Lemon + walnut + cream cheese cake

When we got married Jason’s mom made the (amazing) cake. She did a lemon cake with walnuts, lemon curd, and cream cheese frosting in between the layers for one of the cake layers/levels and it was awesome. I’ve convinced her to make it 1 or 2 more times since then, but since she was a) sick and b) doesn’t make cakes anymore I decided to have my own go at making the cake, and to do it my own way without help of any recipe or anything…

Ingredients:
1 box lemon cake mix
1/4 cup lemon juice + water as directed on box
eggs (as directed on box)
oil (again, as directed on box)
grate 1 lemon peel/zest into batter
*bake as directed*

For frosting & filling:
8oz cream cheese (room temp)
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter (room temp)
2 1/2 – 4 cups confectioners sugar
1tsp vanilla
lemon simple syrup OR lemon curd
chopped walnuts

It’s so easy, I almost don’t have to explain.

First off, just combine the cake mix + ingredients, pour into pans, and bake. I did an 8″ and 9″ (as you can see from photo) because I have 1 of each. I should fix that, but it honestly did not matter! I added in the lemon juice and zest really just to up the “bam” factor of lemon in a mix cake. EASY.

Then for the frosting. You want to beat the butter + cream cheese until it’s fluffy and silky and lovely. I beat mine like 3-4 minutes. I did NOT want chunks! Then I added the vanilla, then started dumping (and letting mix in) powdered (confectioners) sugar. I didn’t measure, I had a small box and would shake some in, mix, repeat. Then after about 2 cups worth I started testing and I continued adding until it had the sweetness I wanted. This frosting was sooo smooth and delightful!

To assemble I put the 9″ cake down, put some of the Meyer Lemon Simple Syrup on and spread out (maybe a few tsp). this just added another layer of lemon and yum! Lemon Curd (I can find it in the ‘international’ section of my grocery store) is real nice too. Then just put a thin layer of icing and a layer of chopped walnuts before setting the top cake down. I did spread a teeny bit of icing on bottom of top cake due to the walnuts and me not wanting the top to slide off.

Finally – I frosted it then made the decision to cover entire thing with walnuts. It was prettier plain – but all that walnutty goodness was yum.  

Pumping up cake mixes is a great way to customize a cake while saving time and mess.