Perfectly Easy Lemon Cake

I have a reputation at work for making birthday cakes but sometimes find myself in a pinch on a week night. This particular co-worker loves lemon (which, if you know me, makes me very happy) so I came up with this cake on the fly and let me tell you, it's delicious!

What you'll need:

1 box of vanilla cake mix. Or, you can use lemon if you feel like a lemon cake needs to start with lemon.

The shavings of one large lemon.

Lemon simple syrup: 2/3 cup lemon juice mixed with 2/3 cup sugar.

Icing of your choice (I use store bought vanilla x 2)

Yellow food coloring.


Lemon curd (you'll need to make this a minimum of 4 hours in advance) thankfully I had some in my fridge already:

• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 tablespoon grated lemon peel

Directions:

Lemon Curd

Whisk eggs, sugar, and lemon juice in heavy medium saucepan to blend. Add butter and lemon peel. Stir over medium heat until curd thickens to pudding consistency, about 10 minutes. Transfer to small bowl. Press plastic wrap onto surface of curd. Chill until cold, at least 4 hours.

Cake
Mix the boxed cake mix as directed, stir in the lemon peel. Bake in 2 round cake pans following the directions on the box for size.

After the cake has cooled poke holes in each layer with a toothpick and then drizzle 3/4 of the lemon simple syrup over each layer, reserving 1/4 for later.

For the icing - I use 2 containers of vanilla frosting, mix in the remaining lemon simple syrup and add a touch of yellow food coloring to get a nice lemony color. You'll probably have extra frosting at the end, but it's always better than not enough. You can thicken it up by adding powdered sugar or put it in the fridge for a while if it becomes too runny, but I like it a little thin to make spreading easier.

Layer lemon curd on the bottom tier and then top it when the second tier. Then frost the cake with 1 thin layer of icing. At this point I put the cake in the freezer for about an hour to set.

Ice the cake with one more layer and you're done! Top with raspberries, blueberries or strawberries for an additional touch.