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Strawberry Lemonade Cake
Published June 21, 2024
![Strawberry Lemonade Cake](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2024/06/21/multimedia/ya-strawberry-lemonade-cake-fgzt/ya-strawberry-lemonade-cake-fgzt-articleLarge.jpg?width=1280&quality=75&auto=webp)
- Total Time
- 90 minutes, plus 50 minutes cooling and chilling
- Prep Time
- 15 minutes
- Cook Time
- 1 hour 15 minutes, plus 50 minutes cooling and chilling
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- ¾cup/170 grams unsalted butter (1½ sticks), softened, plus more for greasing the pans
- 3cups/385 grams all-purpose flour, plus more for preparing the pan
- 8large lemons
- 1½cups/360 milliliters whole milk, at room temperature
- 2cups/400 grams granulated sugar
- 1½teaspoons baking powder
- ½teaspoon baking soda
- 1½teaspoons kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)
- ¼cup/60 milliliters neutral oil (such as canola, vegetable or grapeseed)
- 4large eggs, at room temperature
- 1½cups/340 grams unsalted butter (3 sticks), softened
- 1pound/450 grams powdered sugar, sifted if lumpy
- 6tablespoons finely crushed freeze-dried strawberries (from a 1-ounce package)
- ½teaspoon kosher salt (such as Diamond crystal), plus more as needed
- 3cups thinly sliced fresh strawberries, for decorating
For the Lemon Cake
For the Strawberry-lemon Buttercream and Assembly
Preparation
- Step 1
Heat oven to 325 degrees. Butter 2 (9-inch) cake pans, and line each with parchment paper. Butter the parchment, then dust the pan with flour, tapping out the excess.
- Step 2
Use a microplane or similar fine grater to finely grate the zest of the lemons, setting aside 3 tablespoons of zest for the cake and 1 tablespoon for the buttercream. Juice the zested lemons and set aside ½ cup/120 milliliters of the juice to split between the cake and the buttercream. (Don’t refrigerate the lemon juice.)
- Step 3
In a large measuring cup with a spout, combine the milk and ¼ cup of the lemon juice. Set aside while you prepare the rest of the batter.
- Step 4
To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, add the sugar and 3 tablespoons of the lemon zest. Use your fingertips to rub the zest into the sugar until the sugar looks damp and smells fragrant.
- Step 5
Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt to the bowl and mix on low to combine. Cut the butter into tablespoon-size pieces and add them to the bowl all at once. Mix on low until the butter is evenly distributed and the mixture looks sandy. (A few larger lumps of butter is OK.)
- Step 6
Add the oil and eggs to the measuring cup with the milk and whisk with a fork to combine. With the mixer on low, slowly stream in the milk mixture. When moistened, stop the mixer and scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl to ensure there aren’t any dry pockets. Increase the mixer speed to medium and mix for 1 minute. Divide the batter between the prepared pans, spreading evenly and tapping the pans on a countertop to release any large air bubbles.
- Step 7
Bake the cakes until slightly risen and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 30 to 40 minutes. The cakes will have a bit of color around the edges, but the tops will still be quite pale. Set the pans on a wire rack and let the cakes cool for about 20 minutes. Then, run a thin knife around the edges of the pan and carefully turn the cakes out onto the rack to cool completely. (You may have to tap the pans gently on the rack to release each cake.)
- Step 8
While the cakes bake and cool, clean the mixing bowl and make the buttercream: Add the butter to the bowl and mix on medium-high until smooth. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon zest, 2 tablespoons of the remaining lemon juice, the powdered sugar, freeze-dried strawberries and salt. Mix on low until the sugar is moistened, then increase speed to medium-high and whip until smooth and fluffy, about 5 minutes. If necessary, add a bit more of the remaining lemon juice a teaspoon at a time to make a smooth and light buttercream. Scrape the bowl occasionally to ensure that the buttercream is evenly mixed. Taste and season with more salt if desired. (The buttercream can be kept at room temperature while the cake finishes baking and cooling.)
- Step 9
Assemble the cake: Just before frosting the cake, stir the buttercream vigorously with a flexible spatula to knock out any large air bubbles. (This will help to make the final buttercream smooth without any large holes.) Add a small spoonful of buttercream to a serving plate or cardboard cake round. Place one layer of cake onto the buttercream, dome side up. Spread 1 heaping cup of buttercream evenly over the top of the cake. Arrange 1 cup of the sliced strawberries in a single layer over the buttercream, leaving ½ inch of frosting around the edges uncovered. Place the second layer on top of the buttercream, dome side down, and press gently. Cover the top and sides of the cake with a thin layer of buttercream (be careful not to transfer crumbs back into the bowl of frosting), leaving about 1½ cups buttercream in the bowl. Refrigerate the cake until the buttercream is firm, about 30 minutes. Spread the remaining buttercream over the top and sides of the cake. Top with the remaining 1 cup sliced strawberries.
- Step 10
Store the cake at room temperature for a day, loosely covered. If there is any cake left after a day, store in the refrigerator. Use a hot, clean and dry knife for the tidiest slices.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
A truly delicious cake and a hit at the cookout! I made it as written, bashing the freeze dried strawberries in their own bag. The little chunks I missed melted into the buttercream after a few hours, leaving it smoother than when I first made it. Don't bother getting the food processor out unless that brings you joy.
This is lovely, dense like a pound cake and moist. I got my 8 medium-sized lemons washed for zesting but after zesting 4 of them, I realized that I had more zest than the 4Tbsp required for both the cake and the icing. Likewise for the juice. You only need 1/4c for the cake and 2 Tbsp for the buttercream. Not sure why these amounts weren't simplyincluded in the ingredient lists rather than buried in the recipe.
About half the lemons the recipe calls for- 4 instead of 8, maybe 3 if they're really big- should yield enough zest and juice for this recipe.
Rather than using dried berries in the frosting, I puréed and then strained fresh strawberries ( 3 cups), then simmered the purée to reduce by half. Add cooled syrup, plus a bit more powdered sugar to off set the liquid. Delicious & totally fresh!
Re: high altitude adjustment for the cake: decrease sugar by Two tablespoons per cup, and decrease leavening by one quarter. At 5280 those adjustments have proved me well for 50 years. Hereto good baking!
I made it without the fresh strawberries (because my kids object to cake with fruit chunks.) This is a delicious cake. The frosting is a little salty which balances the sweetness in the buttercream.
Great success with this cake! Very moist and flavourful. Used fresh strawberries in icing by making a purée and reducing on stovetop for 20 mins. Used about 6 tbsp and added more icing sugar to adjust for liquids. It was delicious!
What a gorgeous and delicious cake! I surrounded it with flowers on my cake stand and it was the perfect display for our summer gathering. I bought crushed dried strawberries online for the frosting and it was so easy. Four large lemons were the perfect amount. Thanks for delighting my friends :-)
I made this recipe as cupcakes for a work picnic. It yielded 27 cupcakes (I baked the extra 3 in ramekins and left them for the family); I reduced the baking time to 25 minutes (checked at 20). Excellent texture and flavor! They went really quickly and I was told, unsolicited, that I could bring them to the Thanksgiving potluck, too, and should bring more. I love that the lemon in the frosting keeps the strawberry bright pink and fresh tasting.
Is there an alternative to using freeze dried strawberries? Where I live (Canada) they’re a bit challenging to come by. Realise I could just leave them out but would love to get a similar outcome.
Has anyone tried this with a meringue buttercream eg Swiss instead of American buttercream? I prefer a lighter, less sweet frosting but don’t like to mess w the recipe first time….thanks!
Super delicious cake! So summery, A frosting, a beautiful showstopper. Echoing others: you absolutely do not need 8 lemons. We zested and juiced 8 and have an extra 1/2 cup of zest and a whole pint of lemon juice leftover.
SUCH a scrumptious cake! Strawberries are in peak season here, so making this was a no-brainer. The cake has a beautiful, velvety crumb and the lemon really packs a punch. My only wish is that I had doubled the recipe for the icing because I needed a smidge more to frost the cake (and I wouldn’t be mad about having a stash of it to spread on, well, pretty much anything else). This is a truly GREAT cake.
Showstopper! Made it tonight as a tryout for 4th of July and it checked every box. Delicious tender cake, wonderful buttercream. Made to the recipe's exact specifications and it came out beautifully.
About half the lemons the recipe calls for- 4 instead of 8, maybe 3 if they're really big- should yield enough zest and juice for this recipe.
I found two tablespoons of lemon juice for the icing not nearly enough. Must have added two to three more to make it pliable. Also, I found the amount of icing not quite enough as the gaps between the cakes took a lot of icing. Perhaps just my technique?
Re: high altitude adjustment for the cake: decrease sugar by Two tablespoons per cup, and decrease leavening by one quarter. At 5280 those adjustments have proved me well for 50 years. Hereto good baking!
Thanks for the reminder, and I hadn't heard about the sugar adjustment (I live at 5,000ft).
Rather than using dried berries in the frosting, I puréed and then strained fresh strawberries ( 3 cups), then simmered the purée to reduce by half. Add cooled syrup, plus a bit more powdered sugar to off set the liquid. Delicious & totally fresh!
This is lovely, dense like a pound cake and moist. I got my 8 medium-sized lemons washed for zesting but after zesting 4 of them, I realized that I had more zest than the 4Tbsp required for both the cake and the icing. Likewise for the juice. You only need 1/4c for the cake and 2 Tbsp for the buttercream. Not sure why these amounts weren't simplyincluded in the ingredient lists rather than buried in the recipe.
Does anyone know what to change for high altitude baking?
A truly delicious cake and a hit at the cookout! I made it as written, bashing the freeze dried strawberries in their own bag. The little chunks I missed melted into the buttercream after a few hours, leaving it smoother than when I first made it. Don't bother getting the food processor out unless that brings you joy.
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