Lemon Cream Cake

White Velvet Cake

1 box of white cake mix

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

¾ teaspoon salt

1 cup water or milk

¼ cup oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 teaspoons almond extract (optional)

4 egg whites (or 3 eggs)

1 cup sour cream

Heat oven to 325 degrees.

Place all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix together to combine. Add the remaining ingredients and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes, scraping sides of bowl occasionally.

 

Prepare pans by lightly greasing and flouring and lining bottoms with parchment paper. Fill pans about half full. Use two 8-inch or 9-inch round pans. Bake for about 30 to 40 minutes. Cool in pans 10 minutes before inverting onto wire cooling rack.

Allow cakes to cool completely. Using a long serrated knife split each cake lengthwise to make 4 cake layers. Wrap and freeze until ready to use.

Lemon Curd Filling

1 ½ cups sugar

4 tablespoons cornstarch

¼  teaspoon salt

1 ½ cups cold water

4 egg yolks

Grated lemon zest from 2 lemons (optional)

Juice of 2 medium lemons (about 6 tablespoons)

2 tablespoons butter

Combine sugar, cornstarch and salt in a small saucepan. Add water and whisk until well blended. Whisk in egg yolks, lemon peel, and lemon juice. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly until thick and bubbly. Boil one minute; remove from heat. Stir in butter. Cool to room temperature, without stirring. 

Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting

1 ⅓ packages of cream cheese (about 11 ounces total)

1 ⅓ cups granulated sugar

3 tablespoons lemon juice

Pinch of salt

2 cups whipping cream

In a medium bowl beat cream cheese, sugar, lemon juice, and salt several minutes until smooth and glossy. (Sugar should dissolve.) Add whipping cream and beat until firm peaks form. Put about half of the frosting into a prepared piping bag fitted with a wide round or open star tip.

Graham Cracker Crumble

3 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons sugar

½ cup graham cracker crumbs

Melt butter in skillet over medium heat. Mix in sugar and stir until bubbling, about 1 minute. Mix in crumbs; stir until color deepens, about 3 minutes. Spread onto tray and cool.

To assemble the Cake

Remove the cakes from the freezer and unwrap. Place first cake layer on a serving plate. Pipe a ring of whipped cream cheese frosting around the inside edge of the cake to create a dam. Fill the dam with a third of the lemon curd filling. Top with next cake layer and repeat dam and filling process. When all four cake layers are filled, frost sides and top of cake with whipped cream cheese frosting*. Garnish sides of cake with the graham cracker crumble. Refrigerate cake until ready to serve.

*Tip: If time permits, after filling the cake layers, place cake in the freezer for a couple hours to firm up before frosting sides and top of cake. This makes the process easier.