For the final EASTER month recipe, let’s enjoy this beautiful speckled cake. It’s a lemon poppy seed cake with delicious lemon buttercream. Happy Easter!!!
Spring is finally here!!! The sun is out, the flowers are blooming and Easter is here!! I love it when spring is here but this year I am especially happy because this year I had the chance to pick some tulips. I looooooooooove tulips!!! They are my favorite flower in the whole world. Every year there is a place called Texas tulips that has fresh tulips that you can pick. It’s like a strawberry farm but it’s tulips. I was over the moon. It was so beautiful.
Now in celebration of Easter, I was looking for recipe that is great with the season and really celebrating spring. So I thought something fresh, something light, and something delicious. Lemon!! I love poppy-seed cake and if you look online there are so many speckled egg designs, so why not put the 2 together!
There are two mixture that you will need to make. The first mixture is dry mixture of flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. The second one is the butter mixture that is made from mixing together butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla extract. Then we will have 1 cup of milk on the side. I like to call the next process “3 by 2”. When putting the dry mixture and the milk into the butter mixture, I divide the flour by 3 pouring and the milk by 2 pouring. So it goes :
- 1/3 flour
- 1/2 milk
- 1/3 flour
- 1/2 milk
- 1/3 flour
So you start and end will flour. You want to mix just until its combined every time you add the mixture. And after you add the flour, do a final scraping of the sides and then mix again until it all comes together and makes a beautiful batter. Then at the end, you all add the lemon zest, lemon juice and poppy-seed and with your spatula mix it all together again.
I like to weigh my batter so that it will be the same weight. You can get electric scale in most grocery stores.
After you have the right weight, you want to smooth the top so it will be somewhat even layers.
After the cake is baked and cooled, you want to even out the top of the cake with a serrated knife.
Put the tinted frosting on top with a piping bag. Even it out with your cake spatula.
Add the second layer on top. I like to put the flip the second layer so that the top on the bottom and the bottom will be on top. It’s easier to see the picture!! 😛
Frost the cake with that beautiful robin’s egg frosting. The cake is checking itself out!!
To put the speckled effect on the cake, you mix together 1 tbsp of cocoa powder and 1 tbsp of vanilla extract. You can also add a little bit of water to make it easier to splatter. No need for it to be perfect, just flick your pastry brush that is dipped in the chocolate and flick away. Just a word of caution, the flicks might go on your face so be careful!
Once you are done, you can put some mini easter eggs around it for decoration. What a showstopper!!!
Tips for making this cake:
- You can make the cake in advance and decorate the day before.
- Mini easter egg can be found in most grocery stores or arts and crafts store.
Happy Baking!!
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- 3/4 cup butter, softened
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup milk
- 1 tbsp lemon zest
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 2 tbsp poppy seeds
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 4 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 2 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp heavy cream
- 2 tsp lemon zest
Ingredients
Lemon Cake
Lemon Buttercream Frosting
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- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour 2 9 -in round baking pan.
- In a stand mixer, mix together butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and mix until combined.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a measuring cup, measure 1 cup of milk and set aside.
- Using the 3 by 2 process, add flour and milk alternatively into the butter mixture. End it with flour. Do a final scrape and mix until combined.
- Add the lemon zest, lemon juice, and poppy seed and mix with the spatula.
- Divide evenly onto the baking pans. Bake for 25-30 minutes until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool before decorating.
- In a stand mixer bowl, beat the butter until creamy. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until creamy.
- Add the heavy cream until it's the right consistency.
Adapted from : Oh Sweet Basil and Sally's Baking Adventures
