Lemon Cake

This was a special request for a coworker. In search of a good lemon cake recipe, I decided to modify my favorite cake recipe, the BHG Devil's Food cake. This is what I came up with; the cake is light and springy, the frosting is flavorful without being too sweet.

Lemon Cake

2 1/2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder 

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup shortening

1 1/2 cups milk

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

Zest of 1/2 a lemon

Juice of 1/2 a lemon

1/2 tsp lemon extract

4-5 drops yellow food coloring, optional

Whippy Lemon Frosting

1 cup shortening

4 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

4-5 Tbsp milk

1/4 tsp salt

Zest of 1/2 a lemon

Juice of 1/2 a lemon

4-5 drops yellow food coloring, optional

For the cake:

Preheat oven to 350 and grease and flour 2 round 8 or 9 inch cake pans. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl, then add wet ingredients. Stir to combine, then beat with an electric mixer until smooth, 2-3 minutes. The batter will be thinner than a typical cake batter and it will taste like melted ice cream. Pour into prepared pans and bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. 

For the frosting:

Combine first 5 ingredients in a bowl and beat with an electric mixer for 1 minute. Add remaining ingredients and beat until thoroughly combined. You can adjust the amount of milk to make it thicker or thinner, just watch out for 2 things: Don't add the lemon juice until the milk is mixed in or it will curdle. If you use food coloring, make sure it is thoroughly and evenly blended or you will end up with streaks and speckles!