Summer is my favorite season because I love the hot, sunny days, time spent at the pool, cookouts and evenings spent on the porch as the sun is going day. But, I also love summer because of all the fresh fruits & veggies, visits to street side produce stands & the taste of a juicy peach. I wanted to make a summer-y cake for a sweet friend to celebrate her birthday. This cake is very light & just tastes like summer.
She informed me the next day that it tasted even better chilled for breakfast. That has been noted & I will gladly eat this for breakfast any time it is available.
The cake was pretty easy to make and left our kitchen smelling fabulous.
Begin by preheating the oven to 350 degrees. Grease & flour three 8 inch round cake pans.
Cream together butter, sugar, lemon zest & lemon extract until fluffy. Then add the egg whites gradually, two at a time, mixing well between additions.
In a separate bowl, mix together flour, baking powder & salt.
Alternating between the flour mixture & milk, add into the butter mixture. Beat for one minute to ensure all lumps are eliminated. I have always found it easier to begin & end with the dry mixture.
In a small bowl, set aside 1 c. of batter. Divvy up the remaining mixture into the three cake pans as evenly as possible.
Add 2 1/2 tsp. of blueberry lemon preserves to the 1 cup of batter that you set aside. Then, swirl this batter into all three of the cake pans, making a marble-like appearance. *I used a wooden skewer to swirl the mixture, but a knife would suffice as well.*
Bake 25 min or until toothpick comes out clean. Let cool for 10 min, then remove from pans onto wire rack & let cool completely.
CAKE:
- 2 sticks butter, room temperature
- 2 C granulated sugar
- 2 tsp grated lemon zest
- 1 1/2 tsp lemon extract
- 7 egg whites
- 3 C cake flour
- 4 tsp baking power
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 1/4 C whole milk
- 1 13 oz. jar blueberry jam with lemon juice
ICING:
1/2 c. butter
3 1/2 c. confectioner's sugar
1/4 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 T. lemon zest
2 T. lemon juice
Mix butter, lemon zest & vanilla together. Make sure all the lumps are out. Add milk, then by 1/2 c. add sugar gradually. Cream on high for two minutes. Then add lemon juice. I did find that the icing was a little hard to work with immediately after as it tended to "slide off" the cake. It may work better to refrigerate for a little while before using.
