happy birthday mom!

 

I recently went home for my mom's birthday, to spend time with her and, most importantly, to make her a cake!  Ever since I can remember, my mom would make my sister and I any kind of cake we wanted for our birthdays, and we always reciprocated.  When I first met my boyfriend, I was shocked that his family didn't do the same...I just assumed that's how the world worked :-P.

 

My mom's only request this year was for a cake with lemon in it, and my chocolate frosting (I use Peabody's recipe here, with an addition of 1 tsp instant espresso powder).  I decided to make her my own variation on Magnolia Bakery's yellow cake recipe: Lemon Cake with Raspberry Cream Cheese Swirl.  Yum!

 

Frosting making - well, bowl licking.  Yum!

 

The cake was pretty simple to make, but time consuming in its separate components.  In hindsight, next time I will actually "swirl" in the raspberry cream cheese layer instead of letting it sit on top (I thought maybe it would sink in).  Other than that, I thought the flavors were well balanced and not too overpowering!

Now I have to decide what I'm going to want for my birthday ;).  (P.S. Chris - you still owe me a cake from last year!)

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Lemon Cake with Raspberry Cream Cheese Swirl

cake recipe adapted from the Magnolia Vanilla Cupcakes recipe

2  3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoons salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

2 cups sugar

4 large eggs, at room temperature

zest of one lemon

juice from half of a lemon

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

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Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease three 8" cake pans.

In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the lemon zest and juice, mixing well to incorporate.  Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended. Spoon the batter into the cake pans.  Add in Raspberry Cream Cheese Swirl (recipe below) and swirl with a butter knife in each pan.  Be careful not to mix too much.  Bake for 20–25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean.

Place cake tins on wire racks and cool the cakes completely. Remove the cakes carefully when cool, and frost!  (I used the chocolate frosting recipe, above).

 

Raspberry Cream Cheese Swirl

12 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 tsp salt

2 large egg whites, room temperature

4 tbsp sour cream, room temperature

1/3 cup raspberry preserves

In a large bowl, beat the softened cream cheese until smooth.  Add in sour cream, beating well.  Add in sugar and salt, beating well to incorporate.

Beat in egg whites and raspberry preserves until incorporated.