Pink Lemonade Cake

Celebrate the bright citrusy flavors of spring with this Pink Lemonade Cake.  This Pink Lemonade cake is super simple to make but will knock the socks off your guests with its pretty pink and yellow ombre layers and bright lemon flavor.

I have been seeing so many beautiful ombre cakes around Pinterest lately, and I wanted a gorgeous homemade cake to celebrate Easter and my Sister in Law’s recent wedding.  With my kids Baseball and Softball season in full swing I simply do not have the time to spend 3 hours in the kitchen baking a cake from scratch so I am going to share a little secret with you all.  I literally made this cake in a total time of 45 minutes, no kidding!  Not including the cooling time but hey that’s when us super moms multitask, am I right ladies!

I was able to cut down the prep time by using a boxed cake mix.  I have been using Betty Crocker’s Super Moist cake mixes and modifying them for years to make my cakes, and here’s why (ohh and this is not a paid post, I simply just love their product).  These mixes are simply the lightest and fluffiest cakes I have ever tasted!  It is like eating a delicious fluffy cloud, you eat a piece and do not feel weighed down like with other denser cakes.  Plus it is easy to blend in other flavors like lemon for this cake, or other fruit flavors.

Now let’s talk about those beautiful colors!  I thought that making an Ombre cake would have been a huge time sync or that I had to be a super baker to get great looking results, not so!  All you need is just 2 colors of gel food coloring pink and yellow, a simple mixture of both creates all 4 gorgeous layering colors!  I prefer to use gel food coloring because it is easier to blend into delicate batters and they have such vibrant colors now, literally the sky is the limit with color combinations!

Assembly of the cake was probably the most time consuming at around 15-20 min.  Once the layers are completely cooled I used a cake leveler to make the layers even and ready for stacking.  Be careful while leveling as this cake is so moist and fluffy that it would be easy to tear off additional cake so go slow and steady!  Then the fun layering begins, start with the darkest layer and spread with icing, then the next lightest and so on!  Voila, in no time you have this beautiful layered Ombre cake with delicious icing!

I had made a batch of meringues for Easter as well and decided they would make a cute cake topper, so that is what I used but you can decorate with additional icing or fresh flowers like Daisies!

For your next spring or summer occasion try making this simple yet elegant Pink Lemonade Cake, it will not disappoint!

Enjoy!

 

Cake Ingredients:

• 2 boxes Betty Crocker Super Moist White Cake Mix
• 2/3 Vegetable Oil
• 6 Eggs
• 2 1/2 Cups Water
• 2 Tbsp Lemon juice or 4 drops Lemon Essential Oil
• Yellow gel food coloring
• Pink gel food coloring

Icing Ingredients:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 3 cups confectioners sugar
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice or 2 drops lemon essential oil

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Prepare the cake batter as directed on the box.  Add in the Lemon juice or Lemon Essential oil to the batter and stir to incorporate.

Spray 4 8 inch round cake pans with baking spray the line with liners, these help the cake bake evenly and not get too brown on the bottom or burn.

Measure a 1 1/2 cups batter into each of 3 bowls (leave remaining batter in mixing bowl). Tint 1 bowl of batter with 4 to 5 drops pink food coloring. Tint 2nd bowl with 3 drops pink and 1 drop yellow food coloring. Tint 3rd bowl with 2 drops yellow and 1 drop pink food coloring. Tint last bowl with 1 drop yellow food coloring.

Spread each bowl of batter into a separate prepared pan. Bake 20 to 22 minutes, until cakes spring back lightly when pressed.

Cool 10 minutes in pans on wire racks, then invert onto racks and remove paper. Cool completely.

For the Icing:

Have all ingredients at room temperature. Beat butter until smooth. Add confectioners sugar and heavy cream; beat until fluffy and is a good consistency for spreading easily. Beat in lemon zest and lemon juice.

Assembly of cake:

Place darkest pink layer on a cake stand and spread top with 1/2 cup frosting. Add next-lightest layer and spread top with 1/2 cup frosting. Stack remaining 2 layers with 1/2 cup frosting in between, then spread remaining frosting around side and top of cake.

There will not be a lot of frosting to cover the cake in a thick layer; the idea is that cake layers should be somewhat visible through the thin frosting giving it a rustic look.

Products used to make this recipe!

Pin this Pink Lemonade Cake to your favorite Dessert or Cake Pinterest board for later!