Luscious Lemon Party Cake

I love all things lemon, so when I saw this cake on Katie's blog, I knew I had to try it. My mom was having a Southern Living party on Friday, so I volunteered to bring it over. It was an excellent excuse to try out a new recipe and practice my decorating!

Katie is now my go-to girl for delectable baked goods. She has yet to fail me.

Luscious Lemon Party Cake
from Katie at Good Things Catered

Ingredients:
Cake -
2 1/2 c. cake flour
1 3/4 c. granulated sugar
1 Tbsp meringue powder
3 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 extra large organic lemons, washed thoroughly then zested and juiced separately
2/3 c. milk
1/3 c. vegetable oil
3 egg whites, beaten
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Icing -
4 c. powdered sugar
1 Tbsp meringue powder
tiny pinch of salt
1/2 c. butter, softened
1/2 c. shortening
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 extra large lemon, juiced

Additional lemon for decorating

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare two cake pans.
-In bowl of electric mixer sift and add flour, sugar, baking powder, meringue powder, salt, and zest of one lemon.
-Stir with mixer to combine, about 30 seconds.
-Add milk, oil, juice from two lemons, beaten egg whites and extract.
-Beat on medium to combine thoroughly, about 1 1/2 - 2 minutes.
-Remove from mixer and stir with silicone spatula to thoroughly combine (making sure there is no flour mixture left unincorporated at the bottom of the bowl.
-Fill prepared pans 2/3 of the way full and bake until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean (about 25-28 mins for 8 inch pans)
-Remove from oven, let cool 15 minutes in pan and then turn onto wire racks to cool completely.
-Meanwhile, in the bowl of stand mixer, combine shortening, butter, and half of extract and lemon juice, stiring on low until relatively combined.
-In a separate bowl, combine sugar, meringue powder and salt, then add to mixer while still on.
-Stir, scraping down sides of bowl, until thoroughly combined, adding more lemon juice as needed.
(Add water if needed to reach desired texture.)
-Once cakes are completely cool, even out tops of cakes if needed.
-On cut side of one cake, spread generous amount of icing. (Instead of using frosting as a filling, I used seedless raspberry jam. It was awesome)
-Place cut side of other cake down onto filling and finish icing cake.
-Decorate with additional lemon and icing as desired.

The frosting tastes very close to a cream cheese frosting. And not gonna lie, Hubby and I ate the remaining frosting with a spoon.