Ingredients

The following ingredients have 4 Servings
  • 3 Tablespoons fresh lemon zest¹
  • ⅓ cup fresh lemon juice ((80ml), I usually need 3-4 lemons, zest your lemons before juicing)
  • ⅔ cup whole milk ((160ml))
  • ½ cup vegetable or canola oil ((118ml))
  • 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter (softened (57g))
  • 1 ¾ cup granulated sugar ((350g))
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 3 cups cake flour² (see note to substitute all-purpose/plain flour (330g))
  • 1 Tablespoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 6 large egg whites room temperature preferred
  • ¾ cup lemon curd ³ ((175ml))
  • 4 oz cream cheese
  • 1 cups powdered sugar (divided (often called “icing sugar” outside the US, 125g))
  • ¾ teaspoons vanilla extract
  • ⅛ teaspoon salt
  • ¾ cups heavy cream (cold (175ml))

Instruction

  • Preheat oven to 350F (175C) and prepare two 8” round cake pans by spraying with baking spray and lining the bottoms with parchment paper. Set aside.
  • Zest your lemons and set zest aside. Juice lemons until you have ⅓ cup of juice, whisk this with your milk and set aside.
  • In a large bowl using an electric mixer or in a stand mixer, beat together oil, butter, sugar, reserved lemon zest, and vanilla extract until completely combined.
  • In a medium-sized bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt and whisk well.
  • Stirring by hand, gradually alternate adding the flour mixture and lemon/milk mixture to the butter mixture, stirring until just combined after each addition (I start and end with the flour and add the flour mixture in 4 parts and the milk mixture in 3 parts).
  • Place egg whites in a separate clean, dry bowl, and beat on high speed with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form (see video or photo in post for a visual if needed).
  • Using a spatula, gently fold egg whites into cake batter until completely combined (don’t use your electric mixer at this point or you will over-beat the batter). Divide cake batter evenly into prepared pans and bake on 350F for 28-31 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.
  • Allow cakes to cool in pans for 10 minutes then run a knife around the edges to loosen cakes from pan and carefully invert onto cooling rack to cool completely.
  • Once cakes have cooled completely, prepare frosting.