Three Layer Easter Cake with Lemon
There is so much to love about this Easter layer cake dessert with three layers. First, there is the subtle lemon flavor that comes from using real lemons. Then there are the brightly colored layers that are like a surprise gift when you cut into the cake. And, because you're starting with a boxed cake mix, there is the ease of making it.
Ingredients
Cakes
- 2 boxes white cake mix 15.25 ounces each
- 8 egg whites
- 2 1/2 cups milk
- 1 cup butter
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- food coloring yellow, pink, blue
Homemade Frosting
- 2 sticks unsalted butter softened
- 2 pounds powdered sugar
- 6 tablespoons milk
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- yellow food coloring
Instructions
Making the Cakes
- Preheat the oven to 350 F.
- Melt 1 cup of butter. You can do this in the microwave, in a heat-safe vessel, such as a Pyrex measuring cup, in 30 second bursts.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the cake mix, melted butter, 8 egg whites, milk and lemon juice. Note: freeze the leftover raw egg yolks for future use so they don't go to waste.
- Spray three 8 inch cake pans with non-stick spray. Alternately, you can use round cake pan parchment paper so your cake doesn't stick to the pan.
- Divide the cake batter between the three bowls. Add pink food coloring to one bowl, yellow to another and blue to the third. Mix well.
- Pour each color batter into a different cake pan.
- Bake the cakes for 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Let the cakes cool slightly and then remove from the pans onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- Let cool about 45 minutes.
Making the Frosting
- In a large bowl combine your softened butter, powdered sugar, six tablespoons milk, yellow food coloring and two tablespoons of lemon juice.
Decorating the Cake
- Place one cake on your revolving cake plate and top with a good amount of the frosting. Top with the other cake and repeat. Continue until all three layers of the cake are set and individually frosted.
- Frost the cake completely. This is where the spinning cake plate comes in handy.
- Filling a piping bag or plastic zipper top bag with the corner snipped off with remaining frosting. Pipe around the edge.
- Decorate with Easter candies and or Easter sprinkles, if desired. Slice and serve!
Notes
This recipe calls for making homemade frosting that you use food coloring to dye yellow. To save time, you can buy store-bought white canned frosting and then use yellow food coloring to dye it yellow as shown here. Or, you can make it any color you'd like. I just thought the yellow was perfect since the cake is lemon flavored.
While I made this lemon layer cake for Easter, you can make this for any occasion where you want bright, festive colors. Think of a child's birthday, a bridal shower or a baby shower.
I prefer to use freshly squeezed lemon juice in my recipes. However, I realize that buying bottled lemon juice can be more economical. Sometimes that's all I have on hand and that's what I'll use in recipes like this one. So if that's what you got in the fridge when you decide to make this cake, go for it.
Speaking of lemon, you can flavor the cake anyway you want. I just happen to love lemon, which is why I made Copycat Starbucks Lemon Cake to share with family and friends. Feel free to use other naturally occurring citrus flavors, such as orange or lime. Or you can add a few drops of store-bought flavorings like banana, almond or strawberry. Or you can use no flavoring at all and let the natural sweetness of cake batter come through. If you're a fan of vanilla, you can always just use vanilla extract or the many different ways you can get vanilla flavor into your baking.
If you do change up the flavors from lemon or banana, which both read yellow, I would suggest changing the color of the frosting, too. I think it would give people's brains too much of a jolt, biting into a yellow-colored cake only to taste strawberry.
Nutrition
Calories: 932kcalCarbohydrates: 149gProtein: 8gFat: 36gSaturated Fat: 22gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 9gTrans Fat: 2gCholesterol: 88mgSodium: 778mgPotassium: 188mgFiber: 1gSugar: 113gVitamin A: 1038IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 272mgIron: 2mg
Disclaimer
Please note that nutrient values, if included with the recipe, are estimates only. Variations can occur due to product availability/substitution and manner of food preparation. Nutrition may vary based on methods of origin, preparation, freshness of ingredients, and other factors.
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