining flour mixture followed by the milk. Mixing well in between each addition.
- Carefully stir in sprinkles.
- Grease a 9 inch round baking pan very well and pour batter into the pan. Bake for 30 minutes and check for doneness. Bake an additional 5 if it is still raw in the middle.
- Let each layer you are using cool COMPLETELY. This is essential.
Lemon Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tsp lemon extract
- 2.5 sticks of softened butter
- 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
- In a stand mixer with the whisk attachment whip up the softened butter with the lemon extract and salt for about 1-2 minutes.
- 1 cup at a time mix in the powdered sugar
- Whip for an additional 1-2 minutes and then ice your cake or cupcakes!
