Pink Lemonade Cake

Reblog from: www.thesaucyfig.com

Bright and super fun, this Pink Lemonade Cake is the perfect way to celebrate a birthday or any special occasion!

This tangy and sweet Pink Lemonade Cake is perfectly textured, delicious and triggers all of my childhood nostalgia! I can practically taste those hot summer days sitting outside at our make shift lemonade stand selling pink lemonade to our neighbors. Okay, maybe it was more like drinking the whole pitcher while we waited under the hot Las Vegas sun for someone to drive down our street.  And at the end of the day, we probably made a buck fifty and thought we were rich. Ahh, those were the days.

THE BEST PINK LEMONADE CAKE

For real though, this cake has that pink lemonade flavor spot on. Why? Because there is actual frozen pink lemonade concentrate in the cake batter and icing, along with fresh lemon zest and juice. Oh yeah, no messing around here folks! When I say lemonade cake, I mean LEMONADE cake.

HOW TO ACHIEVE PERFECT LIGHT AND FLUFFY TEXTURED CAKE

The key to the texture of this light and fluffy Pink Lemonade Cake is using cake flour. Cake flour is extra finely ground and gives the cake it’s silky soft texture. This is because it’s lower in protein, which means the flour forms less gluten as you work with it, which in turn keeps baked goods light and airy.

You can find cake flour in most grocery stores in the baking aisle, however if you can’t find it – don’t fret! You can easily make your own cake flour from scratch with just two ingredients: cornstarch and all-purpose flour.

Here’s how you do it! For every 1 cup of flour called for in the recipe, remove 2 Tablespoons of your all-purpose flour, and replace with 2 Tablespoons of cornstarch to make your 1 cup of “cake flour”. Sift this mixture a few times to make sure it’s well combined, and that’s it – you just made ready-to-use cake flour!

HOW TO DECORATE YOUR CAKE

I made this cake for a church event that was “birthday party” themed, so of course I had to go all out with bright colors!

For the icing, I did a sort of watercolor effect (yes it was my first time and it was far from perfect) by applying different colors of buttercream around the sides of the cake and then blending them together with a cake smoothing tool. I used this tutorial here from Preppy Kitchen that includes a video that was really helpful cause let’s face it, I’m still in the beginning stages of learning to decorate cakes!

And the star of the show is most definitely this Bewitched Sprinkle Mix by Sprinkle Pop! It’s a lovely blend of vibrant spring colors. The pinks and yellows went perfectly with the Pink Lemonade theme, and the silver dragees added just the right amount of bling for a birthday cake! Aren’t they pretty?

Really you can’t go wrong tossing some of these gorgeous sprinkles on any cake, amiright?

Okay, now please go make this Pink Lemonade Cake, I promise you won’t regret it!

PINK LEMONADE CAKE

 

Bright and super fun, this Pink Lemonade Cake is the perfect way to celebrate any occasion or holiday!

Author: Chelsey @ The Saucy Fig 

Total Time: 1 hour

Yield: three 8 inch cakes

Ingredients

CAKE:

• 5 cups cake flour
• 3 1/2 cups granulated white sugar
• 5 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter (3 sticks), room temperature (soft)
• 1 lemon zested
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice (about 1-2 lemons)
• 1 cup frozen pink lemonade concentrate, thawed
• 1 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 7 egg whites
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

PINK LEMONADE BUTTERCREAM:

• 6 cups powdered sugar
• 2/3 cups salted butter, room temperature (soft)
• 3 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 2 tablespoons frozen pink lemonade
• juice and zest of 1 lemon

DECORATIONS

• food coloring
• Sprinkle Pops Bewitched Sprinkle Mix

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line the bottom of your pans (I used three 8 inch pans) with parchment paper (cut to fit). Spray the sides of the pan with nonstick spray and just lightly spray over the parchment paper.
2. In a medium bowl whisk together the eggs, egg whites, milk, vanilla, lemon juice and zest. Set liquid mixture aside.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer combine the soft (room temperature) butter and sugar and beat for 2-3 minutes or until smooth.
4. Add in the cake flour, baking powder and salt and beat until combined.
5. Add in the liquid mixture and beat on high for 2-3 minutes.
6. Slowly add in the pink lemonade concentrate and beat for another 2 minutes until fluffy.
7. Pour the batter into your prepared cake pans and cook at 350 degrees F for 25-30 minutes.
8. Remove from the oven when the top is set and a toothpick comes out clean.
9. Cool in the cakes in the pans for about 10 minutes, then use a knife to go around the sides of the pan and invert the cakes onto a wire rack to continue cooling. Frost once completely cooled.
10. To make the buttercream, just combined everything in an electric stand mixer and mix on high until smooth and fluffy.
11. Assemble the cake, layering the pink lemonade buttercream between the cake layers. Apply a thin crumb coat of frosting to the outside of the cake and place it in the fridge or freezer to set up.
12. Decorate as desired and top with the Bewitched Sprinkle Mix or other favorite sprinkles from Sprinkle Pop.

Notes

• This Pink Lemonade Sprinkle Mix from Sprinkle Pop would also be a perfect match for this cake!