Lemon Cake - Fat TusdayKing Cake Edition!

 

Ingredients for the cake:

2 1/4 cups flour

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

4 eggs

2 cups of sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 TBSP lemon zest (or 1 1/2 lemons)

Juice of 1 1/2 lemons

1 1/4 cup of milk (at least 1%)

10 TBSP of unsalted butter, cubed

Ingredients for frosting:

Juice from 1 1/2 lemons

2 TSP vanilla extract

About 3-4 cups of powdered Sugar

5 drops of blue food coloring, 25 drops of red food coloring to make the purple frosting. 

Lemon Sugar Sprinkle Topping:

Zest of 1 lemon

2 TBSP of yellow sugar

*You will also need green sugar sprinkles.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a bundt pan with butter very generously.

2. On the stove top, heat the milk and butter over low-medium heat, stirring almost constantly until all the butter is melted.  Do not let the milk mixture boil.  I used lower heat just to make sure I didn't bring it to a boil. Turn off the heat and let cool down a bit.

3. In a bowl, combine together flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix and set aside.

4. In a large bowl, beat the 4 eggs with an electric mixer until foamy, thickened and pale yellow.

5. Turn the mixer on low and beat in the sugar a little at a time. Add in the vanilla, lemon juice and lemon zest. Mix until combined.

6. Slowly add in your dry ingredients on low speed just until combined.

7. Pour the milk and butter mixture into the cake batter and mix until smooth. The batter will be very thin at this point.

8. Pour the batter into the bundt pan and bake for 35 minutes. If you stick a toothpick in the center of the cake, just a few crumbs will come out.

9. Let the cake rest for 10 minutes on a cooling rack before trying to take it out. Loosen the sides with a butter knife.

10. Put a large plate on the top of the bundt pan, use pot holders, and flip over. Give it a few nice taps and the cake should come right out.

11. Let cool for at least 30 minutes before adding frosting. You could add it when it is warm but it will run off and melt in (which is delicious, but won't look very nice).

12. To make the frosting, just add the lemon juice, and vanilla to the bottom of a large bowl. Slowly add in about 1/2 cup of powdered sugar at a time while your beaters are on low.  Test the consistency of your frosting after about 2 cups of powdered sugar. It should be thick enough so that it sticks to the spoon but comes off slowly to allow you to drizzle it over the cake. Once you have the frosting to the consistency you like, add the food coloring and mix until combined. 

13. To decorate the cake, I chose to drizzle the purple frosting all over. Then alternate the yellow lemon zest sugar mixture and green sprinkles.  There's no right or wrong here. 

ENJOY!