Lemon Layer Cake with Fresh Berries

Ingredients

Lemon-Berry Cake (Vegan version here)

• 2 cups gluten-free flour (I use Bobs Red Mill Gluten-Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour or King Arthur Flour Gluten-Free Measure for Measure Flour)
• 1 cup Super Fine Blanched Almond Flour* (see notes below for substitution)
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup softened butter (can use dairy-free)
• 3 large eggs
• 3 tablespoons oil of choice (like vegetable oil or melted coconut oil)
• 1 cup honey or maple syrup (or combo of both)
• ⅔ cup almond milk or other milk of choice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• zest of 2-3 large lemons, to taste
• Lemon Whipped Cream (recipe below)
• 3-4 cups mixed berries (some sliced and halved for in between layers)
• edible flowers, optional

Lemon Whipped Cream :

• 16 oz. regular or dairy-free cream cheese or mascarpone
• 1–2 (14 oz) cans coconut cream or full-fat coconut milk refrigerated overnight (about 1¾ cup firm coconut cream, liquid discarded. Can also use 1 cup regular whipping cream if not dairy-free)
• 3-5 tablespoons honey or other sweetener of choice (more or less to taste)
• juice and zest from 1 lemon (more or less to taste)

Instructions

Cake:

1. This cake makes two 8-inch or three 6-inch cakes. To make a 3 layer 8-inch cake, use 1½ cake recipe.
2. Preheat oven to 325F. Grease cake pans and line the bottom with a parchment paper circle (cut to fit the bottom.) Set aside.
3. Combine flours, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add softened butter, eggs, coconut oil and sweetener. Begin beating together with the flour mixture. Slowly mix in the milk, vanilla extract, and lemon zest. Scrape the bottom of the bowl to make sure all the flower is evenly incorporated.
4. Evenly distribute cake batter into the pans and place on the middle rack in the preheated oven. Bake for 25-35 minutes OR until cake is golden brown, center is set, and a toothpick inserted near the center comes out with a few moist crumbs. Bake time will vary upon pan and thickness of batter.
5. Remove from the oven and let cool for a bit, then run a knife along the edge of the cake (if sticking to the pan) and invert cakes onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Whipped Cream:

1. In a large mixing bowl, begin to beat the cream cheese until smooth, about 1-2 minutes. Add sweetener and lemon juice/zest and continue to beat until fluffy. Add cold, hardened coconut cream and beat on high until light and fluffy, a few more minutes. Taste and adjust sweetener or lemon flavoring. Keep refrigerated until ready to use.
2. If using regular whipping cream, beat whipping cream separately until fluffy (about 3-4 minutes) and then fold it into the cream cheese mixture.

Putting it together:

1. Place one of the fully cooled cakes onto your cake plate. Top with ⅓ or ½ of the whipped cream (depending on how many cake you have) and about 1 cup of sliced berries.
2. Top with another cake layer and repeat the process.
3. At the end, top cake with remaining whipped cream and a pile of whole and halved berries. Decorate with edible flowers and a light dusting of powdered sugar (optional).
4. Serve right away and store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge.
5. *If you need to substitute almond flour, use the cake in this recipe. Just add the lemon zest from this recipe to keep the lemon flavor.
6. Cake recipe adapted from King Arthur Flour

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