Description
This easy pink lemonade layer cake is a soft, moist cake made with cake flour and whipped egg whites. It’s bursting with bright, juicy flavor from real lemonade and fresh lemon zest in the cake and frosting!
Ingredients
Scale
Cake
- 2 1/2 cups cake flour
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 5 eggs, separated with whites reserved
- 3/4 cup pink lemonade
- 3 tablespoons lemon zest
- 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
- *Pink food coloring
Frosting
- 1 1/2 cups butter, room temperature
- 2 pounds powdered sugar (about 8 cups)
- 1/2 cup pink lemonade
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- *Pink food coloring (optional)
Instructions
Make the Cake
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Spray three 8″ cake pans generously with baking spray; set aside
- In the bowl of your stand mixer, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt on low speed until combined. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add in the egg yolks, oil, pink lemonade, and 2-3 drops of food coloring if desired. Beat mixture on medium-high for 3 minutes, scraping sides as needed.
- In a separate mixing bowl, combine egg whites and cream of tartar and beat on high speed until stiff peaks form, will take a few minutes.
- Fold egg whites into the cake batter and divide equally into the 3 prepared pans.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes until centers spring back to touch.
- Cool in pans for 10 minutes and then remove from pans and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Frosting
- Beat butter until smooth and creamy. Slowly add in powdered sugar and pink lemonade, alternating back and forth until everything is mixed in.
- Add in the zest and 1-2 drops of food coloring, if desired. Mix until creamy and desired consistency is reached. Feel free to add more powdered sugar or lemonade to get desired consistency.
- Spread the frosting on the layers and the outside of the cake.
Notes
- * The more pink lemonade you add, the more the frosting will appear “curdled”. To amp up the tartness, add more zest if desired.
- For the ombré frosting: Crumb coat the whole cake and then divide the frosting into thirds. Color one section slightly darker, the next a little lighter, and leave the remaining frosting uncolored. Using an offset spatula, start with the darker color on the bottom of the cake. Add the middle color next, and finish the top of the cake with the uncolored frosting. Blend the frosting with a large offset spatula.
- Recipe adapted from Southern Living.
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 819
- Sugar: 101.8 g
- Sodium: 231.1 mg
- Fat: 34.4 g
- Carbohydrates: 126.6 g
- Protein: 5.2 g
- Cholesterol: 138.5 mg
