This Strawberry Lemon Layer Cake is bright, zesty, and totally spring-appropriate! Alternating lemon and strawberry sponge cakes are layered with buttercream and crushed Sconza Lemoncello Chocolate Almonds.
Mother’s Day is on the horizon, and my friends at asked if I’d whip up a confection worthy of the occasion. The holiday coincides with the arrival of at Costco stores during the months of April and May. I was delighted to say yes! Everything Sconza makes is superlative, but those creamy lemon candies with crunchy almond centers are my all-time favorite.
I filled this cake with bright flavors and colors inside and out. Piped buttercream roses bloom on top with Lemoncello Chocolate Almond centers. (You can never go wrong with flowers for mom!)
Make the batter.
Begin this cake with my favorite batter. It’s halved and then flavored with lemon and strawberry dissolved in hot water. This not only gives the cakes bold flavor, but also vibrant color! It’s also nice that flavored gelatins can be found at grocery stores everywhere, and you won’t have to order or track down specialty flavorings. (I’ve discovered that no one nearby carries my favorite strawberry extract!) Bake the batters in 6-inch cake pans, which will yield a small yet tall and stately cake. However, you could use two 9-inch cake pans for a double layer cake.
Build the cake.
To assemble the layers, begin with a strawberry cake. Then, top it with an even layer of American buttercream (a.k.a. confectioners’ sugar buttercream). Next, scatter on some crushed Sconza Lemoncello Chocolate Almonds. Use a food processor to crush the candies fine – it will make short work of the task.
Alternate the cake flavors, repeating the frosting and filling with the Sconza candies. Finally, end with a lemon cake layer on top.
Frost the cake.
This cake benefits from a crumb coat. Little cake crumbs and candy pieces on the outside of the cake need a base layer of frosting to hold them in place. So, cover the top and sides in a thin layer of buttercream and then refrigerate until firm. Then cover it in a second, thicker layer of buttercream and smooth it evenly using a bench scraper or cake smoother.
Whip up another batch of American buttercream, this time stiff consistency, for the decors. This batch needs to be thicker in order for the piped details to hold their shape. Just add a little more confectioners’ sugar to the base recipe. The swags are very simply piped using a #3 decorator piping tip. As for the flowers, you can see my rose piping video tutorial
Pipe the roses.
Sconza candies are a food stylist’s dream, because each one looks perfect right out of the bag. I just knew they’d make a beautiful center for piped flowers. And, they are inherently bud-shaped! Here’s how to pipe them, from start to finish.
- First, on a parchment-covered flower nail, pipe a dollop of pink frosting. Place the rounded end of a Lemoncello Chocolate Almond into the frosting (pointed end to the sky).
- Then, using a petal decorator tip, pipe layers of pink petals that overlap the candy.
- Pipe on more layers of petals until you reach the desired fullness. (I kept these small, but you could go larger!)
- Slide the flower off of the nail and transfer them to a baking sheet. Repeat the process until you have a baking sheet full of flowers. Then transfer them to the refrigerator to firm.
After the roses firm, peel them away from their parchment squares and arrange them on top of the cake to one side. Then, pipe a few leaves between the roses to fill in any gaps. (You can find all of the decorator tip numbers and sizes I use in the recipe card.)
Add some bling!
Ever a gilder of lilies (or in this case, roses!) I couldn’t resist adding a little shimmer. Brush on the swags. Then, add three gold sugar pearls in a line, where the swags meet.
The white almond sour cream cake layers take on color so well, and the flavors really shine through. Both the lemon and strawberry flavors are more creamy than tart. Altogether this cake is tender and moist, yet has a surprise lemon candy crunch throughout.
Be sure to grab a bag of at your local Costco while they last! They’re great all on their own, and they’re an excellent addition to this cake.
Strawberry Lemon Layer Cake
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Ingredients
Strawberry and lemon sour cream cake layers
American buttercream and filling
Stiff American buttercream and decors
Instructions
Cake layers
- Place the strawberry gelatin and lemon gelatin in two separate bowls. Pour 1/2 cup boiling water into each of the bowls and stir well to dissolve. Let cool until warm, about 10 minutes. Do not allow the gelatin to begin setting. If it starts to gel, re-heat it in the microwave until liquid.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Coat four 6-inch round cake pans with flour-based baking spray (or grease and flour pans).
American buttercream and filling
- Add vanilla and beat again for another minute. If you find the buttercream is too stiff, you may add milk or heavy cream 1-2 tablespoon at a time until the mixture is spreading consistency. Beat until light and fluffy. The consistency should be billowy and easy to spread. Cover the bowl with a damp towel so it doesn’t dry out.
- Begin building the cake with a strawberry cake layer placed on a cake board or serving plate. Fill with a generous 1/2 cup buttercream. Using a spoon, spoon over 1/3 of the chopped Sconza candies. Top with a lemon cake layer. Repeat the frosting and candy-sprinkling. Top with a strawberry cake layer. Repeat the frosting and candy-sprinkling once more. Top with the lemon cake layer. Cover the cake with a thin layer of buttercream (crumb coat) and refrigerate until firm, about 5 minutes. Frost the entire cake with a generous covering of buttercream and smooth evenly using a bench scraper or cake smoother. Refrigerate until the buttercream firms, 20 minutes.
Stiff American buttercream and décors
- In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, mix together the butter and confectioners’ sugar. Begin on low speed until crumbly, and then increase to high and beat for 3 minutes.
- Add vanilla and beat again for another minute. If you find the buttercream is too stiff, you may add milk or heavy cream 1 tablespoon at a time until the mixture is stiff piping consistency (it should hold on a spatula turned upside-down). Beat until well combined. Cover the bowl with a damp towel so the buttercream doesn’t crust.
- Remove 1/3 cup of the white frosting to a small bowl and cover with a damp towel; set aside.
- Remove 1/2 cup of the white frosting to a piping bag fitted with the Wilton #3 round tip.
- Divide the remaining frosting into three bowls and tint one bowl using 1/4 teaspoon of neon pink gel food color and 1 small drop of the red food color (this combination matches the strawberry cake layers). Food color brands differ in intensity, so add more if needed but keep in mind that colors will intensify as the buttercream crusts. Mix until a consistent color is achieved and transfer to a piping bag fitted with Wilton #104 petal decorator tip.
- Tint another bowl with 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon neon yellow food color. Mix well and transfer to a piping bag fitted with Wilton #104 decorator tip.
- Tint the last bowl with the green gel food color and transfer to a piping bag fitted with Wilton #352 decorator piping tip.
- Measure the circumference of the cake and divide by 8. With a toothpick, lightly mark the placement of where the swags will meet in the buttercream. Pipe eight swags around the top edge of the cake using the bag of white buttercream fitted with the plain Wilton #3 decorator piping tip. Refrigerate to set, about 5 minutes.
- For the roses, and using the pink bag if icing fitted with the #104 petal tip, place a dot of pink icing on a flower nail, then place a parchment square onto the flower nail. In the center of the parchment, pipe a mound of pink buttercream. Place a Sconza Lemoncello Chocolate Almond in the center of the mound so that the pointed end stands upright. Next, with the slim end of the petal tip pointing up, pipe four petals around the candy so that it overlaps slightly. Pipe more frosting petals around the candy center until a full rose shape is achieved. Slide the parchment with the rose on it, off of the frosting nail carefully and place it on a baking sheet (9×13 works fine). Repeat this process of making roses using the yellow buttercream also. Vary sizes so that you have some large flowers and some small. Transfer all of the flowers to the baking sheet and refrigerate until firm, about 15 minutes.
- Using the reserved white buttercream in the bowl, dollop a half moon shape on top of one side of the cake with a spoon. Remove the set buttercream flowers from the refrigerator. Gently peel them from their parchment squares and arrange them on top of the half-moon shape on top of the cake. Place extra Sconza Lemoncello Chocolate Almonds around the flowers to fill in gaps. Use the bag of green icing fitted with the #352 leaf tip to pipe leaves into any empty spaces, or to embellish the flowers. Refrigerate until set, about 10 minutes.
- Brush the edible gold paint onto the swags using the fine –tipped art brush. Carefully add three gold sugar pearls in a vertical line where the swags meet. Do this by gently pushing them into the buttercream.
- Store the cake in the refrigerator. Bring to room temperature before serving.
