For the lemon blueberry cake:
-1 box white cake mix
-3 eggs
-1/3 cup oil
-zest and juice of 3 lemons
-3/4 cup milk or half and half
-1 teaspoon lemon extract
-a few drops of yellow food coloring*
-1/2 cup blueberries
Whisk away any lumps in the cake mix. Mix together all of the ingredients except for the blueberries. Fold in the blueberries. They shouldn't sink to the bottom because the batter is so thick, but you can always coat them in a little flour to help them stay in place and also keep them from turning your cake purple. Fill 2-3 9 inch cake rounds and be sure to spray the pan and line it with parchment paper. Bake these one at a time in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes. Start checking for readiness at 25 min. Once they are cooled, wrap them with plastic wrap and put them in the freezer.
*This cake comes out cream colored. If you want more of a true lemon yellow color, add a bit of food coloring. Feel free to leave it out! :)
Lemon Curd: I used Laura Vitale's recipe for lemon curd and it turned out perfect! You will need about 2/3 of it for this recipe, but I love having leftovers of this stuff because it is seriously tasty. You can find the recipe at laurainthekitchen.com.
Whipped Cream:
Whip 16 oz of heavy whipping cream. Add 1/2 cup of powdered sugar. If you want a sweeter whipped cream, feel free to add more powdered sugar!
Cake Assembly: Take out the cakes from the freezer and unwrap them. Layer the cake, whipped cream, and lemon curd. Keep layering until you reach the final layer of cake. Put this on top, upside down, (the bottom of cakes is flatter and more even) and decorate with more whipped cream, fresh lemon slices, and a basil or mint leaf.
Have fun and play around with it! I would love to see your recreations. Tag me on instagram and use the hashtag #petitebakeress. Happy Baking!
