Better Homes & Garden Pink Lemonade Cake

Wow! 

That’s an understatement for sure.  This cake was a huge hit with my Mom and the rest of the family as well…Valerie’s exact words…

“This is heaven”…

I should warn you though…
There is a lot of butter.  But for a special treat…it’s worth it.

Next time I make it, I will probably use a lighter version of  frosting which contained most of the butter.

Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter
4 Eggs
3 1/2 Cups flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 Teaspoon salt
2 Cups sugar
red food coloring
1 1/3 Cups milk
1/4 Cup frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed
1 Tablespoon lemon extract
(recipe for Lemonade Buttercream frosting below)

Allow butter and eggs to stand until room temp.  Grease 2 9×2 in. round pans.  I used Pam Baking Spray so I didn’t need to flour them.  Line bottom of pans with parchment paper.

In a med. bowl mix flour, baking powder, and salt, and set aside.Preheat oven to 350.In extra large bowl beat butter, add sugar, 1/8 teaspoon of food coloring, 1 egg at a time, beating well.  Already looking pretty.

In another bowl, stir together milk, lemonade concentrate, and extract- it will curdle, but that’s okay.Alternately add flour mixture and milk mixture to butter mixture beating on low.

Remove 1/2 (4 Cups) of tinted batter and spread in 1 pan.  Stir in 1/4 teaspoon of red food coloring in remaining batter and spread in other pan.Bake about 35 minutes…mine took longer (check to see if tooth pick comes out clean).

While baking… prepare frosting:Pink Lemonade Buttercream Frosting3 Cups unsalted butter (6 sticks-at room temp)
2 -16 oz. jars of marshmallow cream (or 2 -13 oz +1 1/2 Cups)
1/4 C. frozen lemonade concentrate (thawed)
1 Cup powdered sugar
2 Teaspoon lemon extract

I told you there was a lot of butter!!

In a large bowl, beat butter about 30 sec.  Add marshmallow and frozen concentrate.  Beat until smooth.  Add sugar, beat until light and fluffy.Stick your finger in it and try it Frost cake after it has cooled and the frosting is at room temp.*To make the different layers, slice the cakes in half with a serrated knife, sawing gently back and forth.  Alternate the colors.

My cake ended up breaking apart a bit, so you can see by the pictures that I did it slightly different.

It doesn’t need to be perfect.

Getting this cake over to my Mom & Dad’s house down I-75 was pretty interesting! (don’t worry, Rick was driving!)Oh how my Mom’s eyes lit up when she saw it!  We ended up having a blast with a “cake photo shoot” at her house.  She was an excellent assistant and my Dad was a good sport when we messed up his table he had set for his chicken & biscuits dinner he had made for us.

It was a wonderful way to spend Mother’s Day…

Thank you for the inspiration Better Homes & Gardens!All for…Mom!May Issue 2012