LEMON AND BLUEBERRY CAKE

I was asked to make this cake for a Birthday and I'm so glad that I did. It went down so well and is definitely one of my new favourites. I'm personally not a huge fan of overly sweet cakes and this one was just perfect. It was light and very summery with the lemon, berries, and cream cheese frosting. It's safe to say that I'll be asked to make this again and again.

INGREDIENTS

For the Cake:
360g plain flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
225g unsalted butter, room temperature
200g granulated sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 Tbsp. lemon zest
188ml whole milk
63ml lemon juice
200g blueberries, frozen or fresh

To make the cake, begin by preheating the oven to 175°C fan and greasing and lining 3 8" round cake pans.
Together in a bowl, sift the flour, baking power, and salt before setting aside.
In another bowl, combine the milk and lemon juice. Stir this mixture and set aside to allow the milk to curdle.
Using a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar on a medium - high setting until it is pale and fluffy. (approximately 4 minutes)
Turn the mixer to a low speed and add the eggs 1 at a time. Make sure to mix well between each egg.
Continue to mix whilst adding the vanilla extract and lemon zest.
Alternate between adding the flour mixture and the curdled milk mixture (beginning and ending with the flour mixture - no more than 3 batches). It is important to not over mix at this stage.
Using a spoon or a spatula, gently fold in the blueberries being careful not to break any.
Divide the cake mixture equally between the three cake pans and bake for 30 - 35 minutes (or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.)
Leave to cool on a wire rack whilst you make your frosting.

For the Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting: 
450g cream cheese, softened
225g unsalted butter, softened
480g - 960g icing sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 Tbsp. lemon zest
2 Tbsp. lemon juice

Using a stand mixer, combine the cream cheese and softened butter and mix until smooth. Make sure you use full fat cream cheese (well drained) as the low fat one tends to split.
Add the vanilla extract, lemon juice, and lemon zest and continue to mix until well combined.
Carefully add the icing sugar, 100g at a time until you have reached your desired consistency and sweetness. Make sure you scrape down the edges of your bowl and whip until smooth.

For the Assembly: 
Lemon slices
Fresh blueberries
Edible flowers (optional)

To assemble the cake, place one layer of the cake onto a cake board and add a large dollop of the cream cheese frosting into the middle. Using a large offset spatula, smooth the frosting onto the first layer and make sure it's even. Add the next layer of cake and repeat until all the cake is on.
Next, you need to add your crumbcoat by smoothing a thin layer of the frosting over the entire cake. After you've done this, you need to place the cake in the fridge and allow the frosting to chill for a while.
After the crumbcoat has chilled, take the cake out of the fridge and add the final coat to the cake. (I decided to leave the final coat somewhat thinner to allow for an "almost" naked look.)
Place the cake back in the fridge before decorating with the berries, lemon, and flowers.

Unfortunately, the cake had to travel for over an hour in the car during the hottest week in the UK. So it sadly had begun to melt when I got it back in the fridge. Nevertheless, it was absolutely delicious.