31st Birthday Cake

Some of you may remember from previous posts in previous years that I like to make a special cake for my own birthday.
29th Birthday Cake.
30th Birthday Cake.
I've always picked something out of the ordinary and maybe a bit of a challenge. This year finding time to make myself a cake was the challenge. The weekend after my birthday Seth took Abe for a few hours so I could make a cake.

I had actually picked this cake out when I was pregnant. I saw it on Food Gawker and knew it was what I wanted for my birthday.

And it was worth the wait. It wasn't hard to make at all. I brought some to share with the teachers at daycare and they raved about it. I love to share the love. And my love...I mean baked goods.

Lemon-Blueberry Layer Cake
Source: Adapted from sweetapolita
Yield: 8-10 servings

2 cups plus 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups fresh blueberries
1 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla 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

Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare two 8″ round cake pans with parchment paper, butter and flour. Sift dry ingredients into medium bowl. 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 buttermilk, vanilla 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 center 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

1 cup soft unsalted butter
2 teaspoons lemon zest
6 cups icing sugar
60 ml fresh lemon juice
6 tablespoons whipping cream
2 tablespoons water


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: I didn't have the time or energy to make lemon curd so I used prepared.

Assembly

Put one cake berry side down on pedestal. Create a dam with the frosting by piping around the perimeter of the top layer. This will prevent the curd from seeping out when you put the other layer on. Spread curd in middle of the dam. Top with other cake, berry side up. Crumb coat and then frost the cake!

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