Lemon Blueberry Layer Cake

My mom has been taking cake baking classes for the past few months and when I found this recipe online at http://juneberry-lane.blogspot.com/2011/08/yummy-yellow-triple-lemonblueberry.html (which is one of my favorite blogs btw), I knew I had to send it to her and see if she could work her magic and whip this yummy creation up! She called me a few days later and said she had made it (all from scratch) and that everyone was saying it is the best cake she has made so far! Just looking at it makes my mouth water! This cake looks too good not to share, so here is everything you will need to make one of your own! Also, I was thinking you could also use strawberries instead of blueberries and just dye the frosting pink instead of yellow...yum!!!

Here is picture of my mom's version (it was her first try and she had some bugs to work out but she said it tasted delicious):

Here is the post from Juneberry-Lane:

Lemon-Blueberry Layer Cake 


Ingredients:

2 cups plus 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

3 cups fresh blueberries

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup whole milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3/4 teaspoon pure lemon extract

1 teaspoon lemon zest

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened about 20 minutes out of refrigerator

1 1/2 cups white sugar

4 large eggs

Method:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare three 8″ round cake pans with parchment paper, butter and flour. Sift dry ingredients into medium bowl. ***Note from my mom*** Dry ingredients does not include the sugar, keep the sugar out of this mixture because you will need to use it separately later. Transfer 1 tablespoon flour mixture to larger bowl. Add fresh blueberries and toss to coat them with flour. Set remaining flour mixture and blueberries aside.

Stir whole milk, sour cream, vanilla extract, lemon extract and lemon zest in small bowl. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar, until pale yellow and very fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time, until well combined. Mix in flour mixture alternately with milk mixture, starting and ending with flour mixture. Stir until just combined. Gently fold in blueberries. Divide batter equally among 8″ round pans.

Bake cakes until toothpick inserted into centre comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cool cakes in pans on racks for about 10 minutes, then invert onto racks until completely cool.

Zesty Lemon Frosting        

Ingredients:
1 cup soft unsalted butter

2 teaspoons lemon zest

5 cups icing sugar (or 6 for  sweeter version)

60 ml fresh lemon juice

6 tablespoons whipping cream (35% cream)

1/2 teaspoon pure lemon extract

2 tablespoons water

pinch salt

1 drop of AmeriColor “Electric Yellow” gel color (optional)

Method:
Cream butter and lemon zest in bowl of electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment, about 3 minutes. Slowly add icing sugar, mixing on low speed for about 2 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and beat on med-high for 3-4 minutes until very fluffy. If using color gel, add a drop or two (really, no more than that, because too much sunshine really can be a bad thing!), then beat until blended. Yields enough to frost outside of three layer 8″ round cake.

Filling: 2 x Lemon Curd recipe from Martha Stewart

Assembly:
***Note from my mom*** You will want to add either a little powdered sugar or put the frosting in the refrigerator before you begin, to make sure it is firm, otherwise it will be difficult to do the piping on your cake and it will kind of melt and not look as clean. 
Spread thin dollop of frosting on an 8″ thin cake board. Transfer 1 cake layer to board, face up. *Create a dam around the perimeter of the layer using frosting in a pastry bag fitted with a coupler, then spread lemon curd (apprx 1 cup) inside the dam–this prevents the curd from reaching out over edges. Top with another cake layer, face up; repeat frosting around perimeter and lemon curd filling. Top with third cake layer, face down (brown smooth side up). Spread thin layer (crumb coat) of Zesty Lemon Frosting over top and sides of cake, using offset palette knife and bench scraper for smooth finish. Place cake in refrigerator for apprx 30 mins. Remove from refrigerator and using same method, frost cake with generous layer of frosting, smoothing again. For ruffled border, add frosting to piping bag with petal tip (Wilton #123), and with skinny end facing out, use back and forth/up and down motion to create short ruffles.

Due to the lemon curd filling, keep cake covered and refrigerated (for up to 2 days) but serve room temperature.

Is this cake not so gorgeous!? I hope she'll make another one for me to try when I go home to visit!

Bon appetit!!!

*Since I don't know all of the rules about re posting things I found on other peoples blogs and websites, I want to make sure I give credit where credit is due....I found this recipe and the pictures at http://juneberry-lane.blogspot.com/2011/08/yummy-yellow-triple-lemonblueberry.html
*The Lemon-Blueberry cake base adapted  from Epicurious
*Juneberry Lane originally got this recipe from the bakers over at http://sweetapolita.com/