Sour Cream Lemon Layer Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Icing

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Summer is here and so that means an excuse to bake a light lemon cake.

This lemon layer cake is made with sour cream to keep it moist and sandwiched with lemon curd, lemon cream cheese buttercream and surrounded by Italian Meringue Buttercream. I will give you an option in the comments if you dont want to undertake the Italian Meringue Buttercream.

Let me know if you give this a go, R x

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Sour Cream Lemon Layer Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Icing

A three layer lemon layer cake made with sour cream to keep it moist and light.
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time25 minutes
Icing Time30 minutes
Total Time1 hour 10 minutes
Course: Dessert
Keyword: birthday, buttercream, celebration, lemon, meringue
Servings: 12 slices

Equipment

  • 3 x 9in cake tins
  • If making Italian Meringue Buttercream then I recommend a stand mixer
  • Food thermometer (If making Italian Meringue Buttercream)

Ingredients

Lemon Cakes

  • 230 g unsalted butter room temperature
  • 400 g caster sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp lemon extract optional
  • 250 ml sour cream
  • 2 lemons zesr and juice
  • 375 g plain flour
  • 2½ tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • ½ tsp salt

Lemon Cream Cheese Icing

  • 180 g cream cheese FULL-FAT at room temperature
  • 110 g unsalted butter room temperature
  • 110 g icing sugar
  • zest of one lemon
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 200 g lemon curd

Italian Meringue Buttercream

  • 4 egg whites
  • 140 g caster sugar
  • 1 tbsp water
  • 300 g unsalted butter SOFT
  • 1 tsp lemon extract can easily be swapped for vanilla
  • pinch of salt

Instructions

Lemon Cake

  • Line the three tins with parchment paper. I have a great tip for doing this over on my instagram.
  • Preheat oven to 170°C.
  • Using an electric mixer, cream together your soft butter and sugar until light and fluffy. This takes 3-5 minutes.
  • Scrap down the sides of the mixing bowl. Add your eggs one at a time full incorporating after each addition. At this stage your mix might look a little curdled due to the high fat content, but this will be fixed when we add our dry ingredients.
  • Stir through the extracts, lemon juice and zest.
  • IN another bowl combine flour, salte, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda.
  • Scrape the bowl again. Alternate adding the flour mixture and sour cream until they've all been added. Once the batter is smooth, stop mixing.
  • Pour the batter into your three prepared tins. Bake on the middle rack for 20-25 minutes. Don't open the oven until the 20 minute mark or your cakes might sink.
  • After 10 minutes, remove from the tins and allow cakes to cool completely before icing.

Cream Cheese Icing

  • Beat your butter by itself first to make sure to get rid of any lumps. About 3 minutes.
  • Add the icing sugar and beat for 3-4 minutes until light, fluffy and smooth.  Gently does it or you'll end in a puff of icing sugar. I often put a tea towel over the bowl with my hand whisk underneath to catch the sugar cloud.
  • If there is a lot of water on top of your cream cheese, just pour it off first before using it.
  • Beat in your cream cheese. It might look lumpy at first, but just keep beating – about 2 minutes.
  • Put a teaspoon of icing in the centre of your serving plate. Place the first cake layer on top. This little bit of icing will stop the cake sliding on the plate.
  • Put one third of the icing on the cake layer and smooth out evenly to the edges.
  • I think pipe a circle of icing near the edge to act as a wall of the lemon curd.
  • Spread the lemon curd evenly over the cream cheese icing.
  • Place the second cake layer on top and repeat with another third of the icing. Put in the fridge while we make the second icing.

Italian Meringue Buttercream Icing (if you're feeling fancy)

  • Put your egg whites in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment.
  • Put sugar and water in a saucepan. Heat over a medium heat without stirring. Once it reached 116°C, then turn on the stand mixer to begin whisking your egg whites at a high speed.
  • Once the sugar has reached 119°C and the egg whites are at soft peaks, lower the speed of your stand mixer.
  • With the machine still on, carefully pour your sugar syrup down the side of the stand mixer bowl into the egg whites.
  • Whisk on high for 10-15 minutes until cooled, thick and glossy. This is Italian Meringue. And can be used to top Lemon Meringue Pie.
  • Switch the whisk attachment to a paddle. Turn the machine back to low and add chunks of soft butter.
  • Mix on high for 10 minutes. Add salt and extract.

Finishing up

  • Remove the cake from the fridge and slather the IMBC all around the outside and across the top.
  • This recipe makes more than your need, so you have enough to pipe some swirls on the top.
  • Store this cake in the fridge, but the icing is definitely better served at room temperature, so remove from the fridge an hour before you plan to eat.

Notes

  1. If you would like just to use cream Cheese Icing, then the below measurements will do the centre and top.
    • 250g unsalted butter – SOFT
    • 250g icing sugar
    • 450g full-fat cream cheese
    • pinch salt
    • zest of a lemon

Enjoy, R x

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