After the little photo shoot for my new blog header, I had a lot of citrus fruit left over. Never mind the fact that I've been hoarding limes since the Great Lime Shortage of 2014. We started the summer with a major lime shortage due to problems in Mexico (fruit diseases, transportation problems, etc.), so I snatched up limes just as soon as I was able to get my hands on them, and have been stockpiling them ever since. Along with lemons and oranges, limes are the epitome of a happy fruit, like a ray of sunshine on a summer day.
I decided to combine these three fruits into a happy little cake. I used a favorite go-to recipe, White on White Buttermilk cake and added some fruit zest and fruit extracts to impart the citrus notes to each of the layers.
Citrus Dream Cake:
Ingredients:
1 1/2 Cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature (do not melt!)
2 1/3 Cups sugar
3 large egg whites
3 Cups cake flour (I use Swans Down)
3/4 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 Cups buttermilk (or use 1 1/2 cups whole milk with a splash of vinegar)
1 tsp. each of Lemon extract, orange extract and lime extract (added at the end after batter has been divided into 3 bowls)
2 tsp. grated Lemon, lime and orange zest (each added separately to divided batter)
Yellow, Orange and Green food coloring (each added separately to divided batter)
Buttercream ingredients:
2 Cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
2 Lbs. powered sugar
1 Tbsp. heavy whipping cream
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. fruit extract of your choice (lemon, lime or orange)
2 tsp. fruit zest of your choice (lemon, lime or orange)
Directions:
Prepare your baking pans. I used three 9-inch round pans. Line the pans with rounds of parchment paper. I never have a problem with cakes sticking to the bottom when I line the pans, so it is worth the extra effort. Grease the pans with cooking spray.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Using electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg whites and continue beating for another minute.
Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl and gradually add these into the wet mixture, beating thoroughly.
Divide the batter evenly into 3 separate bowls.
To each of the bowls, you will add the flavor and color you want for each layer. 1 bowl will get lime zest, lime extract and green food coloring. The next will get lemon zest, lemon extact and yellow food coloring. The last will get orange zest, orange extract and orange food coloring. Mix thoroughly.
Add each batter into each of the 3 baking pans you prepared.
Bake for 25-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Tops of cake layers should be very lightly brown. Oven and baking times vary, so check regularly. Do not over-bake or the cake will be dry.
Remove cake layers from the oven. Allow cakes to cool.
While cakes are cooling, prepare the buttercream frosting.
Using electric mixer, beat butter, gradually adding in powdered sugar and salt. Mixture will be thick, so add in the whipping cream and flavoring/extract of your choice (I used lemon for mine). Add fruit zest. Whip thoroughly, scraping sides as needed so that it is well-blended.
Frost cooled cake layers.
Garnish with fruit slices or sliced/sugared fruit rind (avoid white pith when slicing rind to avoid bitterness)
