The cake (Emery calls it "Happy Cake"

The cake was a success. The lemon cake recipe came from Martha Stewart, as did the design. I did not use her frosting recipe, though, and the raspberry filling was my own idea as well.

Tender Lemon Cake
* 1 1/2 sticks butter, room temperature, plus more for pans
* 2 1/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
* 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1 1/2 cups sugar
* 3 large eggs
* 3/4 cup buttermilk
* Zest of 1 lemon

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 6x2 inch round cake pan. Line with parchment; butter; dust with flour. (I did this three times for three cakes, splitting the batter in thirds.)
2. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl. With electric mixer, beat butter on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 4 minutes. Add sugar; beat well. Reduce speed to medium; add eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Reduce speed to low; alternately add flour and buttermilk, starting and ending with flour. Stir in zest.
3. Pour batter into pan; bake, rotating halfway through, until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cool in pan on rack 15 minutes. Remove; let cool completely right side up on rack.
The original website can be found here.

After cooling, I cut the cakes in half and filled them with raspberry filling. I piped frosting around the edge to keep the filling from coming out.

Raspberry filling

12 oz. frozen raspberries
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
3 Tbsp. corn starch
1/4 c. sugar

Combine in small saucepan. Cook over medium heat until sugar is dissolved and filling is thick. (this filling is tart, I like it that way, if you don't add more sugar)

Sturdy Whipped Cream Frosting


INGREDIENTS

* 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
* 1/2 cup white sugar
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 2 cups heavy cream
* 1/4 c. milk
* 1 envelope gelatin

DIRECTIONS

1. Dissolve gelatin in milk. Cook over low heat until mixture is smooth and no longer grainy (about 4 minutes) Combine the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla extract and milk mixture in a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Fit the mixer with the whisk attachment and mix on medium speed until smooth. Whip cream. Fold into mixture and beat until thick and smooth.

This recipe came from all recipes, but I've changed it quite a bit. I was worried about it not holding up, so I added the milk and gelatin, and that helped a lot. It may be stiff enough without it, but I didn't want to chance it.

Original recipe can be found here


Keep in fridge until ready to serve. Refrigerate any leftovers immediately.