Strawberry Lemon Layer Cake – Sprinkle Bakes
This Strawberry Lemon Layer Cake is vibrant, zesty, and completely spring-appropriate! Alternating lemon and strawberry sponge truffles are layered with buttercream and crushed Sconza Lemoncello Chocolate Almonds.
Mom’s Day is on the horizon, and my buddies at Sconza Chocolates requested if I’d whip up a confection worthy of the event. The vacation coincides with the arrival of Sconza’s Lemoncello Chocolate Almonds at Costco shops in the course of the months of April and Might. I used to be delighted to say sure! Every part Sconza makes is superlative, however these creamy lemon candies with crunchy almond facilities are my all-time favourite.
I crammed this cake with vibrant flavors and colours in and out. Piped buttercream roses bloom on prime with Lemoncello Chocolate Almond facilities. (You’ll be able to by no means go flawed with flowers for mother!)
Make the batter.
Start this cake with my favourite White Almond Bitter Cream Cake batter. It’s halved after which flavored with lemon and strawberry Jello dissolved in scorching water. This not solely offers the truffles daring taste, but additionally vibrant colour! It’s additionally good that flavored gelatins could be discovered at grocery shops all over the place, and also you gained’t need to order or observe down specialty flavorings. (I’ve found that nobody close by carries my favourite strawberry extract!) Bake the batters in 6-inch cake pans, which can yield a small but tall and stately cake. Nevertheless, you might use two 9-inch cake pans for a double layer cake.
Construct the cake.
To assemble the layers, start with a strawberry cake. Then, prime it with a fair layer of American buttercream (a.ok.a. confectioners’ sugar buttercream). Subsequent, scatter on some crushed Sconza Lemoncello Chocolate Almonds. Use a meals processor to crush the candies effective – it’ll make quick work of the duty.
Alternate the cake flavors, repeating the frosting and filling with the Sconza candies. Lastly, finish with a lemon cake layer on prime.
Frost the cake.
This cake advantages from a crumb coat. Little cake crumbs and sweet items on the surface of the cake want a base layer of frosting to carry them in place. So, cowl the highest and sides in a skinny layer of buttercream after which refrigerate till agency. Then cowl it in a second, thicker layer of buttercream and clean it evenly utilizing a bench scraper or cake smoother.
Whip up one other batch of American buttercream, this time stiff consistency, for the decors. This batch must be thicker to ensure that the piped particulars to carry their form. Simply add slightly extra confectioners’ sugar to the bottom recipe. The swags are very merely piped utilizing a #3 decorator piping tip. As for the flowers, you possibly can see my rose piping video tutorial at this hyperlink.
Pipe the roses.
Sconza candies are a meals stylist’s dream, as a result of each seems excellent proper out of the bag. I simply knew they’d make a ravishing middle for piped flowers. And, they’re inherently bud-shaped! Right here’s pipe them, from begin to end.
- First, on a parchment-covered flower nail, pipe a dollop of pink frosting. Place the rounded finish of a Lemoncello Chocolate Almond into the frosting (pointed finish to the sky).
- Then, utilizing a petal decorator tip, pipe layers of pink petals that overlap the sweet.
- Pipe on extra layers of petals till you attain the specified fullness. (I saved these small, however you might go bigger!)
- Slide the flower off of the nail and switch them to a baking sheet. Repeat the method till you’ve gotten a baking sheet filled with flowers. Then switch them to the fridge to agency.
After the roses agency, peel them away from their parchment squares and prepare them on prime of the cake to at least one aspect. Then, pipe a couple of leaves between the roses to fill in any gaps. (Yow will discover the entire decorator tip numbers and sizes I take advantage of within the recipe card.)
Add some bling!
Ever a gilder of lilies (or on this case, roses!) I couldn’t resist including slightly shimmer. Brush edible gold paint on the swags. Then, add three gold sugar pearls in a line, the place the swags meet.
The white almond bitter cream cake layers tackle colour so effectively, and the flavors actually shine via. Each the lemon and strawberry flavors are extra creamy than tart. Altogether this cake is tender and moist, but has a shock lemon sweet crunch all through.
Make sure you seize a bag of Lemoncello Chocolate Almonds at your native Costco whereas they final! They’re nice all on their very own, and so they’re a superb addition to this cake.
Strawberry Lemon Layer Cake
Strawberry and lemon bitter cream cake layers
- 1 small field strawberry gelatin 3 oz.
- 1 small field lemon gelatin 3 oz.
- 1 cup boiling water divided
- 1 field white cake combine 16.25 oz.
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon effective grain salt
- 1 cup bitter cream
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil I like sunflower oil
- 3 massive eggs
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
American buttercream and filling
- 2 cups unsalted butter at room temperature
- 8 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- Milk or cream as wanted
- 2/3 cup Sconza Lemoncello Chocolate Almonds
Stiff American buttercream and decors
Cake layers
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Place the strawberry gelatin and lemon gelatin in two separate bowls. Pour 1/2 cup boiling water into every of the bowls and stir effectively to dissolve. Let cool till heat, about 10 minutes. Don’t enable the gelatin to start setting. If it begins to gel, re-heat it within the microwave till liquid.
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Preheat the oven to 350°F. Coat 4 6-inch spherical cake pans with flour-based baking spray (or grease and flour pans).
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Within the bowl of an electrical mixer, whisk collectively the cake combine, flour, sugar, and salt. In one other bowl, mix the bitter cream, oil, eggs, and extract. Add the moist elements to the dry and blend on low velocity till mixed. The batter might be thick. Divide the batter evenly into two massive bowls. To 1 bowl, add the strawberry gelatin; beat with an electrical mixer to include. To the opposite bowl, add the lemon gelatin. Combine effectively till mixed.
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Divide every batter between two 6 inch cake pans. Bake for 20-22 minutes, or till the truffles are effectively risen. They need to spring again of their facilities when pressed. Let cool within the pans 5 minutes, then flip the truffles out onto wire racks to chill utterly. When the truffles are cool, use a serrated knife or wire cake leveler to stage the truffles.
American buttercream and filling
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In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine collectively the butter and confectioners’ sugar. Start on low velocity till crumbly, after which enhance to excessive and beat for 3 minutes.
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Add vanilla and beat once more for one more minute. For those who discover the buttercream is just too stiff, you might add milk or heavy cream 1-2 tablespoon at a time till the combination is spreading consistency. Beat till gentle and fluffy. The consistency needs to be billowy and straightforward to unfold. Cowl the bowl with a humid towel so it doesn’t dry out.
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In a meals processor or mini chopper, grind the Sconza Lemoncello Chocolate Almonds till effective. Put aside.
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Start constructing the cake with a strawberry cake layer positioned on a cake board or serving plate. Fill with a beneficiant 1/2 cup buttercream. Utilizing a spoon, spoon over 1/3 of the chopped Sconza candies. High with a lemon cake layer. Repeat the frosting and candy-sprinkling. High with a strawberry cake layer. Repeat the frosting and candy-sprinkling as soon as extra. High with the lemon cake layer. Cowl the cake with a skinny layer of buttercream (crumb coat) and refrigerate till agency, about 5 minutes. Frost all the cake with a beneficiant protecting of buttercream and clean evenly utilizing a bench scraper or cake smoother. Refrigerate till the buttercream corporations, 20 minutes.
Stiff American buttercream and décors
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In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine collectively the butter and confectioners’ sugar. Start on low velocity till crumbly, after which enhance to excessive and beat for 3 minutes.
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Add vanilla and beat once more for one more minute. For those who discover the buttercream is just too stiff, you might add milk or heavy cream 1 tablespoon at a time till the combination is stiff piping consistency (it ought to maintain on a spatula turned upside-down). Beat till effectively mixed. Cowl the bowl with a humid towel so the buttercream doesn’t crust.
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Take away 1/3 cup of the white frosting to a small bowl and canopy with a humid towel; put aside.
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Take away 1/2 cup of the white frosting to a piping bag fitted with the Wilton #3 spherical tip.
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Divide the remaining frosting into three bowls and tint one bowl utilizing 1/4 teaspoon of neon pink gel meals colour and 1 small drop of the purple meals colour (this mix matches the strawberry cake layers). Meals colour manufacturers differ in depth, so add extra if wanted however take into account that colours will intensify because the buttercream crusts. Combine till a constant colour is achieved and switch to a piping bag fitted with Wilton #104 petal decorator tip.
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Tint one other bowl with 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon neon yellow meals colour. Combine effectively and switch to a piping bag fitted with Wilton #104 decorator tip.
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Tint the final bowl with the inexperienced gel meals colour and switch to a piping bag fitted with Wilton #352 decorator piping tip.
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Measure the circumference of the cake and divide by 8. With a toothpick, evenly mark the location of the place the swags will meet within the buttercream. Pipe eight swags across the prime fringe of the cake utilizing the bag of white buttercream fitted with the plain Wilton #3 decorator piping tip. Refrigerate to set, about 5 minutes.
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For the roses, and utilizing the pink bag if icing fitted with the #104 petal tip, place a dot of pink icing on a flower nail, then place a parchment sq. onto the flower nail. Within the middle of the parchment, pipe a mound of pink buttercream. Place a Sconza Lemoncello Chocolate Almond within the middle of the mound in order that the pointed finish stands upright. Subsequent, with the slim finish of the petal tip pointing up, pipe 4 petals across the sweet in order that it overlaps barely. Pipe extra frosting petals across the sweet middle till a full rose form is achieved. Slide the parchment with the rose on it, off of the frosting nail rigorously and place it on a baking sheet (9×13 works effective). Repeat this course of of constructing roses utilizing the yellow buttercream additionally. Range sizes so that you’ve got some massive flowers and a few small. Switch the entire flowers to the baking sheet and refrigerate till agency, about quarter-hour.
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Utilizing the reserved white buttercream within the bowl, dollop a half moon form on prime of 1 aspect of the cake with a spoon. Take away the set buttercream flowers from the fridge. Gently peel them from their parchment squares and prepare them on prime of the half-moon form on prime of the cake. Place further Sconza Lemoncello Chocolate Almonds across the flowers to fill in gaps. Use the bag of inexperienced icing fitted with the #352 leaf tip to pipe leaves into any empty areas, or to brighten the flowers. Refrigerate till set, about 10 minutes.
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Brush the edible gold paint onto the swags utilizing the effective –tipped artwork brush. Fastidiously add three gold sugar pearls in a vertical line the place the swags meet. Do that by gently pushing them into the buttercream.
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Retailer the cake within the fridge. Convey to room temperature earlier than serving.
